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ILL'JIOIS HISTORICAL SURVEY
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THE JESUITS
1534-1921
THE JESUITS
1534-1921
A History of the Society of Jesus from Its
Foundation to the Present Time
THOMAS JP^^MPBELL, SJ.
NEW YORK
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA PRESS
Permissu superiorum
NIHIL OBSTAT: ARTHUR J. SCANLAN, D.D., Censor
IMPRIMATUR: PATRICK J. HAYES, D.D., Archbishop of New York
COPYWCHT 1921
The Encyclopedia Pue3S
AH rights rtterxed
I
52 PREFACE
F -
Some years ago the writer of these pages, when on
his way to what is called a general congregation of the
Society of Jesus, was asked by a fellow-passenger on
an Atlantic liner, if he knew anything about the Jesuits.
He answered in the affirmative and proceeded to give
an account of the character and purpose of the Order.
After a few moments, he was interrupted by the
inquirer with, " You know nothing at all about them,
Sir; good day." Possibly the Jesuits themselves are
responsible for this attitude of mind, which is not.
peculiar to people at sea, but is to be met everywhere.
As a matter of fact, no Jesuit has thus far ever
written a complete or adequate history of the Society;
Orlandini, Jouvancy and Cordara attempted it a couple
of centuries ago, but their work never got beyond the
first one hundred years. Two very small compendiums
by Jesuits have been recently published, one in Italian
by Rosa, the other in French by Brucker, but they
are too congested to be satisfactory to the average
reader, and Brucker's stops at the Suppression of the
Society by Clement XIV in 1773. Cretineau-Joly's
history was written in great haste ; he is often a special
pleader, and even Jesuits find him too eulogistic. At
present he is hopelessly antiquated, his last volume
bearing the date of 1833. B. N. (Barbara Neave)
published in English a history of *he Society based
largely on Cretineau-Joly. The consequence of this
lack of authoritative works is that the general public
gets its information about the Jesuits from writers who
are prejudiced or ill-informed or, who, perhaps, have
been hired to defame the Society for political purposes.
V
5174G9
vi Preface
Other authors, again, have found the Jesuits a romantic
theme, and have drawn largely on their imagination for
their statements.
Attention was called to this condition of things by
the Congregation of the Society which elected Father
Martin to the post of General of the Jesuits in 189a.
As a result he appointed a corps of distinguished writers
to co-operate in the production of a universal history
of the Society, which was to be colossal in size, based
on the most authentic documents, and in line with
the latest and most exacting requirements of recent
scientific historiography. On the completion of the
various parts, they are to be co-ordinated and then
translated into several languages, so as to supply
material for minor histories within the reach of the
general public. Such a scheme necessarily supposes a
very considerable time before the completion of the
entire work, and, as matter of fact, although several
volumes have already appeared in English, French,
German, Spanish and Italian, the authors are still
discussing events that occurred two centuries ago.
Happily their researches have thrown much light on
the early history of the Order; an immense number of
documents in^dits, published by Carayon and others,
have given us a more intimate knowledge of the
intermediate period; many biographies have been
written, and the huge volume of the " Liber saecularis "
by Albers brings the record down to our own days.
Thus, though much valuable information has already
been made available for the general reader the great
collaborative work is far from completion. Hence the
present history of the Jesuits.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Origin
The Name — Opprobrious meanings — Caricatures of the page
Founder — Purpose of the Order — Early life of Igna-
tius — Pampeluna — Conversion — Manresa — The Ex-
ercises — Authorship — Journey to Palestine — The
Universities — Life in Paris — First Companions —
Montmartre First Vows — Assembly at Venice. Failure
to reach Palestine — First Journey to Rome — Ordina-
tion to the Priesthood — Labors in Italy — Submits the
Constitutions for Papal Approval — Guidiccioni's opposi-
tion — Issue of the Bull Regimini — Sketch of the
Institute — Crypto-Jesuits 1-35
CHAPTER II
Initial Activities
Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Italy — Election of
Ignatius — Jesuits in Ireland — " The Scotch Doctor "
— Faber and Melanchthon — Le Jay — Bobadilla —
Council of Trent — Lafnez, Salmer6n, Canisius — The
Catechism — Opposition in Spain — Cano — Pius V —
First Missions to America — The French Parliaments
— Postel — Foimdation of the Collegium Germanicum
at Rome — Similar Establishments in Germany — Cler-
mont and other Colleges in France — Colloque de Poissy. 36-71
CHAPTER III
Ends of the Earth
Xavier departs for the East — Goa — Around Hindostan —
Malacca — The Moluccas — Return to Goa — The Val-
iant Belgian — Troubles in Goa — Enters Japan —
Returns to Goa — Starts for China — Dies o£E the Coast
— Remains brought to Goa — Africa — Congo, Angola,
Caffreria, Abyssinia — Brazil, Nobrega, Anchieta,
Azevedo — Failure of Rodriguez in Portugal — 72-95
yii
viii Contents
CHAPTER IV
Conspicuous Personages
Ignatius — Lafnez — BorRia — Bellarmine — Toletus — paob
Lessius — Maldonado — Suirez — Lugo — Valencia —
Petavius — Warsewicz — Nicolai — Possevin — Vieira
— Mercurian 9^'33
CHAPTER V
The English Mission
Conditions after Henry VIII — Allen — Persons — Campion
— Entrance into England — Kingslcy's Caricature —
Thomas Pounde — Stephens — Capture and death of
Campion — Other Martyrs — Southwell, Walpole —
Jesuits in Ireland and Scotland — The English Succes-
sion — Dissensions — The Archpriest Blackwell — The
Appellants — The Bye- Plot — Accession of James I —
The Gunpowder Plot — Garnet, Gerard 134-165
CHAPTER VI
Japan
1555-1645
After Xavier's time — Torres and Femandes — Civandono —
Nunhes and Pinto — The King of Hirando — First Per-
secution — Gago and Vilela — Almeida — Uprising
against the Emperor — Justus Ucondono and Nobunanga
— Valignani — Founding of Nangasaki — Fervor and
Fidelity of the Converts — Embassy to Europe —
Journey through Portugal, Spain and Italy — Reception
by Gregory XIII and Sixtus V — Return to Japan —
The Great Persecutions by Taicosama, Dailusama, Sho-
gun I and Shogun II — Spinola and other Martyrs —
Arrival of Franciscans and Dominicans — Popular eager-
ness for death — Mastrilli — Attempts to esteblish a Hier-
archy — Closing the Ports — Discovery of the Christians. 166-196
CHAPTER VII
The Great Storms
1 580- 1 597
Manares suspected of ambition — Election of Aquaviva —
Beginning of Spanish discontent — Dionisio Vdsquez — The
" Ratio Studiorum " — Society's action against Confessors
of Kings and Political Embassies — Trouble with the
Spanish Inquisition and Philip II — Attempts at a Spanish
Contents ix
Schism — The Ormanetto papers — Ribadeneira sus- page
pected — Imprisonment of Jesuits by the Spanish
Inquisition — Action of Toletus — Extraordinary Con-
gregation called — Exculpation of Aquaviva — The dis-
pute " de Auxiliis " — Antoine Amauld's attack — Henry
IV and Jean Chastel — Reconciliation of Henry IV to
the Church — Royal protection — Saint Charles
Borromeo — Troubles in Venice — Sarpi — Palafox 197-227
CHAPTER VIII
The Asiatic Continent
The Great Mogul — Rudolph Aquaviva — Jerome Xavier —
de Nobili — de Britto — Beschi — The Pariahs — Enter-
ing Thibet — From Pekin to Europe — Mingrelia,
Paphlagonia and Chaldea — The Maronites — Alexander
de Rhodes — Ricci enters China — From Agra to Pekin
— Adam Schall — Arrival of the Tatars — Persecutions
— Schall condemned to Death — Verbiest — de Tour-
non's Visit — The French Royal Mathematicians —
Avril's Journey 228-267
CHAPTER IX
Battle of the Books
Aquaviva and the Spanish Opposition — Vitelleschi — The
" Monita Secreta "; Morlin — Roding — " Historia
Jesuitici Ordinis " — " Jesuiticum Jejunium " — •
" Speculum Jesuiticum " — Pasquier — Mariana —
" Mysteries of the Jesuits " — " The Jesuit Cabinet " —
" Jesuit Wolves " — " Teatro Jesuitico " — " Morale
Pratique des Jesuites " — " Conjuratio Sulphurea " —
" Lettres Provinciales " — " Causeries du Lundi " and
Bourdaloue — Prohibition of publication by Louis XIV
— Pastoral of the Bishops of Sens — Santarelli —
Escobar — Anti-Coton — Margry's " Descouvertes " —
Norbert 268-295
CHAPTER X
The Two Americas
1567-1673
Chile and Peru — Valdivia — Peruvian Bark — Paraguay
Reductions — Father Fields — Emigration from Brazil
— Social and religious prosperity of the Reductions —
X Contents
Martyrdom of twenty-nine missionaries — Reductions paob
in Colombia — Peter Claver — French West Indies —
St. Kitts — Irish Exiles — Father Bath or Destriches —
Montserrat — Emigration to Guadeloupe — Other
Islands — Guiana — Mexico — Lower California — The
Pious Fund — The Philippines — Canada Missions —
Br^beuf, Jogues, Le Moyne, Marquette — Maryland —
White — Lewger 296-342
CHAPTER XI
Culture
Colleges — Their Popularity — Revenues — Character of
education: Classics; Science; Philosophy; Art — Dis-
tinguished Pupils — Poets: Southwell; Balde; Sarbievius;
Strada; Von Spee; Gresset; Beschi. — Orators: Vieira;
Segneri; Bourdaloue. — Writers: Isla; Ribadeneira;
Skarga; Bouhours etc. — Historians — Publications — ■
Scientists and Explorers — Philosophers — Theologians
— Saints 343-386
CHAPTER XII
From Vitelleschi to Ricci
1615-1773
Pupils in the Thirty Years War — Caraflfa; Piccolomini;
Gottifredi — Mary Ward — Alleged decline of the
Society — John Paul Oliva — Jesuits in the Courts of
Kings — John Casimir — English Persecutions. Luzancy
and Titus Oates — Jesuit Cardinals — Gallicanism in
France — Maimbourg — Dez — Troubles in Holland.
De Noyelle and Innocent XI — Attempted Schism in
France — Gonzalez and Probabilism — Don Pedro of
Portugal — New assaults of Jansenists — Administration
of Retz — Election of Ricci — The Coming Storm 387-423
CHAPTER XIII
Conditions before the Crash
State of the Society — The Seven Years War — Political
Changes — Rulers of Spain, Portugal, Naples, France
and Austria — Febronius — Sentiments of the Hierarchy
— Popes Benedict XIV; Clement XIII; Clement XIV. . . 424-441
Contents xi
CHAPTER XIV
POMBAL
Early life — Ambitions — Portuguese Missions — Seizure of pagh
the Spanish Reductions. Expulsion of the Missionaries
— End of the Missions in Brazil — War against the
Society in Portugal — The Jesuit Republic — Cardinal
Saldanha — Seizure of Churches and Colleges — The
Assassination Plot — The Prisons — Exiles — Execution
of Malagrida 442-477
CHAPTER XV
Choiseul
The French Method — Purpose of the Enemy — Preliminary
Accusations — Voltaire's testimony — La Vallette — La
Chalotais — Seizure of Property — Auto da i6 of the
Works of Lessius, Sudrez, Valentia, etc. — Appeal of the
French Episcopacy — Christophe de Beaumont —
Demand for a French Vicar — " Sint ut sunt aut non sint "
— Protest of Clement XIII — Action of Father La Croix
and the Jesuits of Paris — Louis XV signs the Act of
Suppression — Occupations of dispersed Jesuits — Undis-
turbed in Canada — Expelled from Louisiana —
Choiseul's Colonization of Guiana 478-503
CHAPTER XVI
Charles III
The Bourbon Kings of Spain — Character of Charles III —
Spanish Ministries — O'Reilly — The Hat and Cloak Riot
— Cowardice of Charles — Tricking the monarch — The
Decree of Suppression — Grief of the Pope — His death
— Disapproval in France by the Encyclopedists — The
Royal Secret — Simultaneousness of the Suppression —
— Wanderings of the Exiles — Pignatelli — Expulsion by
Tanucci 504-529
CHAPTER XVII
The Final Blow
GanganeHi — Political plotting at the Election — Bemis,
Aranda, Aubeterre — The Zelanti — Election of Clement
XIV — Renewal of Jesuit Privileges by the new Pope —
Demand of the Bourbons for a universal Suppression — '
The Three Years' Struggle — Fanaticism of Charles III
xii Contents
— Menaces of Schism — Motiino — Maria Theresa — paqb
Spoliations in Italy — Signing the Brief — Imprison-
ment of Father Ricci and the Assistants — Silence and
Submission of the Jesuits to the Pope's Decree 530-554
CHAPTER XVIII
The Instrument
Summary of the Brief of Suppression and its Supplementary
Document 555-576
CHAPTER XIX
The Execution
Seizure of the Gcsd in Rome — Suspension of the Priests —
Juridical Trial of Father Ricci continued during Two
Years — The Victim's Death-bed Statement — Admis-
sion of his Innocence by the Inquisitors — Obsequies —
Reason of his Protracted Imprisonment — Liberation of
the Assistants by Pius VI — Receipt of the Brief outside
of Rome — Refused by Switzerland, Poland, Russia and
Prussia — Read to the Prisoners in Portugal by Pombal
— Denunciation of it by the Archbishop of Paris — Sup-
pression of the Document by the Bishop of Quebec —
Acceptance by Austria — Its Enforcement in Belgium —
Carroll at Bruges — Defective Promulgation in Mar>-land. 577-603
CHAPTER XX
The Sequel to the Suppression
Failure of the Papal Brief to give peace to the Church —
Liguori and Tanucci — Joseph II destroying the Church
in Austria — Voltaireanism in Portugal — Illness of
Clement XIV — Death — Accusations of poisoning —
Election of Pius VI — The Synod of Pistoia — Febron-
ianism in Austria — Visit of Pius VI to Joseph II — The
Punctation of Ems — Spain, Sardinia, Venice, Sicily in
opposition to the Pope — Political collapse in Spain —
Fall of Pombal — Liberation of his Victims — Protest of
de Guzman — Death of Joseph II — Occupations of the
dispersed Jesuits — The Theologia Wicehurgensis — Feller
— Beauregard's Prophecy — Zaccaria — Tiraboschi —
Boscovich — Missionaries — Denunciation of the Sup-
pression in the French Assembly — Slain in the French
Revolution — Destitute Jesuits in Poland — Shelter in
Russia 604-635
Contents xiii
CHAPTER XXI
The Russian Contingent
Frederick the Great and the " Philosophes " — Protection of page
the Jesuits — Death of Voltaire — Catherine of Russia —
The Four Colleges — The Empress at Polotsk — Joseph
II at Mohilew — Archetti — Baron Grimm — Czemie-
wicz and the Novitiate — Assent of Pius VI — Potemkin
— Siestrzencewicz — General Congregation — Benis-
lawski — " Approbo; Approbo " — Accession of former
Jesuits. Gruber and the Emperor Paul — Alexander I
— Missions in Russia 636-664
CHAPTER XXII
The Rallying
Fathers of the Sacred Heart — Fathers of the Faith — Fusion
— Paccanari — The Rupture — Exodus to Russia —
Varin in Paris — Clorivi^re — Carroll's doubts — Pigna-
telli — Poirot in China — Grassi's Odyssey 665-684
CHAPTER XXIII
The Restoration
Tragic death of Father Gruber — Fall of Napoleon — Release
of the Pope — The Society Re-established — Opening of
Colleges — Clorivi^re — Welcome of the Society in Spain
— Repulsed in Portugal — Opposed by Catholics in
England — Announced in America — Carroll — Fenwick
— Neale 685-715
CHAPTER XXIV
The First Congregation
Expulsion from Russia — Petrucci, Vicar — Attempt to wreck
the Society — Saved by Consalvi and Rozaven 716-733
CHAPTER XXV
A Century of Disaster
Expulsion from Holland — Trouble at Freiburg — Expulsion
and recall in Spain — Petits Seminaires — Berryer —
Montlosier — The Men's Sodalities — St. Acheul
mobbed — Fourteen Jesuits murdered in Madrid —
Interment of Pombal — de Ravignan's pamphlet —
Veuillot — Montalembert — de Bonald — Archbishop
Affre — Michelet, Quinet and Cousin — Gioberti —
XIV Contents
Expulsion from Austria — Kulturkampf — Slaughter of taou
the Hostages in the Commune — South America and
Mexico — Flourishing Condition before the Outbreak of
the World War 734-764
CHAPTER XXVI
Modern Missions
During the Suppression — Roothaan's appeal — South
America — The Philippines — United States Indians —
De Smet — Canadian Reservations — Alaska — British
Honduras — China — India — Syria — Algeria — Guinea
— Egypt — Madagascar — Mashonaland — Congo —
Missions depleted by World War — Actual number of
missionaries 765-824
CHAPTER XXVII
Colleges
Responsibility of the Society for loss of Faith in Europe — The
Loi Falloux — Bombay — Calcutta — Beirut — Ameri-
can Colleges — Scientists, Archaeologists, Meteorologists,
Seismologists, Astronomers — Ethnologists 825-854
CHAPTER XXVIII
Literature
Grammars and Lexicons of every tongue — Dramas — His-
tories of Literature — Cartography — Sinology — Egypt-
ology — Sanscrit — Catholic Encyclopedia — Catalogues
of Jesuit Writers — Acta Sanctorum — Jesuit Relations
— Nomenclator — Periodicals — Philosophy — Dogmatic,
Moral and Ascetic Theology — Canon Law — Exegesis. . 855-890
CHAPTER XXIX
The Sovereign Pontiffs and the Society
Devotion, Trust and Affection of each Pope of the Nineteenth
and Twentieth Centuries manifested in his Official and
Personal Relations with the Society 891-916
CHAPTER XXX
Conclusion
Successive Generals in the Restored Society — Present
Memberskip, Missions and Provinces 917-930
WORKS CONSULTED
Institutum Societatis Jesu.
JouvANCY — Epitome historiae Societatis Jesu.
JouvANCY — Montmienta Societatis Jesu.
Cretineau-Joly — Hist, relig., pol. et litt. de la Comp. de J^sus.
B. N. — The Jesuits: their foundation and history.
Rosa, I Gesuiti dalle origini ai nostri giomi.
Mesceller, Die Gesellschaft Jesu.
BoHMER-MoNOD — Les J6suites.
Feval, Les J^suites.
HuBER — Der Jesuitenorden.
DuHR — Jesuiten-Fabeln.
Brou — Les J6suites et la Idgende.
Belloc, Pascal's Provincial Letters.
Foley — Jesuits in Conflict.
FouQUERAY — Histoire de la compagnie de Jesus en France.
BouRNiCHON — La Compagnie de J^sus en France : 1814-1914.
Albers — Liber saecularis ab anno 1814 ad annum 1914.
Tacchi-Venturi — Storia della compagnia di Gesvi in Italia.
Monti — La Compagnia di Gesu.
DuHR — • Geschichte der Jesuiten in den Landem deutschen Zunge.
Kroess — Geschichte der bohmischen Provinz der Gesellschaft Jesu.
AsTRAiN — Hist, de la Comp. de Jesus en la asist. de Espana.
Hughes — History of the Society of Jesus of North America.
Alegre — La Compama de Jesus en la Nueva Espana.
Frias — La Provincia de Espana de la corapania de Jesiis, 1815-63.
Pollard — The Jesuits in Poland.
HoGAN — Ibernia Ignatiana.
Tanner — Societas Jesu praeclara.
Lives of Jesuit Saints.
Menologies of the Society of Jesus.
Southwell — Bibliotheca Scriptorum Societatis Jesu.
SoMMERVOGEL — Bibl. des ^crivains de la comp. de Jdsus.
Chandlery — Fasti breviores Societatis Jesu.
Maynard — The Studies and Teachings of the Society of Jesus.
Daniel — Les J6suites instituteurs.
Weld — Suppression of the Society of Jesus in Portugal.
De Ravignan — De I'existence et de I'institut des J^suites.
De Ravignan — C16ment XIII et Clement XIV.
Theiner — Geschichte des Pontifikats Klemens XIV.
Artaud de Montor — Histoire du pape Pie VII.
rv
xvi Works Consulted
Carayon — Documents inddits concemants la Compagnie de Jdsus.
Bertrand — Mdmoircs sur les missions.
Brou — Les Missions du xix*^ si^le.
Seaman — "Map of Jesuit Missions in the United States.
Marshall — Christian Missions.
Bancroft — Native Races of the Pacific States.
Campbell — Pioneer Priests of North America.
Charlevoix — Histoire du Japon.
Charlevoix — Histoire du Paraguay.
Charlevoix — Histoire de la Nouvelle-France.
Crasset — Histoire de I'^glise du Japon.
Avril — Voyage en divers ^tats d'Europe et d'Asie.
Thwaites — Jesuit Relations.
Bolton — Kino's Historical Memoir.
Janssen — History of the German People.
Lavisse — Histoire de France.
Ranke — History of the Popes.
LiNGARD — History of England.
Tiernev-Dodd — Church History of England.
Pollen — The Institution of the Archpriest Blackwell.
Haile-Bonney — Life and Letters of John Lingard.
Pollock — The Popish Plot.
Guildav — English Catholic Refugees on the Continent.
MacGeoghegan — History of Ireland.
Flanagan — Ecclesiastical History of Ireland.
O'Reilly — Lives of the Irish Mart>Ts and Confessors.
RocHEFORT — Histoire des Antilles.
Eyzaguirre — Historia de Chile.
Tertre — Histoire de St. Christophe.
RoHRBACHER — • History of the Church.
HiJBNER — Sixte-Quint.
Hue — Christianity in China, Tartary and Tibet.
Robertson — History of Charles V.
Shea — The Catholic Church in Colonial Days.
Pacca — • Memorie storiche del ministero.
Sainte-Beuve — Causeries.
Petit de Julleville — Histoire de la litt^rature frangaise.
GoDEFROY — Litt<5rature frangaise.
Schlosser — History of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.
Canto — Storia universale.
The Cambridge Modem History, Vols. VIII, XII.
The Month.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, passim.
The Encyclopedia Britannica, passim.
Realencyclopadie fiir protestantische Theologie und Kirche, passim.
THE JESUITS
1534-1921
CHAPTER I
ORIGIN
The Name — Opprobrious meanings — Caricatures of the Founder
— Purpose of the Order — Early life of Ignatius — Pampeluna —
Conversion — Manresa — The Exercises — Authorship — Journey to
Palestine — The Universities — Life in Paris — First Companions —
Montmartre First Vows — Assembly at Venice. Failure to reach
Palestine — First Journey to Rome — Ordination to the Priesthood —
Labors in Italy — Submits the Constitutions for Papal Approval
— Guidiccioni's opposition — Issue of the Bull Regimini — Sketch of
the Institute — Crypto- Jesuits.
The name " Jesuit " has usually a sinister meaning in
the minds of the misinformed. Calvin is accused of
inventing it, but that is an error. It was in common
use two or three centuries before the Reformation, and
generally it implied spiritual distinction. Indeed, in
his famous work known as " The Great Life of Our
Lord Jesus Christ," which appeared somewhere about
1350, the saintly old Carthusian ascetic, Ludolph of
Saxony, employs it in a way that almost provokes a
smile. He tells his readers that " just as we are called
Christians when we are baptized, so we shall be called
Jesuits when we enter into glory." Possibly such a
designation would be very uncomfortable even for some
pious people of the present day. The opprobrious
meaning of the word came into use at the approach
of the Protestant Reformation. Thus, when laxity in
the observance of their rule began to show itself in the
once fervent followers of St. John Columbini — who
were called Jesuati, because of their frequent use of
2 The Jesuits
the expression: "Praised be Jesus Christ" — their
name fixed itself on the common speech as a synonym
of hypocrisy. Possibly that will explain the curious
question in the " Examen of Conscience " in an old
German prayer-book, dated 15 19, where the penitent
is bidden to ask himself: " Did I omit to teach the
Word of God for fear of being called a Pharisee, a
Jesuit, a hypocrite, a Beguine? "
The association of the term Jesuit with Pharisee and
hypocrite is unpleasant enough, but connecting it with
Beguine is particularly offensive. The word Beguine
had come to signify a female heretic, a mysticist, an
illuminist, a pantheist, who though cultivating a saintly
exterior was credited with holding secret assemblies
where the most indecent orgies were indulged in. The
identity of the Beguines with Jesuits was considered
to be beyond question, and one of the earliest Calvinist
writers informed his co-religionists that at certain
periods the Jesuits made use of mysterious and
magical devices and performed a variety of weird
antics and contortions in subterraneous caverns, from
which they emerged as haggard and worn as if they
had been struggling with the demons of hell (Janssen,
Hist, of the German People, Eng. tr., IV, 406-7).
Unhappily, at that time, a certain section of the associ-
ation of Beguines insisted upon being called Jesuits.
There were many variations on this theme when the
genuine Jesuits at last appeared. In Germany they
were denounced as idolaters and libertines, and their
great leader Canisius was reported to have run away
with an abbess. In France they were considered
assassins and regicides; Calvin called them la racaille,
that is, the rabble, rifraff, dregs. In England they
were reputed political plotters and spies. Later, in
America, John Adams, second President of the United
States, identified them with Quakers and resolved to
Origin 3
suppress them. Cotton Mather or someone in Boston
denounced them as grasshoppers and prayed for the
east wind to sweep them away; the Indians burned
them at the stake as magicians, and the Japanese
bonzes insisted that they were cannibals, a charge
repeated by Charles Kingsley, Queen Victoria's chap-
lain, who, in " Westward Ho," makes an old woman
relate of the Jesuits first arriving in England that
" they had probably killed her old man and salted him
for provision on their journey to the Pope of Rome,"
No wonder Newman told Kingsley to fly off into space.
The climax of calumny was reached in a decree of
the Parliament of Paris, issued on August 6, 1762.
It begins with a prelude setting forth the motives
of the indictment, and declares that " the Jesuits are
recognized as guilty of having taught at all times,
uninterruptedly, and with the approbation of their
superiors and generals, simony, blasphemy, sacrilege,
the black art, magic, astrology, impiety, idolatry,
superstition, impurity, corruption of justice, robbery,
parricide, homicide, suicide and regicide." The decree
then proceeds to set forth eighty-four counts on which
it finds them specifically guilty of supporting the Greek
Schism, denying the procession of the Holy Ghost;
of favoring the heresies of Arianism, Sabellianism, and
Nestorianism ; of assailing the hierarchy, attacking the
Mass and Holy Communion and the authority of the
Holy See; of siding with the Lutherans, Calvinists
and other heretics of the sixteenth century; of repro-
ducing the heresies of Wycliff and the Pelagians and
Semi-Pelagians; of adding blasphemy to heresy; of
behttling the early Fathers of the Church, the Apostles,
Abraham, the prophets, St. John the Baptist, the
angels; of insulting and blaspheming the Blessed
Virgin; of undermining the foundations of the Faith;
destroying belief in the Divinity of Jesus Christ;
4 The Jesuits
casting doubt on the mystery of the Redemption;
encouraging the impiety of the Deists ;j suggesting
Epicureanism; teaching men to Hve Hke beasts, and
Christians hke pagans (de Ravignan, De I'existence
et de I'institut des J6suites, iii).
This was the contribution of the Jansenists to
the Jesuit chamber of horrors. It was endorsed by
the government and served as a weapon for the
atheists of the eighteenth century to destroy the
rehgion of France, and finally the lexicons of every
language gave an odious meaning to the name Jesuit.
A typical example of this kind of ill-will may be
found in the " Diccionario nacional " of Dominguez.
In the article on the Jesuits, the writer informs the
world that the Order was the superior in learning to
all the others ; and produced, relatively at every period
of its existence more eminent men, and devoted itself
with greater zeal to the preaching of the Gospel and
the education of youth — the primordial and sublime
objects of its Institute. Nevertheless its influence in
political matters, as powerful as it was covert, its
startling accumulation of wealth, and its ambitious
aims, drew upon it the shafts of envy^ created terrible
antagonists and implacable persecutors, until the
learned Clement XIV, the immortal Ganganelli,
suppressed it on July 21, 1773, for its abuses and its
disobedience to the Holy See. Why the " learned
Clement XIV " should be described as " immortal " for
suppressing instead of preserving or, at least, reforming
an order which the writer fancies did more than all
the others for the propagation of the Faith is difficult
to understand, but logic is not a necessary requisite
of a lexicon. " In spite of their suppression," he
continues, " they with their characteristic pertinacity
have succeeded in coming to life again and are at
present existing in several parts of Europe." The
Origin 5
"Diccionario" is dated, Madrid, 1849. ^^ other
words, the saintly Pius VII performed a very wicked
act in re-establishing the Order.
Of course the founder of this terrible Society had to
be presented to the public as properly equipped for
the malignant task to which he had set himself; so
writers have vied with each other in expatiating on
what they call his complex individuality. Thus a
German psychologist insists that the Order established
by this Spaniard was in reality a Teutonic creation.
The Frenchman Drumont holds that " it is anti-semitic
in its character," though Polanco, Loyola's life-long
secretary, was of Jewish origin, as were Lainez, the
second General, and the great Cardinal Toletus. A
third enthusiast. Chamberlain, who is English-born,
dismisses all other views and insists that, as Loyola was
a Basque and an Iberian, he could not have been of
Germanic or even Aryan descent, and he maintains
that the primitive traits of the Stone Age continually
assert themselves in his character. In reading the
Spiritual Exercises, he says, " I hear that mighty roar
of the cave bear and I shudder as did the men of
the diluvial age, when poor, naked and defenceless,
surrounded by danger day and night, they trembled at
that voice." (Foundations of the Nineteenth Century,
I, 570.) " If this be true," says Brou in " Les
Jesuites et la legende, " then, by following the same
process of reasoning, one must conclude that as Xavier
was a Basque, his voice also was ursine and troglodytic;
and as Faber was a Savoyard, he will have to be
classified as a brachycephalous homo alpinus." Herman
MuUer, in " Les Origines de la Compagnie de Jesus"
claims the honor of having launched an entirely novel
theory about Loyola's personaUty. " The ' Exercises'
are an amalgam of Islamic gnosticism and militant
Catholicism," he tells us; " but where did Ignatius
6 The Jesuits
become acquainted with these Mussulmanic congrega-
tions? We have nothing positive on that score, though
we know that one day he met a Moor on the road and
was going to run him through with his sword. Then
too, there were a great many Moors and Moriscos in
Catalonia, and we must not forget that Ignatius
intended to go to Palestine to convert the Turks.
He must, therefore, have known them and so have
been subject to their influence." Strange to say,
Miiller feels aggrieved that the Jesuits do not accept
this very illogical theory, which he insists has nothing
discreditable or dishonoring in it.
Omitting many other authorities, Vollet in "La
Grande Encyclopedic " (s. v. Ignace de Loyola, Saint),
informs his readers that " impartial history can discover
in Loyola numberless traits of fantastic exaltation,
morbific dreaminess, superstition, moral obscurantism,
fanatical hatred, deceit and mendacity. On the other
hand, it is impossible not to admit that he was a man
of iron will, of indomitable perseverance in action and
in suffering, and unshakeable faith in his mission ; in
spite of an ardent imagination, he had a penetrating
intelligence, and a marvelous facility in reading the
thoughts of men ; he was possessed of a gentleness and
suppleness which permitted him to make himself all
to all. Visionary though he was, he possessed in the
supreme degree, the genius of organization and strategy;
he could create the army he needed, and employ the
means he had at hand with prudence and circumspec-
tion. We can even discover in him a tender heart,
easily moved to pity, to affection and to self-sacrifice
for his fellow-men." Michelet says he was a combina-
tion of Saint Francis of Assisi and Machiavelli. Finally
Victor Hugo reached the summit of the absurd when
he assured the French Assembly in 1850 that " Ignatius
was the enemy of Jesus." As a matter of fact the
Origin 7
poet knew nothing of either, nor did many of his
hearers.
As far as we are aware, St. Ignatius never used the
term Jesuit at all. He called his Order the Compania
de Jesus, which in Italian is Compagnia, and in French,
Compagnie. The English name Society, as well as
the Latin Societas, is a clumsy attempt at a trans-
lation, and is neither adequate nor picturesque.
Compania was evidently a reminiscence of Loyola's
early military life, and meant to him a battalion of
light infantry, ever ready for service in any part of the
world. The use of the name Jesus gave great offense.
Both on the Continent and in England, it was
denounced as blasphemous; petitions were sent to
kings and to civil and ecclesiastical tribunals to have
it changed; and even Pope Sixtus V had signed a
Brief to do away with it. Possibly the best apology
for it was given by the good-natured monarch, Henry
IV, when the University and Parliament of Paris
pleaded with him to throw his influence against its
use. Shrugging his shoulders, he replied: "I cannot
see why we should worry about it. Some of my officers
are Knights of the Holy Ghost; there is an Order of
the Holy Trinity in the Church ; and, in Paris, we have
a congregation of nuns who call themselves God's
Daughters. Why then should we object to Company
of Jesus?"
The Spaniards must have been amazed at these
objections, because the name Jesus was, as it still is,
in very common use among them. They give it to
their children, and it is employed as an exclamation
of surprise or fear; like Mon Dieul in French. They
even use such expressions as: Jesu Crista I Jesu mille
veces or Jesucristo, Dios mio\ The custom is rather
startling for other nationalities, but it is merely a
question of autre pays, autres maeurs. A compromise
8 The Jesuits
was made, however, for the time being, by calling the
organization " The Society of the Name of Jesus,"
but that was subsequently forbidden by the General.
As a rule the Jesuits do not reply to these attacks.
The illustrious Jacob Gretser attempted it long ago;
but, in spite of his sanctity, he displayed so much
temper in his retort, that he was told to hold his peace.
Such is the policy generally adopted, and the Society
consoles itself with the reflection that the terrible
Basque, Ignatius Loyola, and a host of his sons have
been crowned by the Universal Church as glorious
saints; that the august Council of Trent solemnly
approved of the Order as a "pious Institute;" that
twenty or thirty successive Sovereign Pontiffs have
blessed it and favored it, and that after the terrible
storm evoked by its enemies had spent its fury, one
of the first official acts of the Pope was to restore the
Society to its ancient position in the Church. The
scars it has received in its numberless battles are not
disfigurements but decorations; and Cardinal Allen,
who saw its members at close quarters in the bloody
struggles of the English Mission, reminded them that
"to be hated of the Heretikes, S. Hierom computeth
a great glorie."
It is frequently asserted that the Society was
organized for the express purpose of combatting the
Protestant Reformation. Such is not the case. On
the contrary, St. Ignatius does not seem to have been
aware of the extent of the religious movement going
on at that time. His sole purpose was to convert the
Turks, and only the failure to get a ship at Venice
prevented him from carrying out that plan. Indeed it
is quite likely that when he first thought of consecrating
himself to God, not even the name of Luther had, as
yet, reached Montserrat or Manresa. They were
contemporaries, of course, for Luther was bom in
Origin 9
1483 and Loyola in 149 1 or thereabouts; and their
lines of endeavor were in frequent and direct antag-
onism, but without either being aware of it. Thus,
in 152 1, when Loyola was leading a forlorn hope at
Pampeluna to save the citadel for Charles V, Luther
was in the castle of Wartburg, plotting to dethrone
that potentate. In 1522 when the recluse of Manresa
was writing his " Exercises " for the purpose of making
men better, Luther was posing as the Ecclesiast of
Wittenberg and proclaiming the uselessness of the Ten
Commandments; and when Loyola was in London
begging alms to continue his studies, Luther was
coquetting with Henry VIII to induce that riotous
king to accept the new Evangel.
Ignatius Loyola was born in the heart of the Pyre-
nees, in the sunken valley which has the little town of
Azcoitia at one end, and the equally diminutive one of
Azpeitia at the other. Over both of them the Loyolas
had for centuries been lords either by marriage or
inheritance. Their ancestral castle still stands; but,
whereas in olden times it was half hidden by the
surrounding woods, it is today embodied in the immense
structure which almost closes in that end of the valley.
The castle came into the possession of the Society
through the liberality of Anne of Austria, and a college
was built around it. The added structure now forms
an immense quadrangle with four interior courts.
From the centre of the fagade protrudes the great
church which is circular in form and two hundred feet
in height. Its completion was delayed for a long time
but the massive pile is now finished. At its side, but
quite invisible from without, is the castle proper,
somewhat disappointing to those who have formed
their own conceptions of what castles were in those
days. It is only fifty-six feet high and fifty-eight
wide. The lower portion is of hewn stone, the upper
10 The Jesuits
part of brick. Above the entrance, the family
escutcheon is crudely cut in stone, and represents two
wolves, rampant and lambent, having between them
a caldron suspended by a chain. This device is the
heraldic symbol of the name Loyola. The interior is
elaborately decorated, and the upper story, where
Ignatius was stretched on his bed of pain after the
disaster of Pampeluna, has been converted into,
an oratory.
The church looks towards Azpeitia. A little stream
runs at the side of the well-built road -way which
connects the two towns. Along its length, shrines
have been built, as have shelters for travelers if over-
taken by a storm. The people are handsome and
dignified, stately in their carriage — for they are moun-
taineers — and are as thrifty in cultivating their steep
hills, which they terrace to the very top, as the Belgians
are in tilling their level fields in the Low Countries.
There is no wealth, but there is no sordid poverty;
and a joyous piety is everywhere in evidence. Azpeitia
glories in the fact that there St. Ignatius was baptized ;
and when some years ago, it was proposed to remove
the font and replace it by a new one, the women rose
in revolt. Their babies had to be made Christians in
the same holy basin as their great compatriot, no
matter how old and battered it might be.
Ignatius was the youngest of a family of thirteen or, at
least, the youngest of the sons; he was christened
Eneco or Inigo, but he changed his name later to
Ignatius. His early years were spent in the castle of
Arevalo; and, according to Maffei he was at one time
a page of King Ferdinand. He was fond of the world,
its vanities, its amusements and its pleasures, and
though there is nothing to show that there was ever
any serious violation of the moral law in his conduct,
neither was he the extraordinarily pious youth such
Origin 11
as he is represented in the fantastic stories of Nierem-
berg, Nolarci, Garcia, Henao and others. After the
fashion of the hagiographers of the seventeenth century
and later, they describe him as a sort of Aloysius who,
under the tutelage of Dofia Maria de Guevara, visited
the sick in the hospitals, regarding them as the images
of Christ, nursing them with tenderest charity, and so
on. All that is pure imagination and an unwise attempt
to make a saint of him before the time.
Indeed, very little about the early life of Ignatius
is known, except that when he was about twenty-six
he gained some military distinction in an attack on
the little town of Najara. Of course, he was conspicu-
ous in the fight at Pampeluna, but whether he was in
command of the fortress or had been merely sent to
its rescue to hold it until the arrival of the Viceroy
is a matter of conjecture. At all events, even after
the inhabitants had agreed to surrender the town, he
determined to continue the fight. He first made his
confession to a fellow-knight, for there was no priest
at hand, and then began what was, at best, a hopeless
struggle. The enemy soon made a breach in the walls
and while rallying his followers to repel the assault
he was struck by a cannon-ball which shattered one
leg and tore the flesh from the other. That ended the
siege, and the flag of the citadel was hauled down.
Admiring his courage, the French tenderly carried him
to Loyola, where for some time his life was despaired
of. The crisis came on the feast of St. Peter, to whom
he had always a special devotion. From that day, he
began to grow better. Loyalty to the Chair of Peter
is one of the distinguishing traits of the Compafiia
which he founded.
It is almost amusing to find these shattered limbs
of Ignatius figuring in the diatribes of the elder Amauld
against the Society, sixty or seventy years after the
12 The Jesuits
siege. " The enmity of the Jesuits for France," he
said, "is to be traced to the fact that Loyola took an
oath on that occasion, as Hannibal did against Rome,
to make France pay for his broken legs." An English
Protestant prelate also bemoaned " the ravages that
had been caused by the fanaticism of that lame
soldier." Other examples might be cited. To beguile
the tediousness of his convalescence, Ignatius asked
for the romance " Amadis dc Gaul," a favorite book
with the young cavaliers of the period; but he had to
content himself with the " Life of Christ " and " The
Flowers of the Saints." These, however, proved to be
of greater service than the story of the mythical Amadis ;
for the reading ended in a resolution which exerted a
mighty influence in the history of humanity. Igrtatius
had made up his mind to do something for God. The
" Life of Christ " which he read, appears to have been
that of Ludolph of Saxony in which the name " Jesuit "
occurs. It had been translated into Spanish and
published at Alcala as early as 1502. Thus, a book
from the land of Martin Luther helped to make Ignatius
Loyola a saint.
When sufficiently restored to health he set out for
the sanctuary of Montserrat where there is a Madonna
whose thousandth anniversary was celebrated a few
years ago. It is placed over the main altar of the
church of a Benedictine monastery, which stands
three thousand feet above the dark gorge, through
which the river Llobregat rushes head-long to the
Mediterranean. You can get a glimpse of the blue
expanse of the sea in the distance, from the monastery
windows. Before this statue, Ignatius kept his romantic
Vigil of Arms, like the warriors of old on the eve of
their knighthood; for he was about to enter upon a
spiritual warfare for the King of Kings. He remained
in prayer at the shrine all night long, not however in
Origin 13
the apparel of a cavalier but in the common coarse
garb of a poverty-stricken pilgrim. From there he
betook himself to the little town of Manresa, about
three miles to the north, on the outskirts of which is
the famous cave where he wrote the " Spiritual Exer-
cises." It is in the face of the rock, so low that you
can touch the roof with your hand, and so nacrow that
there is room for only a little altar at one end. Possibly
it had once been the repair of wild beasts. It is a
mistake, however, to imagine that he passed all his
time there. He lived either in the hospital or in the
house of some friend, and resorted to the cave to
meditate and do penance for his past sins. At present
it is incorporated in a vast edifice which the Spanish
Jesuits have built above and around it.
Perhaps no book has ever been written that has
evoked more ridiculous commentaries on its contents
and its purpose than this very diminutive volume
known as "The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius."
Its very simplicity excites suspicion; its apparent
jejuneness suggest all sorts of mysterious and malignant
designs. Yet, as a matter of fact, it is nothing but a
guide to Christian piety and devotion. It begins
with the consideration of the great fundaniental
truths of religion, such as our duty to God, the hide-
ousness and heinousness of sin, hell, death, and judg-
ment on which the exercitant is expected to meditate
before asking himself if it is wise for a reasonable
creature who must soon die to continue in rebelUon
against the Almighty. No recourse is had to rhetoric
or oratory by those who direct others in these " Exer-
cises," riot even such as would be employed in the
pulpit by the ordinary parish preacher. It is merely
a matter of a man having a heart to heart talk with
himself. If he makes up his mind to avoid mortal sin
in the future, but to do no more, then his retreat is
14 The Jesuits
over as far as he is conccmed. But to have even
reached that point is to have accompHshed much.
There are, however, in the world a great many people
who desire something more than the mere avoidance
of mortal sin. To them the " Excercises " propose
over and above the fundamental truths just mentioned
the study of the life of Christ as outlined in the Gospels.
This outline is not filled in by the director of the retreat,
at least to any great extent. That is left to the exer-
citant; for the word exercise implies personal action.
Hence he is told to ask himself: "Who is Christ? Why
does He do this ? Why does He avoid that ? What do
His commands and example suppose or suggest?"
In other words, he is made to do some deep personal
thinking, perhaps for the first time in his life, at least
on such serious subjects. Inevitably his thoughts will
be introspective and he will inquire why the patience,
the humility, the meekness, the obedience and other
virtues, which are so vivid in the personality of the
Ideal Man, are so weak or perhaps non-existent in his
own soul. This scrutiny of the conscience, which is
nothing but self-knowledge, is one of the principal
exercises, for it helps us to discover what perhaps
never before struck us, namely that down deep in our
natures there are tendencies, inclinations, likes, dislikes,
affections, passions which most commonly are the
controlling and deciding forces of nearly all of our acts ;
and that some of these tendencies or inclinations help,
while others hinder, growth in virtue. Those that
do not help, but on the contrary impede or prevent,
our spiritual progress are called by St. Ignatius
inordinate affections, that is tendencies, which are
out of order, which do not go straight for the com-
pleteness and perfection of a man's character, but on
the contrary, lead in the opposite direction. The well-
balanced mind will fight against such tendencies, so as
Origin ' 15
to be able to form its judgments and decide on its
course of action both in the major and minor things
of life without being moved by the pressure or strain
or weight of the passions. It will look at facts in the
cold light of reason and revealed truth, and will then
bend every energy to carry out its purpose of spiritual
advancement.
Such is not the view of those who write about the
"Exercises" without knowledge or who are carried
away by prejudice, an exalted imagination, an over-
whelming conceit or religious bias or perhaps because
of a refusal to recognize the existence of any spiritual
element in humanity. It is difficult to persuade
such men that there are no " mysterious devices "
resorted to in the Exercises; no " subterraneous
caverns," no " orgies," no " emerging livid and haggard
from the struggle," no " illuminism," no " monoideism"
as William James in his cryptic English describes
them; no " phantasmagoria or illusions;" no " plotting
of assassinations " as the Parliament of Paris pretended
to think when examining Jean Chastel, who had
attempted the life of Henry IV; no " Mahommedanism"
as Miiller fancies in his " Origins of the Society of
Jesus," nothing but a calm and quiet study of one's
self, which even pagan philosophers and modern poets
assure us is the best kind of worldly occupation.
Even if some writers insist that " their excellence
is very much exaggerated," that they are " dull and
ordinary and not the dazzling masterpieces they are
thought to be," or are " a Japanese culture of counter-
feited dwarf trees," as Huysmans in his " En Route "
describes- them; yet on the other hand they have,
been praised without stint by such competent judges
as Saints Philip Neri, Charles Borromeo, Francis de
Sales, Alphonsus Liguori, Leonard of Port Maurice,
and by Popes Paul III, Alexander VII, Clement
16 The Jesuits
XIII, Pius IX and Leo XIII. Camus, the friend of
St. Francis of Sales, thought " they were of pure gold;
more precious than gold or topaz;" Freppel calls
them " a wonderful work which, with the ' Imitation
of Christ ' is perhaps of all books the one which gains
the most souls for God;" Wiseman compares the
volume to "an apparently barren soil which is found
to contain the richest treasures," and Janssen tells
us that " the little book which even its opponents
pronounced to be a psychological masterpiece of the
highest class, ranks also as one of the most remarkable
and influential products of later centuries in the field
of religion and culture in Germany As a guide
to the exercises it has produced results which scarcely
any other ascetic writings can boast of " (Hist, of the
German People, VIII, 223).
Whatever may be thought of it, it is the Jesuit's
manual, the vade mecum, on which he moulds his
particular and characteristic form of spirituality. In
the novitiate, he goes through these " Exercises " for
thirty consecutive days; and shortly after he becomes
a priest, he makes them once again for the same period.
Moreover, all Jesuits are bound by rule to repeat them
in a condensed form for eight days every year; and
during the summer months the priests are generally
employed in explaining them to the clergy and religious
communities. Indeed the use has become so general
in the Church at the present time, that houses have
been opened where laymen can thus devote a few days
to a study of their souls. Even the Sovereign Pontiffs
themselves employ them as a means of spiritual
advancement. Thus we find in the press of today the
announcement, as of an ordinary event, that " in the
Vatican, the Spiritual Exercises which began on Sunday,
September 26, 1920, and ended on October 2, were
followed by His Holiness, Benedict XV, with the
Origin 17
prelates and ecclesiastics of his Court; during which
time, all public audiences were suspended. After the
retreat, the two directors and those who had taken
part in it were presented to the Sovereign Pontiff,
who pronounced a glowing eulogy of what he called the
* Holy ' Exercises."
St. Ignatius' authorship of these " Exercises ** has
been frequently challenged, and they have been de-
scribed as little else than a plagiarism of the book
known as the " Ejercitatorio de la vida espiritual,"
which v/as given to him by the Benedictines of Mont-
serrat. It is perfectly true that he had that book in
his hands during all the time he was at Manresa, and
that he went every week to confession to Dom Chan-
ones, who was a monk of Montserrat, but there are
very positive differences between the " Ejercitatorio "
and the " Spiritual Exercises."
In the first place it should be noted that the title had
been in common use long before, and was employed
by the Brothers of the Common Life, to designate
any of their pious publications. Even Ludolph of
Saxony speaks of the " Studia spiritualis exercitii."
Secondly, the " Ejercitatorio " is rigid in its divisions
of three weeks of seven days each, whereas St. Ignatius
takes the weeks in a metaphorical sense, and lengthens
or shortens them at pleasure. Thirdly, the object of
the Benedictine manual is to lead the exercitant
through the purgative and illuminative life up to the
unitive ; whereas St. Ignatius aims chiefly at the election
of that state of life which is most pleasing to God, or
at least at the correction or betterment of the one in
which we happen to be. Finally, the " Ejercitatorio "
does not even mention the foundation, the Kingdom,
the particular examen, the Two Standards, the election,
the discernment of spirits, the rules for orthodox
thinking, the regulation of diet, the three degrees of
2
18 The Jesuits
IhbdB^, ttie time I'lassrs or tiie tinBC mftfMJJB of
pEsper. Qofy a few of the Bfupdirtme counseis have
been ail rn i lwl , as m AimuLdiu ps s, 4, 13. 18, 19 and
so. Some of tlnqglits. miWd, are siniilar in the fiist
^pc^ icooding iredks of St. Igoatms
ait r .ny case, the " Ejeratatorio "
.ard. Saint Booaventufc
_ Z : -i;i IgnatiiK" In the "Catholic
Zr XiV, 326.)
_ - ntdi easier to find a sooroe of the
• Z _ "The Great life of Christ " by
1_ '-dch as has been said, was one
^— a t ius in his oonvalesoenoe.
of meditataons, and
r^ idndi are siqiposed
St. Ignatins, for
tbe apfliratinn of
-Jie oitfaer hand
-r
:h as
bescei r-_
die " Kii^dam " idnd: d to
_ I ^^satian is <Mily an adti r
Sl J^ w iiliiig in the " Stinunen " traces it to
7- : -rn. ■■■■mii'»» idncfa had long been cui i ent
: cinvaliy, but minch, onfortanat^^, is
most afahanent to Catholics;
tdieval William, however.
is modem homonym.
: - Tross. indignant that
.- his kii^ and he
" Give me
Origin 19
Spain," he cries, "which is still in the power of the
Saracens." The curious request is granted, wbeieiqxxi
William sjMings upon the table and shouts to those
around him : " Listen, noble knights of France 1 By the
Lord Almighty ! I can boast d possessing a &d larger
than that of thirty of my peers, but as yet it is uncon-
quered. Therefore I address myseK to poor kni^ts,who
have only a limping horse and ragged garments : and I
say to them that if, up to now, they have gained nothing
for their service, I will give them money, lands and
Spanish horses, castles and fortresses, if together
with me, they will brave the fortunes of war, in order,
to help me to effect the conquest of the country and
to reestablish in it the true reHgion. I make the same
offer to poor squires, proposing, moreovo-, to arm
them as knights." In answer to these words all exclaim
"By the Lord Almighty! Sir William! haste thee,
haste thee ; he who cannot follow thee on hors^iadk, will
bear thee company on foot." Frcan all parts there
crowded to him knights and squires with any arms
they could lay hold of, and before long thirty thousand
men were ready to march. They swore fealty to
Count William and promised never to abandon him,
though they should be cut to pieces, St. Ignatius
appHes this legend to Christ in the " Exercises ".
Finally, the " Two Standards " is a picture of those
who want to do more than obey the Coomiaiidmiaits.
Their " Captain," the Divine Redeemer, reveals to
than the wiles of the foe, which thev resolve to defeat-
What is emphatically distinctive in the " Exercises "
is their coherence. With iaexorable logic, each con-
clusion is deduced from what has been antecedoiily
admitted as indisputable. Thus, at the aid of the
first " week ", it is clear that mortal sia is an act cff
condition of supreme folly; and in the course of the
second, third, and fourth, we are made to see that
20 The Jesuits
unless a man chooses that particular state of life to
which God calls him, or unless he puts to rights the
one he is already in, he has no character, no courage,
no viriHty, no gratitude to God, and no sense of danger.
The fourth " week ", besides enforcing what preceded,
may be regarded as intimating, though not developing,
the higher mysticism,
Throughout the " Exercises," the insistent considera-
tion of the fundamental truths of Christianity, and the
contemplation of the mysteries or episodes of the life
of Christ so illumine the mind and inflame the heart
that we cannot fail, if we are reasonable, at least to
desire to make the love of Christ the dominating
motive of our life; and, in view of that end, we are
given at every step a new insight into our duties to
God, chiefly under the double aspect of our Creation
and Redemption; we are taught to scrutinize our
thoughts, tendencies, inclinations, passions and aspira-
tions, and to detect the devices of self-deceit; we are
shown the dangers that beset us and the means of
safety that are available; we are instructed in prayer,
meditation and self-examination. The proper co-ordi-
nation of these various parts is so essential, that if
their interdependence is neglected, if the arrangements
and adjustments are disturbed and the connecting
links disregarded or displaced, the end intended by
Saint Ignatius is defeated. Hence the need of a
director. It may be noted that the "Exercises"
were not produced at Manresa in the form in which
we have them now. They were touched and retouched
up to the year 1541, that is twenty years after Loyola's
stay in the " Cueva ", but they are substantially
identical with the book he then wrote.
After spending about a year in the austerities of the
Cave, Ignatius begged his way to Palestine, but
remained there only six weeks. The Guardian of the
Origin 21
Holy Places very peremptorily insisted upon his
withdrawal, because his piety and his inaccessibility
to fear exposed him to bad treatment at the hands of
the infidels. He then returned to Spain and set himself
to the study of the Latin elements, in a class of small
boys, at one of the primary schools of Barcelona.
It was a rude trial for a man of his years and anteced-
ents, but he never shrank from a difficulty, and,
moreover, there was no other available way of getting
ready for the course of philosophy which he proposed
to follow at Alcala. At this latter place, he had the
happiness of meeting Lamez, Salmeron and Bobadilla,
but he also made the acquaintance of the jails of the
Inquisition, where he was held prisoner for forty- two
days, on suspicion of heresy, besides being kept under
surveillance, from November, 1526, till June of the year
following. It happened, also, that as he was being
dragged through the streets to jail, a brilHant cavalcade
met the mob, and inquiries were made as to what it
was all about, and who the prisoner was. The cavaHer
who put the question was one who was to be later a
devoted follower of Ignatius ; he was no less a personage
than Francis Borgia. Six years after the establishment
of the Society, Ignatius repaid Alcald, for its harsh
treatment, by founding a famous college there, whose
chairs were filled by such teachers as Vasquez and
Suarez.
Ignatius had no better luck at Salamanca. There
he was not even allowed to study, but was kept in
chains for three weeks while being examined as to
his orthodoxy. But as with Alcala, so with Salamanca.
Later on he founded a college in that university also,
and made it illustrious by giving it de Lugo, Suarez,
Valencia, Maldonado, Ribera and a host of other
distinguished teachers. Leaving Salamanca, Ignatius
began his journey to Paris, travelling on foot, behind
22 The Jesuits
a little burro whose only burden were the books of the
driver. It was mid-winter; war had been declared
between France and Spain, and he had to beg for
food on the way; but nothing could stop him, and he
arrived at Paris safe and sound, in the beginning of
Fcbruar}^ 1528. In 1535 he received the degree of
Master of Arts, after " the stony trial," as it was
called, namely the most rigorous examination.
For some time previously he had devoted himself to
the study of theology, but ill health prevented him
from presenting himself for the doctorate. He lived
at the College of Ste Barbe where his room-mates
were Peter Faber and Francis Xavier. Singularly
enough and almost prophetic of the future, Calvin had
studied at the same college. The names of Loyola and
Calvin are cut on the walls of the building to-day.
In 1533 Calvin, it is said, came back to induce the
rector of the college, a Doctor Kopp, to embrace the
new doctrines. He succeeded, and, before the whole
university, Kopp declared himself a Calvinist. Calvin
had prepared the way by having the city placarded
with a blasphemous denunciation of the Blessed
Eucharist. A popular uprising followed and Calvin
fled. In reparation a solemn procession of reparation
was organized on January 21, 1535. There is some
doubt, however, about the authenticity of this story.
Ignatius encountered trouble in France as he had
in Spain. On one occasion he was sentenced to be
flogged in presence of all the students; but the rector
of the college, after examining the charge against him,
publicly apologized. There was also a delation to the
Inquisition, but when he demanded an immediate
trial he was told that the indictment had been quashed.
Previous to these humiliations and exculpations he
had gathered around him a number of brilliant young
men, all of whom have made their mark on history.
Origin 23
They afford excellent material for an exhaustive study
of the psychology of the Saints.
Most conspicuous among them was Francis Xavier,
who will ever be the wonder of history. With him were
Lainez and Salmeron, soon to be the luminaries of the
Council of Trent, the former of whom barely escaped
being elevated to the chair of St. Peter, and then only
by fleeing Rome. There was also Bobadilla, the
future favorite of kings and princes and prelates,
the idol of the armies of Austria, the tireless apostle
who evangelised seventy-seven dioceses of Europe,
but who unfortunately alienated Charles V from the
Society by imprudently telling him what should have
come from another source or in another way. There
was Rodriguez who was to hold Portugal, Brazil and
India in his hands, ecclesiastically ; and Faber who was
to precede Canisius in the salvation of Gennany.
Each one of these remarkable men differed in char-
acter from the rest. Bobadilla, Salmeron, Lainez and
Xavier were Spaniards; but the blue-blooded and
somewhat " haughty " Xavier must have been tempted
to look with disdain on a man with a Jewish strain like
Lainez. Salmeron was only a boy of about nineteen, but
already marvelously learned; and Bobadilla was an
impecunious professor whom Ignatius had helped to
gain a livelihood in Paris, but whose ebulliency of
temper was a continued source of anxiety; Rodriguez
was a man of velleities rather than of action, and his
ideas of asceticism were in conflict with those of
Ignatius. The most docile of all was the Savoyard
Peter Faber, who began life as a shepherd boy and was
already far advanced in sanctity when he met St.
Ignatius. In spite, however, of all this divergency of
traits and antecedent environment, the wonderful
personality of their leader exerted its undisputed
sway over them all, not by a rigid uniformity of direc-
24 The Jesuits
tion, but by an adaptation to the idiosyncravSies of
each. His profound knowledge of their character,
coupled as it was with an intense personal affection
for them, was so effective that the proud aloofness
of Xavier, the explosiveness of Bobadilla, the latent
persistency of Lainez, the imaginativeness and hesi-
tancy of Rodriguez, the enthusiasm of the boyish
Salmeron, and the sweetness of Faber, all paid him
the tribute of the sinccrest attachment and an eagerness
to follow his least suggestion. Rodriguez was the sole
exception in the latter respect, but he failed only
twice. Two other groups of young men had previously
gathered around Ignatius, but, one by one, they
deserted him. All of the last mentioned persevered,
and became the foundation-stones of the Society of
Jesus.
On August 15, 1534, Ignatius led his companions to
a little church on the hill of Montmartre, then a league
outside the city, but now on the Rue Antoinette, below
the present great basilica of the vSacred Heart. In its
crypt which they apparently had all to themselves
that morning, they pronounced their vows of poverty,
chastity and obedience. Faber, the only priest among
them, said Mass and gave them communion. Such
was the beginning of the new Order in the Church.
A brass plate on the wall of the chapel proclaims it
to be the " cradle of the Society of Jesus." It is
almost startling to recall that while in the University
of Paris, not only Ignatius but also Francis Xavier and
Peter Faber, who were to be so prominent in the world
in a short time, were in destitute circumstances. They
had no money even to pay for their lodging, and they
occupied a single room which had been given them,
out of charity, in one of the towers of Ste Barbe. It
was providential, however, for in the same college, but
paying his way, was a former schoolmate of Faber
Origin 25
and like him a native of Savoy. This was Claude Le
Jay, or Jay, as he is sometimes called. Of course he
had noticed Ignatius and the group of brilliant young
Spaniards, but he had little or nothing to do with
them until once, when Ignatius was absent in Spain,
Faber let him into the secret of their great plan of
converting the Turks. The result was that when next
year the associates went out to Montmartre to renew
their vows, Le Jay was with them as were also two
other university men : Jean Codure from Dauphine and
the Picard, Pasquier Brouet, who was already a priest.
It had been arranged that in 1536 when their courses
of study were finished and their degrees and certificates
secured, they were to meet at Venice to em'bark for
the Holy Land. They were to make the journey to
Venice on foot. They set out, therefore, in two bands,
a priest with each, taking the route that passed by
Meaux and then through Lorraine, across Switzerland
to Venice. It was a daring journey of fifty-two days
in the dead of winter, over mountain passes, without
money to pay their way or to purchase food; with
poor and insufficient clothing, across countries filled
with soldiers preparing for war, or angry fanatics who
scoffed at the rosaries around their necks, and who
might have ill-treated them or put them to death;
they bore it all, however, not only patiently but
light-heartedly, and on January 6, 1537, arrived in
Venice, where Ignatius was waiting for them. To
them was added a new member of the association,
Diego Hozes, who had known Ignatius at Alcala and
now came to him at Venice.
After a brief rest, which they took by waiting on
the poor and sick in the worst hospital of the city,
they were told to go down to Rome to ask the Pope's
permission to carry out their plans. This journey was
not as long or as dangerous as the one they had just
26 The Jesuits
made, but the bad weather, the long fasts, the sickness
of some of them, the rebuffs and abusive language
which they received when they asked for alms, made
it hard enough for flesh and blood to bear; however
their devotion to the end they had in view, or what
the world might call their Quixotic enthusiasm bore
them onward. They were apprehensive, however,
about their reception in Rome, not it is true, from the
Father of the Faithful himself, but from a certain great
Spanish canonist, a Doctor Ortiz, who happened to be
just then at the papal court, making an appeal to the
Sovereign Pontiff in behalf of Catherine of Aragon
against Henry VIII.
Ortiz had met Ignatius in Paris and was bitterly
prejudiced against him. That, indeed, was the reason
why the little band appeared in the Holy City without
their leader, but neither he nor they were aware that
Ortiz had changed his mind and was now an enthusi-
astic friend. Hence when the travel-stained envoys
from Venice presented themselves, they could scarcely
believe their eyes. Ortiz received them with every
demonstration of esteem and affection. He presented
them to the Pope, and urged him to grant all their
requests. Subsequently, Faber acted as theologian for
Ortiz, when that dignitary represented Charles V at
Worms and in Spain. Of course the Pontiff was
overjoyed and not only blessed the members of the
httle band but gave them a considerable sum of money
to pay their passage to the Holy Land. So they
hurried back to Ignatius with the good news, and on
June 24 all those who were not priests were ordained.
The custom that prevails in the Church, in our days,
is for a newly -ordained priest to celebrate Mass on the
morning following his ordination; but Ignatius and
his companions prepared themselves for this great act
in an heroic fashion. They buried themselves in
Origin 27
caverns or in the ruins of dilapidated monasteries for
an entire month, giving themselves up to fasting and
prayer, preaching at times in some adjoining town
or hamlet. It was on this occasion that the vacillating
character of Rodriguez revealed itself. He and Le Jay-
had taken up their abode in a hermitage near Bassano
where a venerable old man named Antonio was reviving
in the heart of Italy the practices of the old solitaries
of the Thebaid. Rodriguez fell ill and was at the
point of death when Ignatius arrived and told him
that he would recover. So, indeed, it happened, but
singularly enough he was anxious to continue his
eremitical life and, without speaking of his doubts to
Ignatius, set out to consult the old hermit about it,
but became conscience-stricken before he arrived. " O
man of little faith, why did you doubt?" was all
St. Ignatius said, when Rodriguez confessed what he
had done. Nevertheless, that did not cure him, for
the desire of leading a life of bodily austerity had
taken possession of him and was at the bottom of the
trouble which he subsequently caused in Portugal, and
also when, in 1554, he wrote entreatingly to Pope
Julius III for permission to leave the Society and
become a hermit (Prat, Le P. Claude Le Jay, 32, note).
At the end of the retreat, the}'- all returned to Venice,
where they waited in vain for a ship to carry them to
the land of the Mussulmans. It was only when there
was absolutely no hope left, that they made up their
minds to go back to Rome, and put themselves at the
disposal of the Pope for any work he might give them.
As this was fully twenty years after Martin Luther
had nailed his thesis to the church door of Wittenberg,
it is clear that Ignatius had no idea of attacking
Protestantism when he founded the Society of Jesus.
Possibly this stay in Venice has something to do
28 The Jesuits
with the solution of a question which has been fre-
quently mooted and was solemnly discussed at a
congress of physicians at San Francisco as late as igoo,
namely, why did Vesalius, the great anatomist, go to
the Holy Land? The usual supposition is that it was
to perform a penance enjoined by the Inquisition in
consequence of some alleged heretical utterances by
the illustrious scientist. However, Sir Michael Foster
of the University of Cambridge, who was the principal
speaker at the Congress, oflered another explanation.
" It is probable," he said, " that while pursuing his
studies in the hospitals of Venice, Vesalius often
conversed with another young man who was there at
the time and who was known as Ignatius Loyola."
Such a meeting may, indeed, have occurred, for Ignatius
haunted the hospitals, and his keen eye would have
discerned the merit of Vesalius, who was a sincerely
pious man. Hence, it is not at all unlikely that the
young physician may have made the " Spiritual
Exercises " under the direction of Ignatius, and that
his journey to the Holy Land was the result of his
intercourse with the group of brilliant young students,
who just then had no other object in life but to convert
the Turks.
On the journey to Rome Ignatius went ahead with
Faber and Lainez, and it was then that he had the
vision of Christ carrying the cross, and heard the
promise: "Ego vobis RomcT propitius ero " (I will
be propitious to you in Rome.) They were received
aflectionately and trustingly by the Pope, who sent
Lainez and Faber to teach in the Sapienza, one lecturing
on holy scripture and the other on scholastic theology;
while Ignatius gave the " Spiritual Exercises " wherever
and whenever the opportunity presented itself. When
the other four arrived, they were immediately employed
in various parts of Rome in works of charity and zeal.
Origin 29
It was in Rome that Ignatius first came in personal
contact with the Reformation. A Calvinist preacher
who had arrived in the city had succeeded in creating
a popular outcry against the new priests, by accusing
them of all sorts of crimes. As such charges would
be fatal in that place above all, if not refuted, the
usual policy of silence was not observed. By the
advice of the Pope the affair was taken to court where
the complaint was immediately dismissed and an
ofificial attestation of innocence given by the judge.
The result was a counter-demonstration, that made the
accuser flee for his life to Geneva. As an assurance of
his confidence in them, the Sovereign Pontiff employed
them in several parts of Italy where the doctrines of
the Reformation were making alarming headway.
Thus, Brouet and Salmeron were sent to Siena; Faber
and Lainez accompanied the papal legate to Parma;
Xavier and Bobadilla set out for Campania; Codure
and Hozes for Padua; and Rodriguez and Le Jay for
Ferrara. It is impossible to follow them all in these
various places, but a brief review of the difficulties
that confronted Rodriguez and Le Jay in Ferrara may
be regarded as typical of the rest.
In conformity with the instructions of Ignatius,
they lodged at the hospital, preached whenever they
could, either in the churches or on the public streets,
and taught catechism to the children and hunted for
scandalous sinners. An old woman at the hospital
discovered by looking through a crack in the door that
they passed a large part of the night on their knees.
At this point Hozes died at Padua, and Rodriguez
had to replace him; Le Jay was thus left alone at
Ferrara. The duke, Hercules II, became his friend,
but the duchess, Renee of France, daughter of Louis
XII, avoided him. She was a supposedly learned
30 The Jesuits
, a i w e i unn er, so to say, of the precieuses ridicmUs
of liobere, and an ardent patron of Cahrin, a frequent
Wsitor at the ooort, akxig with the lascivioas poet
CMment Marot. idio translated the Psalms into verse
to popolaxiae Calvin's heretical teadiings. Another
< ■!■■ ■» WIS figure that kxmed tip at Ferrara was the
ffmn*^i*t Capochin preacher, Bernardo Oc^nno, a man
cf i»=^in*itifcMi» doqnenoe, whidi, however, was literary
and dramatic rather than apostolic in its character.
Ss emaciated coantenaiice, his long flowing white
beard and his fanrent c^ipeak to penance made a deep
impressioo on the people. TlKy regarded >mn as a
saint, never dreaming that he was a coocealed heretic,
who vonld eventoally apostatise and assail the Church.
He was nraci admired by the dti<ii€ss, who ocxioeived
a bitto' hatred for Le Jay and would not even admit
him to her presence. The trouble of the Jesuit was
increased by the attitude of the bidiop, who, knowing
the real diaracter of Odnno, loolced with sospicion on
Le Jay, as possibly annthpr wolf in dieep's dothing;
bdt his sn^acians were soon d^)elkd, and he gave
Le Jay every means in his power to revive the faith
and morals of the dry. The dnrhpss, howrever, became
so aggressive in ha- pro8d3rtism that the duke ordered
her into seclusion, and when he died, his son and
SMCTPSMi r S0it her bac^ to her people in France where
slie died an obstinate heretic
From Ferrara Le Jay hastened to Bagnoiea to end
a siAism tliere, and thoog^ neither side would listen to
at first, yet his fiatimce overcame all difficulties,
finally, evaybody met everybody else in the great
fhmrh, embraced and went to Holy Co mmun ion.
Peace then reined in the city. The other envoys
ac hieve d sknilar siirrps i s e s elsewhere throog^ioixt the
pemosnia; and Cretineao-Jc^ says that their joint
efforts thwarted the plot of the heretics to destroy the
Origin 31
Paitli in Italy. The winter ci 1538 was
severe in Rome, and a scarcity of pfOvisioDS tntiag^t
on what amotmted almost to a famine. This distzess
gave Ignatius and his cooqianioQS the :;:.-.:-: of
showing thdr devotion to the soflFerinc ; : '':.--
not only cxmtrived in sine "s-ay or other to :-tI m
tl^ir own house, as man^r ^ : . .r '..r. ir^l ii : :
people, but inspired m^r; :: :..- - :^ i.:^ les to
imitate their example.
\^^th this and other good woris to their credit, they
could now ask the anthcxizatioo c: the Sovereign
PontifiE for thdr enterprise. Hence cr ~t -err.':-er 3,
1539, they submitted a driuc:.* ::' t'vr I : :;:::u:::!i,
and were pleased to hear that it evihri :: : r . ...^ ? :;e
the exclamation: " llie finger <rf Goi :£ . -t Z ^:
they vrere not so fcatunate witli the -- n oi
cardinals to whom the matter was rhr" reterred-
Guidicciom, who presided, was not :r-ly i r-'-o^iy
hostile, but expressed the opinio "hit ^ . .?
rehgioos orders should be reducTi : : r mi jit::^
he contemptuously tossed the j- - ^^ I: ~as
only after a year that he toc^ it _li . — „; i_^rt=ly
knew why — and on readine it :- vely he was
CMnpletely craiverted and hai.r ii. :; reoort cm it as
foUows: "Although as befewe, I 5: Id to the
opinion that no new reHgioas order £. _ r ._-£:: _:ei..
I cannot refrain frcxn approving thi£ me. Indeed, I
regard it as something that is now needed to help
Christaidom in its ::: : les, and e^iecially to destroy
the hereaeswhidi are at t: :r .: devastatii^ Europe."
Thus it is Guidicciom who is re^nnsiUe for ^yttmg
the Society to undo t-.r " : : : of Martin Luther.
The Pope was extre ::.t- z le.i;ed by the cxxmmssicHi's
report, and on Septen.irr 27, i5_; r . i ^ ' oe
BuU " Regimini mih'tantis Eeclesi:?. .i : : r : : 7 r
Institute of the Sociery ctf Jesus." In this B.l. ^ 1
32 The Jesuits
that of Julius III, the successor of Paul III, we have
the official statement of the character and the purpose
of the Society. Its object is the salvation and perfec-
tion of the souls of its members and of the neighbor.
One of the chief means for that end is the gratuitous
instruction of youth. There are no penances of rule;
but it is assumed that bodily mortifications are practised
and employed, though only under direction. Great
care is taken in the admission and formation of novices,
and lest the protracted periods of study, later, should
chill the fervor of their devotion, there are to be
semi-annual spiritual renovations, and when the studies
are over, and the student ordained to the priesthood,
there is a third year of probation, somewhat similar
to the novitiate in its exercises. There are two
grades in the Society — one of professed, the other
of coadjutors, both spiritual and temporal.
All are to be bound by the three vows of poverty,
chastity and obedience, but those of the coadjutors
are simple, while those of the professed are solemn.
The latter make a fourth vow, namely, one of obedience
to the Sovereign Pontiff, which binds them to go
wherever he sends them, and to do so without excuse,
and without provisions for the journey. The Father-
General is elected for Hfe. He resides in Rome, so as
to be at the beck of the Sovereign Pontiff, and also
because of the international character of the Society.
All superiors are appointed by him, and he is regularly
informed through the provincials about all the members
of the Society. Every three years there is a meeting
of procurators to report on their respective provinces
and to settle matters of graver moment. The General
is aided in his government by assistants chosen mostly
according to racial divisions, which may in turn be
subdivided. There is also an admonitor who sees that
the General governs according to the laws of the
Origin 33
Society and for the common good. Disturbers of the
peace of the Order are to be sharply admonished, and
if incorrigible, expelled. When approved scholastics
or formed coadjutors are dismissed they are dispensed
from their simple vows. The simple vow of chastity
made by the scholastics is a diriment impediment of
matrimony. Because of possible withdrawals or dis-
missals from the Society, the dominion of property
previously possessed is to be retained, as long as the
general may see fit, but not the usufruct — an
arrangement which has been repeatedly approved by
successive Pontiffs, as well as by the Council of Trent.
All ambition of ecclesiastical honors is shut off by a
special vow to that effect. There is no choir or special
dress. The poverty of the Society is of the strictest.
The professed houses are to subsist on alms, and
cannot receive even the usual stipends. Moreover, the
professed are bound by a special vow to watch over
and prevent any relaxation in this respect. The rule
is paternal, and hence an account of conscience is to
be made, either under seal of confession or in whatever
way the individual may find most agreeable, A general
congregation may be convened as often as necessary.
Its advisability is determined at the meeting of the
procurators. In the first part of the Constitution, the
impediments and the mode of admission are considered ;
in the second, the manner of dismissal; in the third
and fourth, the means of furthering piety and study
and whatever else concerns the spiritual advancement,
chiefly of the scholastics; the fifth explains the char-
acter of those who are to be admitted and also the
various grades; the sixth deals with the occupations
of the members ; the seventh treats of those of superiors ;
the eighth and ninth relate to the General; and the
tenth determines the ways and means of government.
Before the Constitutions were promulgated, Ignatius
3
34 The Jesuits
submitted them to the chief representatives of the
various nationaHties then in the Order, but they did
not receive the force of law until they were approved
by the first general congregation of the whole Society.
After that they were presented to Pope Paul III, and
examined by four Cardinals. Not a word had been
altered when they were returned. The Sovereign
Pontiff declared that they were more the result of
Divine inspiration than of human prudence.
For thOvSe who read these Constitutions without any
preconceived notions, the meaning is obvious, whereas
the intention of discovering something mysterious and
maHgnant in them inevitably leads to the most
ridiculous misinterpretations of the text. Thus, for
instance, some writers inform us that St. Ignatius is
not the author of the Constitutions, but Lainez,
Mercurian or Acquaviva. Others assure their readers
that no Pope can ever alter or modify even the lext;
that the General has special power to absolve novices
from any mortal sins they may have committed before
entering; that the general confessions of beginners are
carefully registered and kept; that a special time is
assigned to them for reading accounts of miraculous
apparitions and demoniacal obsessions; that before
the two years of novitiate have elapsed a vow must be
taken to enter the Society; that all wills made in
favor of one's family must be rescinded; that in
meditating, the eyes must be fixed on a certain point
and the thoughts centered on the Pater Noster until
a state of quasi-hypnotism results; that the grades in
the Society are reached after thirty or thirty-five years
of probation, after which the applicant becomes a
probationer; the professed are called "ours"; the
spiritual coadjutors " externs." The latter do the
plotting and have aroused all the ill-will of which the
Society has been the object; whereas the professed
Origin 35
devote themselves to prayer and are admired and
loved.
There are also, we are assured, secret, outside
Jesuits. The Emperors Ferdinand II and III, and
Sigismund of Poland are put in that class, and probably
also John III of Portugal and Maximilian of Bavaria;
while Louis XIV is suspected of belonging to it. The
Father-General dispenses such members from the
priesthood and from wearing the soutane. " Imagine
Louis XIV," says Brou, who furnishes these details,
" asking the General of the Jesuits to be dispensed
from wearing the soutane!" Unlike the other Jesuits,
these cryptics would not be obliged to go to Rome to
pronounce their vows. Again, it is said. Pope Paul IV
had great difficulty in persuading the Jesuits to accept
the dispensation from the daily recitation of the
breviary. Perhaps the most charming of all of these
" discoveries " is that the famous phrase perinde ac
cadaver, " you must obey as if you were a dead body,"
was borrowed from the Sheik Si-Senoussi who laid
down rules for his Senoussis in Africa, about two
centuries after St. Ignatius had died. The authors
of these extraordinary conceptions are Miiller, Reuss,
Cartwright, Pollard, VoUet and others, all of whom are
honoured with a notice posted in the British Museum,
as worthy of being consulted on the puzzling subject
of Jesuitry, and yet the Constitutions of the Society
and the explanations of them, by prominent Jesuit
writers, can be found in any public library^
CHAPTER II
'INITIAL ACTIVITIES
Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Italy — Election of Ignatius —
Jesuits in Ireland — " The Scotch Doctor " — Faber and Melancthon
— Le Jay — Bobadilla — Council of Trent — Lainez, Salmer6n,
Canisius — The Catechism — Opposition in Spain — Cano — Pius V
— First Missions to America — The French Parliaments — Postel —
Foundation of the Collegium Germanicum at Rome — Similar Estab-
lishments in Gennany — Clermont and other Colleges in France —
Colloque de Poissy.
The pent-up energy of the new organization immedi-
ately found vent not only in Europe but at the ends
of the earth. Portugal gave its members their first
welcome when Xavier and Rodriguez went there, the
latter to remain permanently, the former only for a
brief space. Araoz evangelized Spain and was the first
Jesuit to enter into relations with Francis Borgia,
Viceroy of Catalonia, who afterwards became General
of the Society. A college was begun in Paris and pro-
vided with professors such as Strada, Ribadeneira,
Oviedo and Mercurian. Faber accompanied Ortiz, the
papal legate, to Germany; Brouet, Bobadilla, Salmeron,
Codure and Lainez went everywhere through Italy;
while Ignatius remained at Rome, directing their
operations and meantime establishing orphanages, night
refuges, Magdalen asylumns, shelters for persecuted
Jews, and similar institutions. Strangely enough,
Ignatius was not yet the General of the Society, for no
election had thus far taken place. Strictly speaking,
however, none was needed, for none of the associates
ever dreamed of any other leader. However, on
April 5, 1 54 1, the balloting took place; those who were
absent sending their votes by messenger. That of
[36]
Initial Activities 37
Xavier could not arrive in time, for he had already
left Portugal for the East; indeed he had departed
before the official approval of the Order by the Pope —
two things which have suggested to some inventive
historians that Francis Xavier was not really a Jesuit.
They would have proved their point better, if they
could have shown Xavier had remained in Europe
after he had been ordered away. As a matter of fact ;
he had been one of the collaborators of Ignatius iji
framing the Constitutions and was still in Portugal
when the news arrived of Guidiccioni's change of mind.
In the election every vote but one went for Ignatius.
The missing one was his own. He was dissatisfied and
asked for another election. Out of respect for him,
the request was granted but with the same result —
Such a concession, it may be noted, is never granted
now. The one who is chosen submits without a word.
The office is for life but provisions are made for re-
moval — a contingency which happily has never arisen.
As in the beginning, those elections are held at what
are called general congregations. The first one was
made up of all the available fathers but at present they
consist of the fathers assistant, namely the repre-
sentatives of the principal linguistic groups in the
Society or their subdivisions — a body of men who
constitute what is called the Curia and who live with
the General; the provincials; two delegates from each
province; and finally the procurator of the Society.
With one exception, these congregations have always
met in Rome ; the exception is the one that chose Father
Luis Martin in 1892, which assembled at Loyola in
Spain. That these elections may be absolutely free
from all external and internal influence, the delegates
are strictly secluded, and have no communication with
other members of the Society, Foiu* days are spent in
pra^^er and in seeking information from the various
38 The Jesuits
electors, but the advocacy of any particular candidate
is absolutely prohibited. The ballot is secret and the
voting is immediately preceded by an hour's meditation
in presence of the crucifix. The electors are fasting,
but the method of voting is such that a deadlock or
even any great delay is next to impossible. Up to the
time of the Suppression of the Society in 1773, there
had been eighteen Generals. In the interim between
that catastrophe and the re-establishment, there were
three Vicars-General, who were compelled by force of
circumstances to live in Russia. In 1802 on the receipt
of the Brief " CathoHcae Fidei," the title of the last
Vicar was changed to that of General. Since then,
there have been eight successors to that post.
St. Ignatius was chosen General on Easter Sunday,
1 541. After the election, the companions repaired to
St. Paul's outside the Walls and there renewed their
vows. On that occasion it was ordained that every
professed father should, after making his vows, teach
catechism to children or ignorant people for forty days ;
subsequently this obligation was extended to rectors of
colleges after their installation. Ignatius acquitted
himself of this task in the church of Our Lady of the
Wayside at the foot of the Capitol.
In 1 541 we find Salmeron and Brouet on their way
to Ireland as papal nuncios. They had been asked
for by Archbishop Wauchope of Armagh, when Henry
VIII was endeavoring to crush out the Faith in England
and Ireland. Wauchope is a very interesting historical
character. He had been named Archbjshop of Armagh
after Browne of that see had apostatized. He was
generally known as " the Scotch Doctor," and had
been the Delegate of Pope Paul III at Spires where
Charles V was striving in vain to conciliate the German
princes. With him as advisers were Le Jay, Bobadilla
and Faber. What made him especially conspicuous
Initial Activities 39
then and subsequently, was the fact that he had risen
to the dignity of archbishop and of papal delegate
though he was bom blind. This is asserted by a host
of authors, among them Prat in his life of Le Jay,
and Cr6tineau-Joly, MacGeoghegan and Moore in
their histories.
On the other hand we find in the " Acta Sanctag
Sedis " (XIII) a flat denial of it by no less a personage
than Pope Benedict XIV. It occurs incidentally in
a decision given on March 20, 1880, in connection with
an appeal for a young theologian, whose sight was very
badly impaired at the end of his theological course.
The appellants had alleged the case of the Archbishop
of Armagh and the court answered as follows: " Nee
valeret adduci exemplum cujusdam Roberti Scoti, cui
quamvis caeco a puerili setate, concessa fuit facultas
nedum ad sacerdotium sed etiam ad episcopatum,
ascendendi, uti tenent Maiol. {De irregularitate), et
Barbos (De officio episcopi). Respondet enim Bene-
dictus XIV, quod reliqui scriptores, quibus major fides
habenda est, Robertum non oculis captum sed infirmum
fuisse dicunt;" which in brief means: " Benedict XIV
declares that the most reliable historians say that
Scotch Robert was not blind but of feeble vision."
As Benedict XIV was perhaps the greatest scholar who
ever occupied the Chair of Peter, and as his extraor-
dinary intellectual abili'ties were devoted from the
beginning of his career to historical, canonical and
liturgical studies, in which he is regarded as of the
highest authority, such an utterance may be accepted
as final with regard to the " Scotch Doctor's " blind-
ness.
Codure was to have been one of the Irish delegates,
but he died, and hence Salmeron, Brouet and Zapata
undertook the perilous mission. The last mentioned
"Vvas a wealthy ecclesiastic who was about to enter the
40 The Jesuits
Society and had offered to defray the expenses of the
journey. In the instructions for their manner of acting
Ignatius ordered that Brouet should be spokesman
whenever nobles or persons of importance were to be
dealt with. As Brouet had the looks and the sweetness
of an angel, whereas Salmeron was abrupt at times,
the wisdom of the choice was obvious. They went by
the way of France to Scotland, and when at Stirling
Castle, they received a letter from James V, the father
of Mary Queen of Scots, bespeaking their interest in
his people. Cretineau-Joly says they saw the king
personally. Fouqueray merely hints at its likelihood.
From Scotland they passed over to Ireland and found
that the enemy knew of their arrival. A price was put
upon their heads, and they had to hurry from place to
place so as not to compromise those who gave them
shelter. But in the brief period of a month which
they had at their disposal before they were recalled
by the Pope they had ample opportunity to take in
the conditions that prevailed. They returned as they
had gone, through Scotland and over to Dieppe, and
then directed their steps to Rome, but they were
arrested as spies near Lyons and thrown into prison —
a piece of news which Paget, the English ambassador
in France, hastened to communicate to Henry;
Cardinals de Tournon and Gaddi, however, succeeded
in having them released and they then proceeded to
the Holy City to make their report.
Eighteen years later. Father Michael Gaudan was
sent as papal nuncio to Mary Stuart. He entered
Edinburgh disguised as a Scottish peddler and succeeded
in reaching the queen. As a Frenchman could not
have acted the part of a Scottish peddler, it is more
than likely that Gaudan is a gallicized form of Gordon.
Indeed, there is on the records a Father James Gordon,
S. J., who had so exasperated the Calvinists by his
Initial Activities 41
refutation of their errors that he was driven out of the
country. He returned again, however, immediately,
as he simply got a boat to take him off the ship which
was carrying him into exile, and on the following day
he stood once more upon his native heath, remaining
there for some years sustaining his persecuted Catholic
brethren (Claude Nau, Mary's secretary).
That the " blind Archbishop " also succeeded in
reaching his see is clear from a passage in Moore's
" History of Ireland " (xlvii), which tells how during
the reign of Edward VI two French gentlemen, the
Baron de Fourquevaux and the Sieur Montluc, after-
wards Bishop of Valence, went to Ireland as envoys
of the French king and were concealed in Culmer
Fort on Loch Foyle. They kept a diary of their
journey which may be found, we are assured, in the
" Armorial-general ou registre de la noblesse de France."
The diary relates that while at the Fort " they received
a visit from Robert Wauchope, better known by his pen
name as Venantius, a divine whose erudition was the
more remarkable as he had been blind from birth and
was at the time, titular Archbishop of Armagh."
He did not, however, remain in Ireland. MacGeo-
ghegan says " he returned to the Continent and died
in the Jesuit house at Paris in the year 1551. Stewart
Rose in her " Saint Ignatius Loyola and the Early
Jesuits " tells us it was at Lyons, but that was
impossible, for there was no Jesuit establishment in
Lyons until after the great pestilence of 1565, when
the authorities offered the Society the municipal
college of the Trinity as a testimonial of gratitude to
Father Auger. The generosity of this offer, however,
was not excessive. The Fathers were to take it for
two years on trial. They did so and then the pro-
vincial insisted that the gift should be absolute or the
staff would be withdrawn. After some bickering on
42 The Jesuits
the part of a number of Calvinist 6chevins or aldermen,
the grant was made in perpetuity and confirmed by
Charles IX in 1568.
Meantime, Faber had been laboring in Germany.
He was to have been the Catholic orator at Worms
in 1540, but conditions were such that he made no
public utterance. Melanchthon was present, but
whether Faber and he met is not clear. In 1541
Faber received an enthusiastic welcome at Ratisbon
from the Catholics, especially from Cochlceus, the great
antagonist of Luther. Among his opponents at the
Diet were Bucer and Melanchthon; the discussion, as
usual, led to no result. In one of his letters he notes
the inability of the Emperor to prevent the general
ruin of the Faith. From Ratisbon he went to Nurem-
berg, but as the legate had been recalled, Faber's
work necessarily came to an end. Le Jay and Bobadilla
succeeded him in Germany. The former addressed the
assembly of the bishops at Salzburg, preached in
the Lutheran churches, escaped being poisoned on
one occasion and drowned on another; he failed,
however, to check the flood of heresy, which had not
only completely engulfed Ratisbon, but threatened
to overwhelm Catholic Bavaria, although Duke
William maintained that such an event was impossible.
Ingolstadt had already been badly damaged, both
doctrinally and morally; and Bobadilla was despatched
thither by the legate to see what could be done.
Faber had, meantime, returned to Germany. In
spite of attacks by highwaymen, imprisonment, ill-
treatment at the hands of disorderly bands of soldiers
and heretics, he reached Spires and completely revived
the spirit of the clergy. From there he hastened to
Cologne, but in the midst of his work he was sent off
to Portugal for the marriage of the king's daughter.
By the time he reached Lou vain, he was sick and
Initial Activities 43
exhausted, so that the order to proceed to Portugal
had to be rescinded. He then returned to Cologne,
where he again met Bucer and Melanchthon, who were
endeavoring to induce the bishop to apostatize.
Apprehensive of their success, he had them both
expelled from the city. Again he was summoned to
Portugal, and in 1547 the king, at his instance, gave
the Society the college of Coimbra. Similar establish-
ments were begun about the same time in Spain —
at Valencia, Barcelona and Valladolid, chiefly through
the influence of Araoz.
Le Jay, meanwhile, had been made professor of
theology at Innsbruck, on the death of the famous
Dr. Eck, and the university petitioned the Pope to
make his appointment perpetual ; but he was clamored
for simultaneously by several bishops, and we find him
subsequently at Augsburg, Salzburg, Dillingen and
elsewhere, battling incessantly for the cause of the
Faith. He succeeded in inducing the bishops assembled
at Augsburg to prohibit the discussion of religion at
the Diet, and a little later he assisted at the ecclesiastical
council of the province. With him at this gathering
was Bobadilla, who, says the chronicler, " resembled
him in energy and zeal but was altogether unlike him
in character." Le Jay was gentle and persuasive;
Bobadilla, impetuous and volcanic. Bobadilla's fire,
however, seems to have pleased the Germans. He
strengthened the nobles and people of Innsbruck in
their faith, was consulted by King Ferdinand on the
gravest questions, scored brilliant successes in public
disputes, and was made socius of the Apostolic nuncio
at Nuremberg, where, it was suspected, a deep plot was
being laid for the complete extirpation of the Faith.
At the king's request, he attended the Diet of Worms,
and by his alertness and knowledge rendered immense
service to the Catholic party. He was shortly after-
44 The Jesuits
ward summoned by the king to Vienna where he
preached to the people incessantly and revived the
ecclesiastical spirit of the clergy. He was again at
Worms for another diet, and persuaded both the
emperor and Ferdinand to oppose the Lutheran scheme
of convoking a general council in Germany. At the
suggestion of St. Ignatius, an appeal had been made
to the bishops, through Le Jay, to establish seminaries
in their dioceses. They all approved of the project;
and several immediately set to work to carry it out.
When the Diet adjourned, Le Jay left Germany to
take part in the Council of Trent, while Bobadilla
remained with the king as spiritual adviser to the
court and general supervisor of the sick and wounded
soldiers of the royal armies. In the latter capacity he
acquitted himself with his usual energy — his impetu-
osity of character often bringing him into the forefront
of battle, where he merited several honorable scars
for his daring. He also succeeded in falling a victim
to the pestilence which was ravaging the country; he
was robbed and maltreated by marauders, but came
through it all safely, and we find him at the Diets of
Ratisbon and Augsburg, everywhere showing himself
a genuine apostle, as the Archbishop of Vienna informed
Ignatius. The king offered him a bishopric, but he
refused. He was soon, however, to know Germany
no more.
The Council of Trent had already been in session
for three years, when Charles V issued an edict known
as the Interim, which forbade any change of religion
until the council had finished its work; but at the
same time he made concessions to the heretics which
angered the Catholics both lay and clerical. Bobadilla
was especially outspoken in the matter and in a public
discourse was imprudent enough to condemn the
imperial policy. Clearly he had not yet acquired the
Initial Activities 45
characteristic virtue of his great leader. Not only did
he not mend matters by his intemperate eloquence, but
he created an aversion for the Society in the mind of
Charles V, which lasted till the time of St. Francis
Borgia. Besides, he virtually blasted his own career.
He was ordered to Naples by St. Ignatius and forbidden
to present himself at the Jesuit house as he passed
through Rome. He appears only once later and
then in a manner scarcely redounding to his credit:
objecting to the election of Lainez as vicar, although
he had previously voted for him and obeyed him for
a year. Happily the brilliant services of his fellow
Jesuits who were at the Council of Trent and elsewhere,
as well as his own splendid past, averted any very
great damage to the Society.
Although Ignatius had been invited to be present
at the sessions in Trent, he sedulously avoided the
prominence which that would have given him person-
ally; moreover, absence from his post as General of
the newly-formed Institute would have materially
interfered with the task of preparing successors to
the great men who were already at work. Thus,
Salmeron and Lainez were the Pope's theologians and
Father Faber was summoned from his sick bed in
Portugal to assist them, but he arrived in Rome only
to die in the arms of Ignatius and never appeared at
the council. Le Jay was present as theologian of the
Cardinal Archbishop of Augsburg; Cavallino repre-
sented the Duke of Bavaria; and later Canisius and
Polanco were added to the group. The coming of
Canisius was due more or less to an accident. He
had been la"boring at Cologne to prevent the archbishop,
Herman von Weid, from openly apostatizing; when
the concessions to Melanchthon and Bucer had become
too outrageous to be tolerated, he had hurried off to
meet the emperor and King Ferdinand to ask for the
46
The Jesuits
deposition of the prelate. With the king he met
Truchsess, the great Cardinal of Augsburg, and had
no difficulty in gaining his point, but the Cardinal was
so fascinated by the ability of the young pleader that
he insisted on taking him to Trent as his theologian in
spite of the protests of the whole city of Cologne.
Naturally, many of the Fathers of the Council had
their suspicions of these new theologians. They were
members of a religious order which had broken with
the traditions of the past, and they might possibly be
heretics in disguise. Moreover, they were alarmingly
young. Canisius was only twenty-six, Salmeron thirty-
one, Le Jay about the same age, and Lainez, the chief
figure in the council, not more than thirty-four. But
the indubitable holiness of their lives, their amazing
learning, and their uncompromising orthodoxy soon
dissipated all doubts about them. Lainez and Salmeron
were especially prominent. They were allowed to
speak as long as they chose on any topic. Thus, after
Lainez had discoursed for an entire day on the Sacrifice
of the Mass, he was ordered to continue on the following
morning. Entire sections of the Acts of the council
were written by him; and by order of the Pope both
he and Salmeron had to be present at all the sessions
of the council, which lasted with its interruptions from
1545 to 1563. Bishoprics and a cardinal's hat were
offered to Lainez ; and, at the death of Paul IV, twelve
votes were cast for him as Pope. Indeed one section of
the cardinals had made up their minds to elect him, but
when apprised of it, he fled and kept in concealment
until the danger was averted. He was at that time
General of the Society.
After the first adjournment of the council, these men
whose stupendous labors would appear to have called
for some repose were granted none at all. Thus, we find
Lainez summoned by the Duke of Etruria to found a
Initial Activities 47
college in Florence. The Pope's vicar wanted him to look
after the ecclesiastical needs of Bologna, whither he
repaired with Salmeron, while Le Jay was working at
Ferrara and elsewhere in the Peninsula. The most
remarkable of them all, however, in the matter of work
during these recesses was undoubtedly Peter Canisius
(Kanees, Kanys or De Hondt, as he was variously
called.) One would naturally imagine that he would
have been sent back to Cologne to the scene of his
former tri-umphs. On the contrary, he was ordered to
teach rhetoric in the newly -founded college of Messina
in Sicily. He was then recalled to Rome, where he
made his solemn profession in the hands of St. Ignatius;
after this he started with Le Jay and Salmeron to
Ingolstadt, where he taught theology and began his
courses of catechetical instructions which were to
restore the lost Faith of Germany.
On the way to the scene of his labors, he received a
doctor's degree at Bologna. In 1550 he was made
rector of the University of Ingolstadt, but was never-
theless, sent to Vienna to found a new college. He
was simultaneously court preacher, director of the
hospitals and prisons, and, in Lent, the apostle of the
abandoned parishes of Lower Austria. He was offered
the See of Vienna, but three times he refused it, though
he had to administer the diocese during the year 1557.
Five years prior to that he had opened colleges at
Prague and Ingolstadt, after which he was appointed
the first provincial of Germany. He was adviser of
the king at the Diet of Ratisbon, and by order of the
Pope took part in the religious discussions at Worms.
He began negotiations for a college at Strasburg, and
made apostolic exciirsions to that place as well as to
Freiburg and Alsace. While taking part in the general
congregation of the order in Rome, he was sent by
Pope Paul IV to the imperial Diet of Pieterkow in
48 The Jesuits
Poland. In 1559 he was summoned by the emperor
to the Diet of Augsburg, and had to remain in that
city from 1561 to 1562 as cathedral preacher; during
this time it is recorded that besides giving retreats,
teaching catechism and hearing confessions, he appeared
as many as two hundred and ten times in the pulpit.
In 1562 he was back again as papal theologian at Trent,
where he found himself at odds with Lainez, then
General of the Society, on the question of granting the
cup to the laity — Lainez opposing this concession,
which he advocated. He remained at the council only
for a few sessions, but returned again after having
reconciled the Emperor with the Pope. The Emperor's
favor, however, he lost later when he changed his
views about Communion under both species, and also
by reason of an unfounded charge of reveahng imperial
secrets which had been made against him.
In that year Canisius opened the college of Innsbruck
and directed the spiritual Hfe of Magdalena, the saintly
daughter of Ferdinand I. In 1564 he inaugurated the
college of Dillingen and became administrator of the
university of that place ; he was also constituted secret
nuncio of Pius IV to promulgate the decrees of the
council in Germany. His mission was interrupted by
the death of the Pope, and although Pius V desired
him to continue in that office, he declined, because it
exposed him to the accusation of meddling in poHtics.
In 1566 he was theologian of the legate at the Diet
of Augsburg and persuaded that dignitary not to issue
a mandate against the so-called religious peace. He
thus prevented another war and gave new life to the
Catholics of Germany. In 1567 he founded a college
at Wurzburg, and evangelized Mayence and Spires.
At Dillingen he received young Stanislaus Kostka into
the Society conditionally and sent him to Rome; he
settled a philosophical dispute at Innsbruck and
Initial Activities 49
established a college at Halle. At last in 1569 at his
own request he was relieved of his office of provincial,
which he had held for thirteen years; in 1570 he was
court preacher of the Archduke Ferdinand II; in 1575
he was papal envoy to Bavaria, and theologian to the
papal legate at the Diet of Ratisbon. He introduced
the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin at Innsbruck, and
at the command of the Pope built a college at Freiburg,
where he remained for the rest of his life.
For years Canisius had urged his superiors and had
also pleaded at the Council of Trent for the establish-
ment of colleges of writers in various countries to
defend the Faith. He was in constant touch with the
great printers and publishers of the day, such as
Plantin, Cholin and Mayer; he brought out the first
reports of foreign missions, and induced the town
council of Freiburg to establish a printing-press. All
this time he was actively writing, and the list of his
publications covers thirty-eight quarto pages in the
" Bibliotheque des ecrivains dela C. de Jesus." He was
commissioned by Pius V to refute the Centuriators of
Magdeburg — the society of writers who, under the
inspiration of Flacius Illyricus, had undertaken to
falsify the works of the early Fathers of the Church,
century by century, so as to furnish a historical proof
in support of Luther's errors. In 1583 he united in
one volume the two books which he had previously
issued in 1571 and 1577, styling them " Commentaria
de Verbi corruptelis," having in the meantime published
the genuine texts of Saints Cyril and Leo.
His " Catechism " was his most famous achievement.
It consisted of two hundred and eleven, and later, of
two hundred and twenty-two doctrinal questions, and
was intended chiefly for advanced students; but there
were annexed to it a compendium for children, and
another for students of the middle and lower grades.
4
50 The Jesuits
It is recognized as a masterpiece even by Protestant
writers such as Ranke, Menzel, Kawerau and others.
Two hundred editions of it in one form or another
were pubHshed during his lifetime in twelve different
languages. " I know my Canisius " became a
synonym in Germany for " I know my catechism."
In brief, he did more than any other man to save
Germany for the Church, and he is regarded as another
St. Boniface. He died on November 21, 1597 and was
beatified by Pius IX on April 17, 1864. The Catechism
appears to have been first suggested by Ferdinand
I to Le Jay who took up the work enthusiastically.
But instead of crowding everything into one volume,
he divided it into three : the first, a summa of theology
for the university; the second, a volume for priests
engaged in the ministry ; while the third was for school
teachers. He laid the matter before St. Ignatius, who
assigned the first part to Lainez and the second to
Frusius, then rector of Vienna. But as Frusius died,
and Lainez was made General of the Society, Canisius
undertook the entire work.
Apparently, it was from Le Jay also that the idea
came of founding the Collegium Germanicum in Rome,
though Cardinal Morone claims it as his conception.
Le Jay, indeed, had discussed the matter with him,
but had previously made a much more serious study
of the question with Cardinal Truchsess, Archbishop
of Augsburg. As the purpose of the Collegium was to
supply a thoroughly educated priesthood to Germany,
Truchsess could appreciate the need of it more than
Morone, whose ideas about the need of good works,
the vital question in Germany at the time, were
extremely curious, according to his own account of
a stormy interview he had with Salmeron on that
topic. He reproached Salmeron for making too much
of good works. Indeed Morone had been at one time
Initial Activities 51
under the surveillance of the Inquisition on account
of certain utterances. His orthodoxy, however, must
have been above suspicion, because of the exalted
position he occupied.
Le Jay was broken-hearted when Maurice of Saxony,
the leader of the imperial troops, swung his whole
army over to the very Lutherans whom he had just
defeated at Muhlberg. The awful condition of religion
in the Empire preyed upon his mind to such a degree
that he died at Vienna on Aug. 6, 1552, at the age of
fifty-two. Canisius, who preached the funeral oration,
said that he was " a worthy successor of Faber, and that
his instinct was so correct that the character he gave
to the college of Vienna over which he presided was
adopted as the model throughout Germany." Ranke
might be quoted on that point also. He points out
that " at the beginning of 1551 the Jesuits had no
fixed place in Germany — Le Jay was appointed
rector only in June of that year — but in 1566 they
occupied Bavaria, Tyrol, Franconia, a great part of
the Rhine Province and Austria, and had penetrated
into Hungary and Moravia. It was the first durable
anti-Protestant check that Germany had received."
Under normal conditions, Spain would of course,
have received these distinguished sons of hers with
open arms; but, unfortunately, a deplorable state of
affairs prevailed in the highest circles both of Church
and State, almost as open and as shameless as in
other parts of Europe. Princes and nobles held the
titles of bishops and archbishops and appropriated the
revenues of dioceses. That alone made any effort in
the way of reform impossible. Added to this, Boba-
dilla's indiscretion in attacking the policy of Charles V
in Germany had, as we have already said, predisposed
that monarch, and consequently nrnny of his subjects,
against the whole Society; but as the Emperor did
52 The Jesuits
not openly interfere with them they estabHshed colleges
in Barcelona, Gandia, Valencia and Alcala, as early
as 1546; but two years later, when they made their
appearance in Salamanca, they found an implacable
foe in the person of the distinguished Dominican
theologian, Melchior Cano.
From the pulpit and platform and in the press
Cano denounced and decried the new religious, not
only as constituting a danger to the Church, but as
being nothing else than the precursors of Antichrist.
His own Master-General wrote a letter eulogizing the
Society and forbidding his brethren to attack it; but
this had no effect on Melchior, nor did the fact that
the new Order was approved by the Pope avail to keep
him quiet. Finally, in order to mollify him he was
made Bishop of the Canaries, but he actually resigned
that see in order to return to the attack. His hostility
continued not only till his death, but after it; for,
before he departed, he left in the hands of a friend
a document which was of great service to the enemies
of the Society at the time of the Suppression. " God
grant," he wrote, " that I may not be a Cassandra,
who was believed only after the sack of Troy. If the
religious of the Society continue as they have begun,
there may come a time, which I hope God will avert,
when the Kings of Europe would wish to resist them
but will be unable to do so." One of the reasons of
Cano's hostility to the Society was that the Fathers
urged Catholics to frequent the sacraments (Suau,
Vie de Borgia, 136). This opposition of Cano was
backed by the Archbishop of Saragossa, who was
Francis Borgia's uncle. Bands of street children carry-
ing banners on which hideous devils were painted
marched to the new church of the Society and pelted
it with stones. Then the mob drove the luckless
Fathers out of the city; when Borgia's sister sheltered
Initial Activities 53
the exiles in her castle her uncle, the archbishops
excommunicated her. But that was the way of the
world in those days. Even the illustrious Cardinal
Carranza was kept in the prison of the Spanish
Inquisition for seventeen years, because of something
discovered in his writings by his brother Dominican
Melchior Cano (Suau, op. cit., 136).
Little by little, however, the prejudices were dissi-
pated, and both Alcala and Salamanca called Strada
to lecture in their halls. Nevertheless, each new success
only raised a fresh storm. Thus it was bad enough
when the rector of the University of Salamanca,
Anthony of Cordova, who was just about to be made
a cardinal, entered the Society; but the excitement
became intense when, in 1550, Francis Borgia, who
was Duke of Gandia, Viceroy of Catalonia, a friend
of the Emperor, a soldier who had distinguished
himself in the invasion of Provence, and whose future
usefulness was reckoned upon for the service of his
country, let it be known that he, too, was going to
become a Jesuit. To prevent it, the Pope was urged
to make him a Cardinal, but Borgia, who was then in
Rome, fled back to Spain. When, however, he finally
appeared as a member of the Order, houses and colleges
were erected wherever he wished to have them: at
Granada, Valladolid, Saragossa, Medina, San Lucar,
Monterey, Burgos, Valencia, Murcia, Placentia and
Seville. In 1556 Charles V was succeeded by Philip II,
who asked that the cardinal's hat should be given to
Borgia, but the honor was again refused. On three
other occasions the same offers and refusals were
repeated.
By the time Francis Borgia became General of the
Order it had already developed into eighteen provinces,
with one hundred and thirty establishments, and had
a register of three thousand five hundred members.
54 The Jesuits
Besides attempting to convert the Vaudois heretics,
the Society maintained the missions of Brazil and the
Indies and estabHshed new ones in Peru and Mexico;
by the help of the famous Pedro Menendez, who is the
special object of hatred on the part of American Protest-
ant historians, it sent the first missionaries to what is
now Florida in the United States. Segura and his
companions were put to death on the Rappahannock;
and Martinez was killed further down the coast, while
Sanchez, a former rector of Alcala, reached Vera Cruz
in Mexico in 1572 with twelve companions to look
after the Spaniards and natives and to care for the
unfortunate blacks whom the Spaniards were importing
from Africa,
When Pius V was elected Pope, there was a general
fear that he would suppress the Society; but the
Pontiff set all doubts at rest when, on his way to be
crowned at St. John Lateran, he called Borgia to his
side and embraced him. He also made Salmeron and
Toletus his official preachers, and gave the Jesuits
the work of translating the " Catechism " of the
Council of Trent and of publishing a new edition of
the Bible. He was, however, about to revoke the
Society's exemption from the office of choir; but
Borgia induced him to change his mind on that point,
and even obtained a perpetual exemption from the
pubHc recitation of the Office, as well as the revocation
of the restriction of the priesthood to the professed
of the Society. Moreover, when there was danger of
a Turkish invasion, Borgia was sent with the Pope's
nephew to Spain and France to organize a league
in defence of Christendom, while Toletus accompanied
another cardinal to Germany.
Philip n had asked for missionaries to evangelize
Peru, and hence at the end of March, 1568, Portillo
and seven Jesuits landed at Callao, and proceeding to
Initial Activities 55
Lima established a church and college there on a
magnificent scale. It was easy to do so, however,
for the Spanish colonists were rolling in wealth. At
the same time, the Indians and negroes were not
neglected. In 1569 twelve new missionaries arrived,
and one of them, Alonzo de Barzana, to the amazement
of every one, preached in the language of the Incas as
soon as he came ashore. He had been studying it
every moment of the long journey from Spain. In
1574 a college was established at Cuzco, in an old
palace of the Incas, and another in the city of
La Paz. . 'J
At this stage of the work the first domestic trouTDle
in the New World presented itself. Portillo, the pro-
vincial, was admitting undesirable candidates into the
Society, and placing the professed in parishes, thus
flinging them into the midst of the civil and ecclesiastical
turmoil which then prevailed. In spite of his abilities,
however,' he was promptly recalled to Spain. It is
very gratifying to learn that outside the domestic
precincts, no one ever knew the reason of this drastic
measure. Freedom from parochial obligations left the
Father.s time for their normal work, and they forthwith
established schools in almost every city and town of
Peru. The training school on Lake Titicaca, especially,
was a very wise and far-seeing enterprise, for there
the missionaries could devote themselves exclusively
to the study of the native language and to historical,
literary and scientific studies. The result was that
some of the most eminent men of the period issued
from that educational centre. It is said that the
printing-press they brought over from Europe was the
first one to be set up in that part of the New World.
Titicaca flourished as late as 1767, but at that time
Charles III expelled the Jesuits from Peru and Titicaca
ceased to be.
56 The Jesuits
The Society had a long and desperate struggle,
before it could gain an educational foothold in France.
Possibly it was a preparation for the future glory it
was to win there. Its principal enemies were the
University of Paris and, incidentally, the Parliament,
which came under the influence of the doctors of the
Sorbonne. The first band of Jesuits arrived under the
leadership of Domenech, who had been a canon in
Spain but had relinquished his rich benefice to enter
the Society — an act which seemed so supremely foolish
in the eyes of his friends that they accused Ignatius
of bewitching him. Later, he became a sort of Saint
Vincent de Paul for Italy. He found Palermo swarming
with throngs of half -naked and starving children, and
immediately built an asylum for them. He estab-
lished hospitals, Magdalen asylums, refuges for the
aged, and went round the city holding out his hand
for alms to repair the dilapidated convents of nuns,
whom the constant wars had left homeless and hungry.
Giving the Spiritual Exercises was one of his special
occupations.
In the group, also, was Oviedo, the future Patriarch
of Abyssinia, who was to spend his life in the wilds
of Africa. There too was Strada, orator, poet and his-
torian, who was to be one of the most illustrious men of
his time; he taught rhetoric for fifteen years in the
Roman College, was the official preacher and the inti-
mate friend of Popes Clement VIII and Paul V, and wrote
a " History of the Wars of Flanders," which met with
universal applause. Finally, there was the famous
young Ribadeneira, then only a boy of fourteen; he
had left one of the most brilliant courts of Europe —
that of Cardinal Famese, the brother of princes and
popes — and later became famous as a distinguished
Latinist, a successful diplomat, the chosen orator at
the inaugural ceremonies of the Collegium Germanicum,
Initial Activities 57
*
an eminent preacher at Louvain and Brussels, and an
envoy to Mary Tudor in her last illness. He was
provincial, visitor and assistant under Borgia and
Lainez, the great champion of the Society in Spain
against Vasquez and his fellow-conspirators, and an
author whose works in his native Castilian are ranked
among the classics of the language.
Their staunch friend was du Prat, the Bishop of
Clermont, who gave them the palace which had been,
up to that time, his residence when visiting the
metropolis. Before that shelter was assured to them,
they had lived as boarders, first in the College des
Tresoriers and then in the College des Lombards,
not as Jesuits, but as ordinary students whose
similarity of taste in matters of piety seemed to
the outside world to have drawn them together. Of
course, their real character soon became known, and
then their troubles began. A college was attempted
at Tournon in the following year, with Auger as rector,
but the civil war was raging and before a twelve-
month, Adrets, the most bloodthirsty monster of the
Huguenot rebellion, whose favorite amusement was to
make his prisoners leap off the ramparts to the rocks
below, put an end to everything Catholic in Tournon.
Cretineau-Joly is of opinion that the recognition
of the Society in France was retarded by its refusal
to admit the famous Guillaume Postel in its ranks.
It seems absurd, but it happened just then that France
had gone mad about Postel; and Marguerite de
Valois used to speak of him as the " Wonder of the
World." He was indeed a very remarkable personage.
Though only self-instructed, he knew almost every
language; he had plunged in the depths of rabbinical
and astrological lore; to obtain an intimate knowledge
of the Orient, he had accompanied the Sultan in an
expedition against the Persians; he had spent vast
58 The Jesuits
sums of money in purchasing rare manuscripts; he was
sought for by all the universities; he drew immense
crowds to his lectures, and wrote books about every
conceivable subject, but at the same time with all his
genius he was undoubtedly insane. So that when he
went to Rome and told about his spiritual communica-
tions with the mythical Mere Jeanne, and how he
proposed to unite the whole human race, by the power
of the sword or the word, under the banner of the
Pope and the King of France, who, he said, was a lineal
descendant of the eldest son of Noe, the perspicacity
of a Loyola was not needed to understand his mental
condition. His rejection ought to have been a recom-
mendation rather than a reproach.
When established in their new house, the Jesuits re-
ceived scholars and asked for affiHation to the university,
but the request was peremptorily refused, for the alleged
reason that they were neither secular priests nor friars,
but a nondescript and novel organization whose purpose
was mysterious and suspicious. Besides, they were
all Spaniards — a genuine difficulty at a time when
Charles V and Francis I were threatening to go to war
with each other. It happened also that the Archbishop
of Paris, du Bellay, was their avowed enemy; he
denounced them as corrupters of youth, and expelled
them from the little chapel of Saint-Germain-des-
Pres, which a Benedictine abbot had put at their
disposal. Finally, when the war seemed imminent, the
foreigners were sent away, some to Lyons and some
to Louvain. For a time, those who remained were
shielded by the papal nuncio at Paris, but he was
recalled. Then the Archbishop of Rheims and the
Cardinal of Lorraine appeared as their protectors.
They had even secured the grant of a charter for the
college and were very hopeful of opening it, but, as the
concession had to be passed on by the Parliament
Initial Activities 59
before it became effective, they were as badly off as
ever. Besides this, their lack of friends had left the
college without funds, for the teaching given in their
house was gratuitous — a practice which formed the
chief educational grievance alleged by the university.
Evidently a staff of clever professors who taught for
nothing constituted a menace to all other institutions.
Conditions became so desperate that at one time there
were only four pupils at Clermont. Nevertheless, with
an amazing confidence in the future success of the
Society in France, it was just at this moment that St.
Ignatius established the French province, and sent the
beloved Pasquier Brouet as superior. j
Brouet had already given proofs of his ability in
dealing with difficulties; for with Salmeron he had
faced the danger of death in Ireland, and when there
was question of creating a Patriarch of Abyssinia or
Ethiopia, another place of prospective martyrdom, he
was the first choice, though Oviedo was ultimately
selected, probably because of his nationality. Shortly
after his arrival, a new college was attempted at Billom,
but Father de la Goutte who was appointed rector M^as
captured by the Turks and died on an island off the
coast of Tunis. A substitute, however, was appointed,
and in a few years the college had five hundred students
on its roll. Applications were made also for estabhsh-
ments at Montarges, Perigueux and elsewhere. In 1 560
the first friend of the Society in France, the Bishop
of Clermont, died, leaving rich bequests in his will to
the colleges at Paris and Billom, but they were disal-
lowed by the courts because the Society was not an
authorized corporation. For, in spite of the fact that
not only the sanction of Henry II but also that of
Francis II had been given, yet the university and the
Archbishop of Paris had contrived by all sorts of
devices to delay the complete official recognition of the
60 The Jesuits
establishment. In the long fight that ensued against
this injustice, Father Cogordan, who was the procurator
of the province, distinguished himself by his resource-
fulness in facing and mastering the various situations.
The opposition finally collapsed in a very dramatic
fashion. Charles IX was on the throne, but the reins
of government were in the hands of his mother,
Catherine de' JMedici.who, contrary to the express wish
of the Sovereign Pontiff, had consented to the demands
of the Huguenots for a general assembly, where the
claims of the new religion might be presented to
the representative Catholics of the kingdom. The
Colloqu3^ as it was called, took place at Poissy in 1561.
The experience of Germany in permitting such gather-
ings had shown very clearly that, instead of conducing
to religious peace, they only widened the breach between
Catholics and Protestants. For the calm statement
of dogmatic differences was ignored by the appellants,
and the sessions were purposely turned into a series
of disorderly and virulent denunciations and recrimina-
tions.
The Colloquy in this instance was very imposing.
The queen mother, Charles IX and the whole court
were present. There were five cardinals, forty bishops
and a throng of learned divines from all parts of
France. Cardinal de Toumon presided; Hopital was
the spokesman for the crown; while the King of
Navarre and the Prince de Conde represented the
Huguenot party. Among the Protestant ministers
were Theodore Beza and Peter Martyr, the ex-friar.
Eight days had gone by in useless squabbles when into
the assembly came James Lainez, who was then General
of the Society, and had been sent thither by the Pope
to protest against the Colloquy. Beza had already
been annihilated by the Cardinal of Lorraine, and
Peter Martyr was speaking when Lainez entered.
Initial Activities 61
The great man who had held the Council of Trent
enthralled by his leaning and eloquence listened for a
while to his unworthy adversary and then arose.
Addressing the queen, he said: " It may be unseemly
for a foreigner to lift his voice in this presence, but as
the Church is restricted to no nation, it cannot be out
of place for me to give utterance to the thoughts that
present themselves to my mind on this occasion. I
will first advert to the danger of these assemblies and
will especially address myself to what Friar Peter and
his colleague have advanced."
The use of the name " friar " publicly pilloried the
apostate. He writhed under it, but he could not
escape. It recurred again and again as the tactics of
Beza and his associates were laid bare. Then, turning
to the queen, Lainez said: "The first means to be
taken to avoid the deceits of the enemy is for your
Majesty to remember that it is not within the compe-
tency either of your Majesty or any other temporal
prince to discuss and decide matters pertaining to the
Faith. This belongs to the Sovereign Pontiff and the
Councils of the Church. Much more so is this the
case when, as at present, the General Council of Trent
is in session. If these teachers of the new religion are
sincerely seeking the truth, let them go there to find it."
After adding his authority to the splendid reply already
uttered by the Cardinal of Lorraine, Lainez said:
" As Friar Peter has asked us for a confession of faith,
I confess the CathoHc Faith, for which I am ready to
die; and I implore Your Majesties, both you, Madame,
and your son, the Most Christian King, to safeguard
your temporal kingdom if you wish to gain the Kingdom
of Heaven. If on the contrary you care less for the
fear and love of God than the fear and love of man,
are you not running the risk of losing your earthly as
well as your heavenly kingdom? I trust that this
62 The Jesuits
calamity will not fall upon you. I expect, on the
contrary, that God in his goodness will grant you and
your son the grace of perseverance in your faith, and
will not permit this illustrious nobility now before me,
and this most Christian kingdom, which has been such
an example to the world, ever to abandon the Catholic
Faith or be defiled by the pestilential touch of these
new sects and new religions."
This discourse was a particularly daring act, on the
part of Lainez. According to a recent authority
(Martin, Gallicanisme et la Reforme, 28, note 4), Du
Ferrier, the government delegate at Trent, circulated
a note which said among other things: " As for
Pius IV we withdraw from his rule; whatever decisions
he may have made we reject, spit back at him
(respuimus) and despise. We scorn and renounce him
as Vicar of Christ, Head of the Church and successor
of Peter." Far from reprehending his ambassador for
these furious words, Charles IX and, of course,
Catherine praised the ambassador unreservedly.
Catherine had busied herself previous to this in trying
to persuade the different governments to have a
council in which the Pope should have nothing to say,
one whose object would be, not to define dogma or
enforce discipline, but, to draw up a formula of recon-
ciliation which would satisfy Protestants. Even the
French bishops, though admitting that the Pope was
a supreme power in the Church, denied that he had
supreme power over it, and refused to acknowledge
" his plenitude of power to feed, rule and govern the
Universal Church." The separation of France from
the Church was at that time openly advocated. Since
such were the conditions in France at that time, it is |
clear that Catherine never expected an attack of the
kind that Lainez treated her to. She burst into tears
and withdrew from the Colloquy. There was never
Initial Activities 63
another public session. Cretineau-Joly says that
Lainez told Conde: " The queen's tears are a bit of
comedy; " but such an utterance from a man of the
character of Lainez and in such surroundings, where
the insult would have been immediately reported to
the queen, is simply inconceivable. He could never
have been guilty of such an impardonable indis-
cretion.
Meantime, the bishops and archbishops of France
had been meeting during the recesses of the Colloquy
to consider the question of legislation for the Jesuit
colleges. With the exception of Cardinal de Chatillon
and the Archbishop of Paris, they were all anxious to
put an end to the proscription to which the Society had
been so long and so unjustly subjected. As it
happened that Cardinal de Chatillon, the brother of
the famous Admiral Coligny, the patron saint of the
French Calvinists, was just then on the point of aposta-
tizing and taking a wife and as the scandal was of
common knowledge it evidently would not do for the
Archbishop of Paris to be ranged on his side. That
and, probably, the fact of his being tired out by the
long fight which had been protracted only because of
his natural stubbornness, made him give way, and the
Society was legahzed in France. No doubt the
presence of Lainez and his closing up of the Colloquy
by his audacious discourse had helped largely to bring
about that result. Some disagreeable restrictions were
appended to the grant, it is true, but they were can-
celled a few years later by a royal decree. Parliament
finally yielded and signed the charter of the College on
January 14, 1562. Lainez saw the queen frequently
after the Colloquy, and remained in France for some
time, striving unweariedly to win back to the Faith
such men as Conde, the King of Navarre and others,
and continuing to warn the queen that her unwise
64 The Jesuits
toleration would result in disaster to the realm.
Unfortunately he was not heeded.
While all this was going on, another college had been
established at Pamiers, which was in the heretical
territory of Navarre. Its founders were none others
than the rector of the Roman College, Jean Pelletier,
and Edmond Auger. But in the beginning the inhabit-
ants were suspicious and refused the commonest
hospitality to the new comers, so that their first
dwelling had the advantage of being like the Stable
of Bethlehem — a hut with no doors and no windows.
Finally, however, their sermons in the churches capti-
vated the people and the " Jezoists," as they were
called, succeeded in getting a respectable house and
beginning their classes. This was in 1559, but before
the end of 1561 the "Jezoists" were expelled by the
excited Huguenots, and were compelled to take refuge
in Toulouse.
The Edmond Auger just mentioned was perhaps the
most eloquent man of that period in France. He was
called the Chr^^sostom of his country. Wherever he
went, crowds flocked to hear him, fanatical Calvinists
as well as devoted Catholics. His first sermon was in
Valence, where the bishop had just apostatized and
the Huguenots were in complete possession. A furious
outbreak resulted, and he was seized and sentenced to
be burned to death. While standing at the stake, he
harangued the people before the torch was applied,
and so captivated the mob that fhey clamored for his
release. His devotedness to the sick in a pestilence
at Lyons won the popular heart and a college was
asked for. At various times he was chaplain of the
troops, confessor of Henry IV, rector and provincial;
but imfortunately he was so outspoken in his denun-
ciation of the League that the people of Lyons, who
once admired him, were wrought up to fury by his
Initial Activities 65
utterances on the political situation, and were on the
point of throwing him into the Rh6ne. His unwise
zeal had thus seriously injured the Society.
When the council of Trent had concluded its sessions,
Canisius was sent back to Germany by the Pope to
see that the decrees were promulgated and enforced.
He labored for five years to accomplish this task, but
failed completely. With the exception of some bishops
like Truchsess of Augsburg, very few paid any attention
to the Pope's wish, the reason being that they were
mostly scions of the nobility, who were accustomed
to live in luxury and had adopted the ecclesiastical
profession solely because of the rich revenues of the
sees to which their relatives had had them appointed.
At that very time fourteen of them, it is said on the
best authority, were wearing their mitres without even
having notified the Pope of their election or asking
his approbation. They, more than Martin Luther,
were responsible for the loss of Germany. Their lives
were such that Canisius forbade his priests to accept
the position of confessor to any of them. Of course,
such men turned a deaf ear to the papal decree about
establishing diocesan seminaries ; and those who desired
them were prevented by their canons, some of whom
were not even priests. It was for this reason that
Canisius begged the Pope to establish burses in foreign
seminaries, where worthy ecclesiastics might be trained
whose lives would be in such contrast with the general
depravity and ignorance of the clergy that the bishops
would perhaps be shamed out of their apathy.
The establishment of burses, however, was only
a temporary expedient ; for the few secular priests they
might furnish could scarcely support the strain to
which they would be subjected in the terrible isolation
which their small number would entail. They would
not have the compact organization of a religious order
5
66 The Jesuits
to keep them steady, and yet they would be the victims
of the same kind of persecution as Canisius and his
associates had to undergo. From this difficulty arose
the idea of the Collegium Germanicum already referred
to, an establishment in Rome under the direction of the
Jesuits, to which young Germans distinguished for
their intellectual ability and virtue could be sent and
trained to be apostles in their native land. It was the
Collegium Germanicum that saved to the Faith what
was left of Germany and won back much that was lost.
" The German College at Rome," said a Protestant
preacher in 1594 (Nothgedrungene Erinnerungen, Bl. 8),
" is a hotbed singularly favorable for developing the
worst kind of Jesuitry. Our young Germans are
educated there gratuitously; and at the end of their
studies they are sent home to restore papistry to its
former place and to fight for it with all their might.
You find them exercising the ministry in a great number
of collegiate churches and parishes. They become the
advisers 'of bishops and even archbishops ; and we see
these Jesuits under our very eyes defending the
Catholic cause with such zeal that we Evangelicals may
well ask ourselves in what lands and in what towns
such fervent zeal for the beloved Gospel is found
among our own party. They seduce so many souls
from us that it is too distressing even to enumerate
them." Martin Chemnitz, the Protestant theologian,
said that if the Jesuits had done nothing but found
the German College, they would deserve to be regarded
for that one achievement as the most dangerous enemy
of Lutheranism. " These young men," said another
Protestant controversialist in 1593, "are like their
teachers in diabolical cunning, in hypocritical piety,
and in the idolatrous practices which they propagate
among the people. They preach frequently, pre-
tending to be good Christians, they frequent hospitals
Initial Activities 67
and visit the sick at home, all out of a pure hypocrisy
saturating the very hides of these wretches. They are
again persuading the simple and credulous people
to return to their damnable papistry " (Janssen, op.
cit., IX, 323, sqq.).
Echsfeld, Erfurt, Aschaffenburg, Mayence, Coblentz,
Treves, Wurzburg, Spires and other places soon felt
the effects of the zeal of these students of the Collegium
Germanicum. Their manner of life meant hardship
and danger of every kind; assaults by degenerate
Catholics and infuriated heretics; vigils in miserable
huts and pest-laden hospitals, resulting sometimes in
sickness and violent death; but "these messengers
of the devil," as the preachers called them, kept
at their work and soon won back countless numbers
of their countrymen to the Faith. Similar establish-
ments also grew up at Braunsberg, DilHngen, Fulda,
Munich and Vienna. Representatives of other religious
orders entered into the movement and gave it new life
and vigor. Janssen (IX, 313) informs us that the
foundation of seminaries for poor students also was due
to Canisius and his fellow-workers. At their sug-
gestion Albert V founded the Gregorianum at Munich
in 1574; and Ingolstadt, Wurzburg, Innsbruck, Halle,
Gratz and Prague soon had similar establishments.
As early as 1559 Canisius assumed the responsibility
for two himdred poor students, and by having them
live in common was able to supply all their needs.
After each of his sermons in the cathedral, he went
arotmd among the great personages assembled to hear
him, to ask for alms to keep up his establishments.
Father Voth, following his example forty years later,
collected 1400 florins in a single year for the same
purpose.
The work of regeneration was not restricted to the
foundation of ecclesiastical seminaries. Janssen (1. c.)
68 The Jesuits
gives us an entire page of the names of colleges taken
from the " Litterae annuae," in some of which there
were nine hundred, one thousand, and even thirteen
hundred scholars. Between 1612 and 1625 Germany
had one hundred Jesuit colleges. In all of them were
established sodalities the members of which besides
performing their own religious exercises in the chapel,
visited the hospitals, prisons and camps and performed
other works of charity and zeal. On their rosters are
seen the names of men who attained eminence in
Church and State — kings, princes, cardinals, soldiers,
scholars, etc. These sodalities had also established
intimate relations with similar organizations all over
Europe. Naturally, this intense activity aroused the
fury of the heretics. Calumnies of every kind were
invented; and in 1603 a preacher in Styria announced
that the most execrable and sanguinary plots were
being formed to drown the whole Empire in blood in
order to nullify the teaching of the Evangel. " poor
Roman Empire! " he exclaimed, " your only enemies,
the only enemies of the Emperor, of the nation, of
religion are the Jesuits." Janssen adds: " The facts
told a different story."
Father Peter Pazmany figures at this period in a
notable fashion. He was a Hungarian from Nagy
Varad, also known as Grosswardein. His parents were
Calvinists, but he became a Catholic and at the age
of sixteen entered the Society at Rome, where he
was a pupil of such scholars as Bellarmine and Vasquez.
He taught in the college of Gratz, which had
been founded by the Jesuits in 1573 w^ith theological
and philosophical faculties. The Archduke Ferdinand
enriched it with new buildings and furnished it with
ample revenues, giving it also ecclesiastical supremacy
in Carinthia and other estates of the crown. Pazmany
became the apostle of his countrymen, both by his
Initial Activities 69
books and his preaching. He was a master in his
native tongue, says Ranke (History of the Popes, IV,
124), and his spiritual and learned work " Kalaus,"
produced an irresistible sensation. Endowed with
a ready and captivating eloquence, he is said to
have personally converted fifty of the most distin-
guished families, one of which ejected twenty ministers
from their parishes and replaced them by as many
Catholic priests. The government was also swung
into line; the Catholics had the majority in the Diet
of 1625, and an Esterhazy was made Palatine.
Pazmany was offered a bishopric which he refused,
but finally the Pope, yielding to the demand of the
princes and people, appointed him primate and then
made him a cardinal. His " Guide to Catholic Truth "
was the first polemic in the Hungarian language. He
founded a university at Tymau which was afterwards
transferred to Buda. The Hungarian College at Rome
was his creation, as was the Pazmaneum in Vienna.
His name has been recently inserted in the Roman
Breviary in connection with the three Hungarian
martyrs, two of whom were Jesuits, Pongracz and
Grodecz, who were put to death in 1619.
Italy exhibited a similar energy from one end to the
other of the Peninsula. Chandlery in his " Fasti
Breviores " (p. 40) tells us that " the first school of
the Society was opened in the Piazza Ara Coeli in 1551,
and soon developed into the famous Roman College.
In 1552 it was removed to a house near the Minerva;
in 1554 to a place near the present site; in 1562 to
the house of Pope Paul IV; and in 1582 to the new
buildings of the Gregorian University." It was in
this college on March 25, 1563, that the Belgian
scholastic, John Leunis, organized the first sodality of
the Blessed Virgin. Fouqueray, however, contests this
claim of the Ara Coeli school, and asserts that the first
70 The Jesuits
college was at Messina, and was begun in 1547, and
that St. Ignatius determined to make it the model
of all similar establishments. Its rule was based on
the methods that prevailed in the colleges of the
University of Paris, with changes, however, in its
discipline and religious direction. Its plan of studies
was the first " Ratio studiorum." It had two sessions
of two or three hours each daily; Latin was always
employed as the language of the house, but both
Hebrew and Greek were taught. Vacation lasted only
fifteen days for pupils in humanities and the higher
grades; and only eight days or less for those in the
lower classes. The students went to confession every
month and assisted daily at Mass. Nearly all the
cities of the peninsula had called for similar colleges.
In what is now Belgium there were thirty-four colleges
or schools, an apparently excessive number, but the
fact that they were, with two exceptions, day-schools
and that small boys were excluded wiU explain the
possibility of managing them with comparatively few
professors. Six or seven sufficed for as many hundred
pupils. Moreover, something in the way of a founda-
tion to support the school was always required before
its establishment.
In 1564 the Roman Seminary was entrusted to the
Society; and in 1578 the Roman College. Five years
previously, the Collegium Germanicum, after Canisius
had presented a memorial to Gregory XIII on the
services it was expected to render, obtained a subsidy
for a certain number of students. The Bull, dated
August, 1573, exhorted the Catholics of the German
Empire to provide for a hundred students of philosophy
and theology. The Pope gave it the palace of St,
Apollinaris, the Convent of St. Sabas and the revenues
of St. Stephen on Monte Coelio. Over and above this,
he guaranteed 10,000 crowns out of the revenues of
Initial Activities 71
the Apostolic Treasury. In 1574 it had one hundred
and thirty students and in a few years one hundred and
fifty. The philosophers followed a three years' course,
the theologians four. Between 1573 and 1585 the
Pope disbursed for the Collegium Germanicum alone
about 235,649 crowns — equivalent to about a quarter
of a million dollars. Besides this, as early as 1552
St. Ignatius had obtained from Julius III a Bull
endowing a college for the study of the humanities,
in which young Germans could prepare themselves
for philosophy and theology. In its opening year it
had twenty-five students, and in the following twice as
many. Under Paul IV when the establishment was
in dire want, St. Ignatius supported it by begging, and
he told Cardinal Truchsess that he would seU himself
into slavery rather than forsake his Germans. It was
while engrossed in this work that Ignatius died. His
memory is tenderly cherished in the CoUegiimi Ger-
manicum to this day. When his name is read out in
the Martyrology on July 31, the students all rise, and
with uncovered heads listen reverently to the an-
nouncement of the feast of their founder.
CHAPTER III
ENDS OF THE EARTH
Xavier departs for the East — Goa — Around Hindostan —
Malacca — The Moluccas — Return to Goa — The Valiant Belgian —
Troubles in Goa — Enters Japan — Returns to Goa — Starts for
China — Dies off the Coast — Remains brought to Goa — Africa —
Congo, Angola, Caffreria, Ab3'ssinia — Brazil, Nobrega, Anchieta,
Azevedo — Failure of Rodriguez in Portugal.
When John III of Portugal asked for missionaries to
evangelize the colonies which the discoveries of Da
Gama and others had won for the crown in the far
east, Bobadilla, Rodriguez and Xavier were assigned
to the work. Bobadilla's sickness prevented him from
going, and then His Majesty judged that he was too
generous to his new possessions and not kind enough
to the mother country; so it was decided to keep
Rodriguez in Portugal, his native land, and send
Xavier to the Indies.
Xavier arrived at Lisbon in June, 1540, and waited
there eight months for the departure of the vessel,
during which time he and Rodriguez effected a complete
reformation in the morals of the city. He then began
a series of apostolic journeys which were nothing less
than stupendous in their character, not only for the
distances covered during the eleven years to which
they were restricted, but because of the extraordinary
and often unseaworthy craft in which he traversed the
yet imcharted seas of the East, which were swept
by typhoons and infested by pirates, and where
there was constant danger of being wrecked on inhos-
pitable coasts and murdered by the savage natives.
Three times his ship went to pieces on the rocks, and
on one occasion he had to cling to a plank for days
72
Ends of the Earth 73
while the waves swept over him. Several times he
came near being poisoned, and once he had to hide
in the bush for a long time to escape the head-hunters
of the Moluccas. The distances he traversed can only
be appreciated by having an atlas at hand while
perusing the story.
Leaving Europe, his course lay along the west coast
of Africa, rounding Cape of Good Hope and then
making for far away Mozambique. From there he
pointed across the Arabian Sea to Goa on the west
coast of Hindostan. Shortly afterwards, he continued
down the coast to Cochin and Cape Comorin and
across to Ceylon, then along the eastern side of the
peninsula to the Pearl Fisheries, and back to Goa.
Soon after, he is sailing across the Bay of Bengal to
distant Malacca, which lies north of Sumatra; from
there he penetrates into the Chinese Sea, and skirting
Borneo and the Celebes, he arrives at the Molucca
Islands, going through them from north to south and
back. Returning to Goa, he again makes for Malacca
and points north to Japan, passing the Philippines on
his way, though it is claimed that he landed at
Mindanao. From Japan he returns to Goa and then
sets out for China. He reached an island opposite
Canton, pined away there for a month or so, as no
one dared to carry him over to the coast. He then
took his flight to heaven, which was very near.
It was a great day for Lisbon when, on April 7, 1541,
which happened to be his birthday, Xavier set sail for
India. He was papal nuncio and King John's ambas-
sador to the Emperor of Ethiopia. Nevertheless the
princes and potentates whom this poorly clad ambas-
sador met on 'his way must have gazed at him in
wonder; for in spite of his honors, he washed and
mended his own clothes, and while on shipboard
refused the assistance of a servant and scarcely ate any
74 The Jesuits
food. The crew were a rascally set, as were most of
the sea-rovers of those days; but this extraordinary
papal nuncio and ambassador passed his time among
them, always bright, approachable and happy, nursing
them when they were sick, and gently taking them to
task for their ill-spent lives. All day long he was busy
with them, and during the night he was scourging
himself or praying. By the time the ship reached its
destination it was a floating church.
Goa was the capital of Portuguese India. It was
not yet the golden Goa of the seventeenth century;
but it had churches and chapels and a cathedral, an
inchoate college and a bishop and a Franciscan friary.
Mingled, however, with the Christian population was
a horde of idolaters, Mussulmans, Jews, Arabians,
Persians, Hindoos and otfiers, all of them rated as
inferior races by the Portuguese who were the hidalgos
or fidalgos of Goa, even if they had been cooks and
street-sweepers in Lisbon or Oporto. They were now
clad in silks and brocades, and wore gold and precious
gems in profusion; they delighted in religious displays;
but in morality they were more debased than the worst
pagans they jostled against in the streets. There were
open debauchery, concubinage, polygamy and kindred
crimes.
The coming of the papal nuncio was a great event,
but he refused all recognition of his official rank. He
lived in the hospital, looked after the lepers in their
sheds, or the criminals in the jails, taught the children
their catechism, and conversed with people of every
class and condition. He got the secrets of their con-
science; and in five months, Goa, at least in its Christian
population, was as decent in its morals as it had formerly
been corrupt and depraved. At the end of the penin-
sula, but beyond Cape Comorin, were the Pearl Fisher-
ies, where lived a degraded caste who had been visited
Ends of the Earth 75
by the Franciscans and baptized some years before;
but they had been left in their ignorance and vice, and
no one in Goa now ever gave them a thought. Thither
Xavier betook himself with his chalice and vestments
and breviary, but with no provisions for his support.
On his way he passed Salsette, where Rudolph
Aquaviva was martyred in later days; and he saw
Canara and Mangalore and Cananon, where there
was a mission station. He then went to Calicut and
Cranganore and Cape Comorin, where the goddess
Dourga was worshipped, and finally arrived at the Fish-
eries, where he found a people who were wretchedly
poor, with nothing to cover them but a turban and a
breech-clout, and who lived in huts along the shifting
sands near the cocoanut- trees. With their tiny boats
and rafts they contrived to get a livelihood from the sea,
but they were shunned by the other Hindoos; for
baptism had made them outcasts, and they were also
the helpless victims of the pirates who were constantly
prowling along the coast. Xavier lived in their filthy
houses, talked with them through interpreters, gave
them what instructions they were capable of receiving,
and baptised all who had not yet become Christians.
He remained two years with them, and after getting
Portuguese ships to patrol the Sea, sent other mission-
aries to replace him when he had built catechumenates
and little churches here and there. Although Xavier
appears to have justified these rapid conversions by
the precedent of 3000 people becoming Christians
after the first sermon of St. Peter, yet Ignatius, while
not blaming his methods, wrote him later that the
instructions should precede and not follow baptism,
and that quality rather than quantity should be the
guide in accessions to the Faith.
Xavier returned thence to Goa, but we find him in
the last days of September, 1545, abandoning India
76 The Jesuits
for a time and going ashore near the Portuguese
settlement on the Straits of Malacca. It was a danger-
ous post, for it swarmed with Mohammedans. There
were fierce ^cumeurs de mcr, or sea-combers, on the
near-by coasts of Sumatra, and on the island of Bitang
the dethroned sultans were waiting for a chance to
expel the Portuguese, while all through the interior
were fierce and unapproachable savage tribes. Besides
all this, the whites who had settled there for trade
were a depraved mob ; it is recorded that Xavier spent
three whole days without food hearing their con-
fessions, and passed entire nights praying for their
conversion. In spite of all this accumulation of labor,
he contrived to write a catechism and a prayer-book
in Malay. In 1546 he went further east, past Java
and Flores, and reached the Moluccas after a month
and a half. He was on sociable terms everywhere,
with soldiers and sailors and commandants of posts
as well as cannibals, and made light of every hardship
and danger in his efforts to win souls to God. Up and
down the islands of the archipelago he travelled,
meeting degeneracy of the worst kind at every step.
But he established missionary posts, with the wonderful
result that ten years later, De Beira, whom he sent
there, had forty-seven stations and 3000 Christian
families in these islands. Xavier spent two years
in the Moluccas to prepare the way, and was back
again in Goa in 1548.
During his absence, a number of missionaries,
making in all six priests and nine coadjutor brothers,
had been sent from Portugal. With them were a
dozen Dominicans. Among the Jesuits were Femandes
and Cosmo de Torres, who, later on, were to be along
with Xavier the founders of the great mission of
Japan. There came also Antonio Gomes, a distinguished
student of Coimbra, a master of arts, a doctor of
Ends of the Earth 77
canon law, and a notable orator. But, except as an
orator, he was not to have the success in Goa that he
had won in Lisbon. Likewise in the party was Gaspard
Baertz, a Fleming, who had had a varied career,
as a master of arts at Lou vain, a soldier in the army
of Charles V, a hermit at Montserrat, a Jesuit in
Coimbra, and now a missionary in India. It was
Baertz's capacity for work that prompted Xavier's
famous petition: " Da mihi fortes Belgas " (Give me
sturdy Belgians). Criminali, the first of the Society to
be martyred in the East, had arrived previously, as
had Lancilotti, a consumptive, who seemed to be
particularly active in writing letters to Rome com-
plaining of Xavier's frequent absences from Goa.
Gomes was appointed rector of the nondescript
college, which belonged to the Bishop of Goa, and
which had been partly managed by Lancilotti up to
that time. The new superior immediately proceeded
to turn everything upside down, and his hard, au-
thoritative methods of government immediately caused
discontent. According to Lancilotti, he was utterly
unused to the ways of the Society in dealing not only
with the members of the community but with the
native students. His idea was to make the college
another Coimbra — a great educational institution
with branches at Cochin, Bacaim and elsewhere. How-
ever, the plan was not altogether his conception. Some-
thing of that kind had been projected for India in
connection with a great educational movement which
was agitating Portugal at that time. In writing to
Lisbon and Rome about this matter, Xavier incidentally
reveals his ideas on the question of a native priesthood.
He required for it several previous generations of
respectable Christian parents. The division of castes
in India also created a difficulty, for the reason that
a priest taken from one caste was never allowed
78 The Jesuits
intercourse with those who belonged to another;
and, finally, he pointed out that for a Portuguese to
confess to a native was unthinkable.
Meanwhile, although domestic matters were not
as satisfactory as they might have been, Xavier was
planning his departure for Japan. He first visited
several posts and settled the difficulties that presented
themselves. Gomes was his chief source of worry,
and there is no doubt that he would have been removed
from his post as rector on account of the dissatis-
faction he had caused, had it not been for his wonderful
popularity in the city as a preacher. Just then a
change might have caused an outbreak among the
people and a rupture with the bishop. Xavier con-
tented himself, therefore, with restricting the activities
of Gomes to temporal matters ; and assigned to Cypriano
the care of the spiritual interests of the community.
He could have done nothing more, even if he had
remained at Goa.
These repeated absences of Francis Xavfer from Goa
have often been urged against him as reveaHng a
serious defect in his character; a yielding to what was
called " Basque restlessness," which prompted those
who had that strain in their blood to be continually on
the road in quest of new scenes and romantic adven-
tures. The real reason seems to have been his despair
of doing anything in Goa, with its jumble of Moslems
and pagans and corrupt Portuguese, and its string of
military posts where every little political commandant
was perpetually interfering with missionary efforts.
It could never be the centre of a great missionary
movement. "I want to be," he said, "where there
are no Moslems or Jews. Give me out and out pagans,
people who are anxious to know something new about
nature and God, and I am determined to find them."
He had heard something about Japan, as verifying
Ends of the Earth 79
these conditions; and, though he had travelled much
already and was aware of the complaints about him-
self, he resolved to go further still; so, taking with him
de Torres and Fernandes, besides a Japanese convert,
Xaca, and two servants, he set his face towards the
Land of the Rising Sun. He was then forty-three
years of age.
He was at Malacca from May 31 to June 24, 1549,
and found that the missions he had established there
were doing remarkably well, as were the others in the
Moluccas. The latter, however, he did not visit. He
started for Japan in a miserable Chinese junk, three
other associates having joined him meantime, —
a Portuguese, a Chinaman, and a Malay. It took two
months before he saw the volcanoes of Kiu Siu on the
horizon, land it was only on August 15, 1549, that he
went ashore at Kagoshima, the native city of his
Japanese companion. The day was an auspicious one.
It was the anniversary of his first vows at Montmartre.
Xavier began studying the language of the country
and remained for a time more or less in seclusion;
with the help of Xaca, or Paul as they called him, a
short statement of the Christian Faith was drawn up.
With that equipment, after securing the necessary
permission, he, Fernandes and Xaca started on their
first preaching excursion. Their appearance excited
the liveliest curiosity. In the eyes of the people
Xavier was merely a new kind of bonze, and they
listened to him with the greatest attention. The
programme adopted was first for Xaca to summon
the crowd arid address them, then Xavier would read
his paper. They were always ready to stop at any part
of the road or for any assembly and repeat their
message. Soon their work rose above mere street
preaching. They were invited to the houses of the
great who listened more or less out of curiosity or
80 The Jesuits
for a new sensation. When they had accomplished
all they could in one place, they went to another,
always on foot, in wretched attire, through cities and
over snow-clad mountains, always, however, with the
aim of getting to the capital of the empire, both to
see the emperor and to reach the great university,
about which they had heard before they set out for
Japan. Naturally, the teaching of this new religion
brought Xavier into conflict with the bonzes, who
were a grossly immoral set of men, though outwardly
pretending to great austerity. The people, how-
ever, understood them thoroughly and were more
than gratified when the hypocrites were held up to
ridicule.
By this time he discovered his mistake in going
about in the apparel of a beggar, and henceforward
he determined to make a proper use of his position
as envoy of the Governor of the Indies and of the
Bishop of Goa. He, therefore, presented himself to
the Daimyo of Yamaguchi in his best attire, with
his credentials engrossed on parchment and an abundant
supply of rich presents — an arquebus, a spinnet,
mirrors, crystal goblets, books, spectacles, a Portuguese
dress, a clock and other objects. Conditions changed
immediately. The Daimyo gave him a handsome
sum of money, besides full liberty to preach wherever
he went. He lived at the house of a Japanese noble-
man at Yamaguchi, and crowds listened to him in
respectful silence as he spoke of creation and the
soul — subjects of which the Japanese knew nothing.
His learning was praised by every one, and his virtue
admired; soon several notable conversions followed.
After remaining at this place for six months, Xavier
went to the capital, Meaco, the present Kioto, but
apparently he made little or no impression there.
Then news came from Goa which compelled him to
Ends of the Earth 81
return to India. So leaving his faithful friends, de
Torres and Fernandes, to carry on the work which
was so auspiciously begun, he started for Goa, some-
where between 15 and 20 November, 1551. He had
achieved his purpose — he had opened Japan to
Christianity.
On the ship that carried him back to Goa, Xavier
made arrangements with a merchant named Pereira
to organize an expedition to enter China. Pereira
was to go as a regularly accredited ambassador of
the Viceroy of the Indies, while Xavier would get
permission from, the emperor to preach the Gospel,
and ask for the repeal of the laws hostile to foreigners
and, among other things, for the liberation of the
Portuguese prisoners — dreams which were never
realized, but which reveal the buoyant and almost
boyish hopefulness of Xavier's character. On his
way back he heard of the tragic death of Criminali
at Cape Comorin — the first Jesuit to shed his blood
in India. It occurred in one of the uprisings of the
Badages savages against the Portuguese. Later a
brother was killed at the same place. Success, how-
ever, had attended the labors of Criminali and his
associates; for according to Polanco and an incomplete
government census, there were between 50,000 and
60,000 Christians at that point in 1552. It was well
on in February of that year when Xavier stepped
ashore at Goa.
During his absence, the missions had all achieved
a remarkable success. Among them was a new post
at Ormuz off the coast of Arabia where Mussulmans
of Persia, Jews from far and near, even from Portugal,
Indian Brahmans and Jains, Parsees, Turks, Arabians,
Christians of Armenia and Ethiopia, apostate Italians,
Greeks, Russians and a Portuguese garrison met for
commerce, and for the accompanying debauchery of
6
82 The Jesuits
such Oriental centres. The Belgian missionary, Baertz,
had transformed the place. All this was satisfactory;
but the college at Goa where Gomes presided was in
disorder. Before that imprudent man could have
possibly become acquainted with the ways of the
new country, he had let himself be duped by one of
the native chiefs who pretended to be a convert, but
who was in reality a black-hearted traitor. He had
also nullified the authority of his associate in the
government of the college, and had been acting almost
as superior of the entire mission. Among the people
he had caused intense irritation by changing the
traditional church services; he had dismissed the
students of the college and put novices in their stead;
he had appropriated a church belonging to a con-
fraternity and, in consequence, had got both himself
and the Society embroiled with the governor-general.
But in spite of all this, it was still difficult to depose
him on account of his popularity and because he was
looked upon as an angel by the bishop. Unfortunately,
Gomes refused to be convinced of his shortcomings
and even disputed the right of his successor, who
had already been appointed. Hence popular though
he was, he was given his dimissorial letters. He
appealed to Rome, and on his way thither was lost
at sea. It is rather startling to find that Francis
Xavier not only used this power of dismissal himself
but gave it even to local superiors (Monumenta
Xaveriana, 715-18). Possibly it was because of the
difficulty of communication with Rome that this method
was adopted, but it would be inconceivable nowadays.
When all this was settled, Xavier appointed Baertz,
vice-provincial, and, on April 17, 1552, departed for
China. On arriving at Cochin, he heard that one
of the missionaries had been badly treated by the
natives, that the mission was in dire want, and that
Ends of the Earth 83
Lancilotti was in sore straits at Coulam. But all
that did not stop him. He merely wrote to Baertz to
remedy these evils, and then continued on his journey.
Of course it would be impossible to judge such
missionary methods from a mere human standpoint.
For Xavier's extraordinary thaumaturgic powers, his
gifts of prayer and prophecy easily explain how he
could not only convert multitudes to the Faith, in
an incredibly short space of time, but keep them firm
and constant in the practice of their religion, long
after he had entrusted the care of them to others.
The memory of his marvellous works, which are
bewildering in their number, would necessarily remain
in the minds of his neophytes, while the graces which
his prayers had gained for them would give them a
more intelligent comprehension of the doctrines he
had taught them than if they had been the converts
of an ordinary missionaiy.
Up to the time of his departure for China his apostolic
career had been like a triumphal progress. He was
now to meet disaster and defeat, but it is that dark
moment of his life which throws about him the greatest
lustre. His friend, Pereira, had been duly accredited
as ambassador of the viceroy and had invested the
largest part of his fortune in the vessel that was to
convey Xavier as papal nuncio to the court of the
Emperor of China. It was the only way to enter
the country and to reach the imperial court; but the
Governor of Malacca defeated the whole scheme.
He was a gambler and a debauchee, and wanted the
post of ambassador for himself to pay his debts.
Hence, in spite of the entreaties of Xavier and the
menace of the wrath both of the king and the Pope
he confiscated the cargo and left the two envoys
stranded, just when success was assured. The result
was that Pereira had to remain in hiding, while Xavier
84 The Jesuits
shook the dust from his feet, not figuratively but
actually, so as to strike terror into the heart of Don
Alvaro. He embarked on his own ship, " The Holy
Cross," which was now converted into a merchantman
and packed with people. In that unseemly fashion
he started for China.
A landing was made on the island of Sancian which
lay about thirty miles from the mainland, on a line
wuth the city of Canton. Trading was allowed at
that distance, but any nearer approach to the coast
meant imprisonment and death. That island was
Xavier's last dwelling-place on earth ; there he remained
for months gazing towards the land he was never to
enter. There were several ships in the offing, but he
was shunned by the crews, for fear of the terrible
Alvaro who was officially " master of the seas " and
could punish them for being friends of his enemy.
At least the Chinese traders who had come over to
the island were approachable, and Xavier succeeded
in inducing one of them for a money consideration
to drop him somewhere on the coast — he did not
care where. But no sooner was the bargain known
than there was an uproar among the crews of the
ships. If he were caught, they would all be massacred,
and so he agreed to wait till they had sailed away.
Slowly the weeks passed, as one by one the vessels
hoisted sail and disappeared over the horizon. Xavier's
strength was failing fast, and he lay stretched out
uncared for, under a miserable shed which had been
built on the shore to protect him from the inclemency
of the weather. With his gaze ever turned towards
the coast which he had so longed to reach, he breathed
his last on December 2, 1552, with the words on his
lips: " In thee, O Lord, have I hoped, let me not be
confounded forever." He was but forty-six years
old; eleven years and seven months had elapsed
Ends of the Earth 85
since he sailed down the Tagus for the Unknown East.
Only four people were courageous enough to give him
the decencies of a burial, the others looked on from
the gunwales of the ship, while his grave was being
dug on shore. His body was placed in a box of quick-
lime so that the flesh might be quickly consimied, and
the bones carried back to Goa; having lowered it
into a grave which was made in a little hillock above
the sea, the small party withdrew.
Two months later, when the ship was about to leave,
the box was opened, and to the amazement and almost
the terror of all, not only was the flesh found to be
intact, but the face wore a ruddy hue, and blood
flowed from an incision made below the knee. It
was a triumphant ship's-crew that now carried the
precious freight to Malacca. They were no longer
afraid, for their ship was a sanctuary guarding the
relics of a saint. The ceremonies were impressive
when they reached Malacca, though Don Alvaro
scorned even to notice them; but when the vessel
entered the harbor of Goa the splendor of the reception
accorded the dead hero surpassed all that the Orient
had ever seen. Xavier rests there yet, and his body
is still incorrupt. It was a proper ending of the earthly
career of the greatest missionary the world has known
since the days of the Apostles. In 1622 he was canon-
ized with his friend Ignatius by Pope Gregory XV.
In striking contrast with all this glory is the failure
of every one of the missions on the Dark Continent of
Africa. Between 1547 and 1561 the Congo and Angola
had been visited, but no permanent post had been
established. In Caffreria, Father Silveira and fifty
of his neophytes were martyred. In 1555 Nunhes,
Camero and Oviedo were sent to Abyssinia, the first
as patriarch, the others as siiffragans. The patriarchate
subsequently passed to Oviedo, who was the only one
86 The Jesuits
to reach the country. He was well received by the
Negus, Asnaf, and permitted to exercise his ministry,
but, in 1559 the king was slain in battle, and his
successor drove the missionary and his little flock
out into the desert of Adowa, a region made famous,
in our own times, by the disastrous defeat of the
Italian troops when they met Menelik and his Abys-
sinians. Oviedo continued to live there during twenty
years of incredible suffering. In 1624 Paez, one of
his successors, succeeded in converting the Emperor
Socimos, and in getting Abyssinia to abjure its Euty-
chianism, but when Basilides mounted the throne in
1632 he handed over the Jesuits to the axe of the
executioner. After that, Abyssinia remained closed to
Christianity until 1702.
The most curious of these efforts to win Africa to
the Faith occurred as early as 1561, when Pius IV,
at the request of the Patriarch of Alexandria, sent
a delgation to the Copts, in an endeavour to re-unite
them to the Church. Among the papal representatives
was a Jesuit named Eliano, who was a converted
Jew. He had been brought up as a strict Hebrew,
and when his brother became a Christian he had
hurried off to Venice to recall him to Judaism. The
unexpected happened. Eliano himself became a
Christian and, later, a Jesuit. As he had displayed
great activity in evangelizing his former co-religionists,
he was thought to be available in this instance, but un-
fortunately on arriving at Alexandria, he was recognized
by the Jews, who were numerous and influential there,
and a wild riot ensued, the voice that shrieked the loud-
est for his blood being that of his own mother. It was
with great difficulty that his friends prevented his
murder. He returned to Europe and his last days
were spent in Rome where he was the friendly rival
of the great Cardinal Farnese in caring for the poor
Ends of the Earth 87
of the city. They died on the same day, and their
tombs were regarded as shrines by their sorrowing
beneficiaries.
In the western world, the first Jesuit missionary
work was begun in the Portuguese possession of
Brazil. After Cabral had accidentally discovered
the continent in 1500, a number of Portuguese nobles
established important colonies along the coast; and
when subsequently some French Calvinists, under
Villegagnon, attempted a settlement on the Rio
Janeiro, Thomas da Sousa was commissioned by the
king to unite the scattered Portuguese settlements
and drive out the French intruders. He chose the
Bay of All Saints as his central position, and there
built the city of San Salvador. Fortifications were
thrown up; a cathedral, a governor's palace and a
custom house were erected, and a great number of
houses were built for the settlers. Unlike France
and England, Spain and Portugal lavished money on
their colonies. With da Sousa were six Jesuit mission-
aries, chief of whom was the great Nobrega. They
were given an extensive tract of land some distance
from San Salvador, and there in course of time the
city of Sao Paolo arose. There was plenty to do
with the degenerate whites in the various settlements,
but the savages presented the greatest problem.
They were cannibals of an advanced type, and no
food delighted them more than human flesh. To
make matters worse, the white settlers encouraged
them in their horrible practices, probably in the hope,
that they would soon eat each other up.
Nobrega determined to put an end to these abomi-
nations, he went among the Indians, spoke to them
kindly, healed their bodily ailments, defended them
against the whites, and was soon regarded by these
wild creatures as their friend and ' benefactor. At
88 The Jesuits
last, concluding that the time had come for a master
stroke, he one day walked straight into a group of
women who were preparing a mangled body for the
fire, and with the help of his companions carried off
the corpse. This was sweeping away in an instant
all their past traditions, and as a consequence the whole
tribe rose in fury and swarmed around the walls of
the city determined to make an end of the whites.
But Sousa called out his troops, and, whether the
Indians were frightened by the cannon or mollified
by the kind words of the governor, the result was that
they withdrew and promised to stop eating human
flesh. This audacious act had the additional effect
of exciting the anger of the colonists against Nobrega
and his associates. The point had been made, however,
that cannibahsm was henceforth a punishable offence
and great results followed. Tribe after tribe accepted
the missionaries and were converted to Christianity.
But it was very hard to keep them steady in their
faith. A pestilence or a dearth of food was enough
to make them fall into their old habits; and they were
moreover, easily swayed by the half-breeds who,
time and time again, induced them to rise against
the whites. But da Sousa was an exceptional man,
and had the situation well in hand. He pursued the
Indians to their haunts, and, as his punitive expeditions
were nearly always headed by a priest with his uplifted
cross he often brought them to terms without the
shedding of blood.
Another obstacle in this work of subjugation was
found in the remnants of Villegagnon's old French
garrison. At one time they had succeeded in uniting
all the savages of the country in a league to exterminate
the Portuguese. Villegagnon's supposedly impreg-
nable fort was taken and battle after battle was won
by the Portuguese, but the war seemed never to end.
i
Ends of the Earth 89
At last Nobrega took the matter in his own hands.
" Let me go," he said, "to see if I cannot arrange
terms of peace with the enemy." It was a perilous
undertaking, for it might mean that in a few days
his body would be roasting over a fire in the forest,
in preparation for a savage banquet. But that did
not deter him. He and his fellow-missionary Anchieta
set out and found the Indians wild with rage against
the whites. Plea after plea was made, but in vain.
At last, he got them to make some concession, and
then returned to explain matters to the governor,
leaving Anchieta alone with the Indians. They did
him no harm, however; on the contrary, he won their
hearts by his kindness and amazed them by his long
prayers, his purity of life, his prophecies and his
miraculous powers. Month after month went by and
yet there was no news from Nobrega. Finally the
governor, accepting the conditions insisted on by the
Indians, yielded, and peace was made.
It is interesting to learn that the lonely man who
had stayed all this while in the forest, Jose Anchieta,
was a perfect master of Latin, Castilian and Portuguese;
besides being somewhat skilled in medicine, he was
an excellent poet and even a notable dramatist. He
composed grammars and dictionaries of the native
language, after he returned to where pen and ink
were available; and it is said he put into print a long
poem which he had meditated and memorized during
his six terrible months of captivity. He died in 1597;
but before departing for heaven, he saw the little
band of six Jesuits who had landed with Nobrega
increased to one hundred and twenty, and when his
career ended one hundred more rushed from Portugal
to fill the gap.
As for Nobrega, the day before he died, he went
arotmd to call on his friends. " Where are you going? "
90 The Jesuits
they asked him. " Home to my own country," he
answered, and on the morrow they were kneeUng
around his coffin. Southey says that " so well had
Nobrega and Anchieta trained their disciples that in
the course of half a century, all the nations along the
coast of Brazil, as far as the Portuguese settlements
extended, were collected in villages under their superin-
tendence " (History of Brazil, x, 310). "Nobrega
died at the close of the sixteenth century," says Ranke,
" and in the beginning of the seventeenth we find
the proud edifice of the Catholic Church completely
reared in South America. There were five arch-
bishoprics, twenty-seven bishoprics, four hundred
monasteries and innumerable parish churches." Of
course, with due regard to Ranke, all that was not the
work of Jesuits, but men of his kind see " Jesuit " in
everything. It may be said, however, that they con-
tributed in no small degree to bring about this result.
In 1570 Azevedo conducted thirty-nine Jesuits
from Madeira to Brazil. Simultaneously, thirty more
in two other ships set sail from Lisbon for the same
destination. But the day after Azevedo's party had
left Madeira, the famous Huguenot pirate, Jaques
Soria, swooped down upon them, hacked them to
pieces on the deck, and then threw the mangled remains
to the sharks. The amazing Southey narrates this
event as follows: "He did by the Jesuits as they
would have done by him and all their sect: — put
them to death." When the news reached Madeira,
the brethren of the martyrs sang a Te Deum which
Southey informs us, " was as much the language of
policy as of fanaticism." Four days later, one English
and four French cruisers which Southey fails to tell
us were commanded by the Huguenot Capdeville,
caught the other missionaries and did their work so
effectually, that of the sixty-nine splendid men whom
Ends of the Earth 91
Azevedo started out with, only one arrived in Brazil.
The struggle did not end with the massacre. Sixty
years afterwards the same enemy attacked the mis-
sions of Pemambuco in Brazil where, " one hundred
and fifty tribes " — a Protestant annalist calls them
"hordes" — had been brought into alliance with the
Portuguese, and were rapidly making progress both
in Christianity and civilization ; on Good Friday in the
year 1633 the freebooters, passing at midnight through
the smoking ruins of Olinda, attacked Garassu in the
early morning, while the inhabitants were assembled
at Mass, with the result, says Southey, that " the
men who came their way were slaughtered, the women
were stripped, and the plunderers with cruelty tore
away ear-rings through the ear-flap, and cut off fingers
for the sake of the rings that were upon them. They
then plundered and burnt the town."
Similar heroism was shown in other parts of the
world about this time. Thus in 1549 Ribeira was
poisoned at Amboina; a like fate overtook Gonzales
in 1 55 1 at Bazaim, India; in 1555 three Jesuits were
wrecked on a desert island while on their v/ay to the
East, and died of starvation; in 1573, Alvares, the
visitor of Japan and four companions were lost at sea;
and in 1575 another Jesuit died at Angola in Africa
after fourteen years' cruel imprisonment.
Over all this splendor, however, there rests a shadow.
Simon Rodriguez, who was so to speak the creator of
all this apostolic enthusiasm, came very near being
expelled from the Society. He was the idol of Portugal
and the intimate friend and adviser of King John III,
who was untiring in promoting missionary enterprise
in the vast regions over which he held sway, both in
the Eastern and Western world. This association,
however, involved frequent visits to the court, and
the attractions of the work soon grew on Rodriguez,
92 The Jesuits
though with his characteristic unsteadiness he was
writing to Xavier and others to say that he was longing
to go out to the missions, a longing he never gratified.
Moreover, his judgment in the choice of missionaries
was of the worst. Untrained novices were sent out
in great numbers and were naturally found unfit for
the work with the result that they had to return to
Europe. Meantime another influence was effacing the
real spirit of the Society from the soul of this chosen
man whom Ignatius himself had trained. A craze
for bodily mortifications had swept over Portugal,
and Brou in his " V^ie de St. Frangois Xavier " tells us:
that it was not uncommon to see eight or ten thousand
flagellants scourging themselves as they walked pro-
cessionally through the streets of Lisbon. The Jesuits
there were naturally affected by the movement, with
the result that although intense fervor was displayed
in the practice of this virtue, domestic discipline
suffered. The supreme fact that obedience was the
characteristic trait of the Society had never been
thoroughly appreciated or understood by Simon Rodri-
guez, although he was one of the first companions
of St. Ignatius.
Astrain in his " Historia de la Compafiia de Jesus en
la Asistencia de Espafia ", does not mince matters on
this point (I, xix). Indeed, the provincialship of
Rodriguez in Portugal almost brought about a tragedy
in the history of the Society. Yielding to the popular
craze for public penances, his subjects paid little
attention to mortification of the will, with the result
that the defections from the Society in that country,
both in number and quality, amounted to a public
scandal. Finally, the removal of Rodriguez became
imperative, but, unfortunately, his successor. Father
Miron, was deplorably lacldng in the very elements of
prudence. Disregarding the advice of Francis Borgia
II
Ends of the Earth 93
and of the official visitor, de Torres, who were sent
with him as advisers, he went alone into Portugal
and abruptly removed Rodriguez from his post. As
Rodriguez was almost adored then by the people of
Portugal and was very much admired and beloved by
King John III and by the whole royal family, they
should have been first approached and the reason of
the change explained. To pass by such devoted
friends who had lavished favors on the Society and
who could do so much harm, if alienated, was not
only highly impolitic but grossly discourteous. Anyone
else but John III might well not only have driven
them from Portugal but have withdrawn them from
Brazil and the Indies, with the result that the Society
would probably never have had an Anchieta or a
Francis Xavier. Happily such a calamity was averted.
Miron's subsequent administration was in keeping with
his initial act, and when at last the visitor arrived
and restored normal conditions in the province no less
than one hundred and thirty-seven members of the
province had either left the Society or had to be
dismissed.
Rodriguez was summoned to Rome and might have
been pardoned immediately had he avowed his fault,
but he demanded a canonical trial. Several grave
fathers were, therefore, appointed and their sentence
was extremely severe, but Ignatius made them recon-
sider it again and again, and make it milder. He even
modified their final verdict. Rodriguez never went
back again to Portugal in an official capacity.
This humiliating episode is somewhat slurred over by
Cretineau-Joly, but the Jesuit historians like Jouvancy,
Brou, Astrain, Valignano, Pollen make no attempt to
conceal or palliate it. The failure of Rodriguez only
illustrates the difficulty that St. Ignatius had in making
his followers grasp the fundamental idea of the Society.
&4 The Jesuits
Paulsen, the German Protestant historian, is shocked
to find that in Jesuits, generally, there exists " some-
thing of the silent but incessant action of the powers
of nature. Without passion, without appeals to war,
without agitation, without intemperate zeal, they
never cease to advance, and are scarcely ever compelled
to take a step backward. Sureness, prudence and
forethought characterize each of their movements.
As a matter of fact, these are not lovable qualities,"
he says, " for whoever acts without some human
weakness is never amiable." The " step backward "
made by Rodriguez, in this instance, ought to satisfy
Paulsen's requirements for that amiability which,
according to him, is associated with " human weak-
ness." One need not be reminded that it is a curious
psychology that can find amiability in a disease or
a deformity. The amiability is in the person who
puts up with it, not in the offender. Henri Joly in
his " Psychologic des Saints," furnishes another example
of this disregard of facts which so often affects the
vision of a man in pursuit of a theory. To prove the
marvellous power which Ignatius exerted over men,
he tells us that when Rodriguez was summoned to
Rome " the only sentiment in his mind was that of
almost delirious joy, at again seeing the companion of
his youth, his friend and master." The facts narrated
above would imply that there was anything but
delirious joy in the mind of Rodriguez before, during
or after his trial, and the facts also show that some-
times it takes more than the marvellous power of a
St. Ignatius to control even a holy man under the
influence of a passion or a delusion.
This incident also disposes of the hallucination
that Jesuits are all run in the same mould and hence
easily recognizable as members of the Order. This
is far from being the case. It is true that as the Society
Ends of the Earth 95
is governed to a certain extent on military principles,
cheerful and prompt obedience is its characteristic.
The General is supreme commander and is in touch
with every member of the organization ; he can tell in a
moment where the individual is, what he is doing and
what are his good qualities and defects. He can
assign him to any country or any post; refusal to obey
is absolutely out of the question. Such is the special
trait of the Society, but apart from this, it is an aggre-
gation of as disparate units as can possibly be imagined.
Men of all races, conditions, dispositions, aspirations
and attainments, Americans, EngHsh, French, Italian,
Spanish, Syrians, Hungarians, Hindoos, Chinese,
Japanese, Malgache, and others live in the same house,
follow the same rules, and maintain absolute peace
with each other. All infractions of brotherly love
are frowned upon and severely punished, and continued
dissension or rebellion means expulsion. These men,
from the highest to the lowest, do not shirk danger —
like genuine soldiers they covet it; nor are they de-
pressed by the repeated exiles, expulsions, spoliations
and persecutions-, to which the Society has been
always subject. Taught by experience of the past,
they loiow that they will emerge from the struggle
stronger and better than before and will win further
distinction in the battle for God.
CHAPTER IV
CONSPICUOUS PERSONAGES
Ignatius — Lafncz — Borgia — Bellarmine — Toletus — Lessius — •
Maldonado — Suirez — Lugo — Valencia — Petavius — Warsewicz
— Nicolai — Possevin — Vieira — Mercurian.
St. Ignatius died on July 31, 1556. During his
brief fifteen years as General, he had seen some of I
his sons distinguishing themselves in one of the greatest 1
councils of the Church; others turning back the tide
of Protestantism in Germany and elsewhere; others 1
again, winning a large part of the Orient to the Faith;
and still others reorganizing Catholic education through-
out regenerated Europe, on a scale that was bewildering |
both in the multitude of the schools they estabhshed
and the splendor of their success. Great saints were I
being produced in the Society and also outside of it!
through its ministrations. Meantime, its development
had been so great that the little group of men which
had gathered around him a few years before had
grown to a thousand, with a hundred establishments in
every part of the world.
Magnificent as was this achievement he did not allow
it to reflect any glory upon himself personally. On the
contrary, he withdrew more and more from public
observation, and devoted to the establishment of his
multiplied and usual charities, among the humblest
and most abandoned classes of the city of Rome,
what time was left him from the absorbing care of
directing, advising, exhorting and inspiring his sons
who were scattered over the earth in ever changing
and dangerous situations. The palaces of the great
rarely, if ever, saw him, and he was the most positive and
96
Conspicuous Personages 97
persistent antithesis of what he is so commonly accused
of being: a schemer, a plotter, a politician, a poisoner
of public morality and the like. Nor was he seeking
to exercise a dominating influence either in the Church
or State, as he is calumniously charged with doing.
The glory of God and the advancement of the spiritual
kingdom on earth was his only thought, and so far
was he from imagining that the Society was an essential
factor in the Church's organization that he did not
hesitate to say that if it were utterly destroyed, or as
he expressed it, " if it were to dissolve like salt in water,"
a quarter of an hour's recollection in God would have
been sufficient to console him and restore peace to his
soul, provided the disaster had not been brought
about by his fault.
He was not, as he has often been charged with
being, stem, severe, arbitrary, harsh, tyrannical; on the
contrary, his manner was most winning and attractive.
He was fond of flowers ; music had the power of making
him forget the greatest bodily pain, and the stars at
night filled his soul with rapturous delight. He would
listen with infinite patience to the humblest and
youngest person, and every measure of importance
before being put into execution was submitted to dis-
cussion by all who had any concern in it. He would
show intense and outspoken indignation, it is true, at
flagrant faults and offences, especially if committed by
those who were in authority in the Society ; his wrath,
however, was vented not against the culprit, but
against the fault. Moreover, while reprehending, he
kept his feelings under absolute control. Indeed, his
longanimity in the cases both of Rodriguez and Boba-
dnia is astounding, and it is very doubtful if St. Francis
Xavier, whom he wanted to be his successor, would
have been as tolerant or as gentle. In his directions
for works to be undertaken he was not meticulous nor
7
98 The Jesuits
minute, but left the widest possible margin for personal
initiative ; nor would he tolerate an obedience that was
prompted by servile fear. He continually insisted
that the only motive of action in the Society was love
of God and the neighbor.
The gentle Lionel Johnson, poet though he was, gives
us a fairly accurate appreciation of the character of
Saint Ignatius. " In the Saints of Spain," he says,
" there is frequently prominent the feature of chivalry.
Even the great Saint James, apostle and Patriarch of
Spain, appears in Spanish tradition and to Spanish
imagination as an hidalgo, a knight in gleaming mail
who spurs his white war horse against the Moor. And of
none among them is this more true than of the founder
of the Society of Jesus. Cardinal Newman, describing
him in his most famous sermon, finds no phrase more
fitting than ' the princely patriarch, St. Ignatius, the
Saint George of the modem world with his chivalrous
lance run through his writhing foe.' He was ever a
fighter, a captain-general of men, indomitable, daunt-
less. The secret of his character lies in his will; in its
disciplined strength; its unfailing practicality; its
singleness and its power upon other wills. It was
hardly a Francisan sweetness that won to him his
followers who from the famous six at Montmartre grew
so swiftly into a great band; it was not supremacy of
intellect or of utterance ; it was not even the witness of
his intense devotion and self-denial. It was his
unequalled precision and tenacity of purpose; it was
his will and its method. But we can detect no trace
of that proud personal ambition and imperiousness
often ascribed to him. He simply had learned a way
of life that was profitable to religion which was all in
all to him, and he could not be lukewarm in its service.
Noblesse oblige, and a Christian holds a patent from
the King of kings. The Jesuit A. M. D. G. was his
Conspicuous Personages 99
ruling principle. The former heroic soldier of Spain
was still a soldier, a swordsman, a strategist, but in a
holy war. His eyes were always turned towards the
battle; but he was far from forbidding, harsh, grim.
He was tender and stern and like Dante kept his
thoughts fixed on the mysteries of good and evil."
His death was in keeping with his life. There was
no show, no ostentation, nothing " dramatic " about
it, as Henri Joly imagines in his " Psychologic des
Saints." There was no solemn gathering of his sons
about his bedside, no parting instruction or benediction,
as one would have expected from such a remarkable
man who had established a religious order upon which
the eyes of the world were fixed. He was quite aware
that his last hour had come, and he simply told
Polanco, his secretary, to go and ask for the Pope's
blessing. As the physicians had not said positively
that there was any immediate danger, Polanco inquired
if he might defer doing so for the moment, as there
was something very urgent to be attended to; where-
upon the dying Saint made answer: " I would prefer
that you should go now, but do as seems best." These
were his last words. He left no will and no instructions,
and what is, at first, incomprehensible, he did not
even ask for Extreme Unction — possibly because he
was aware that the physicians disagreed about the
seriousness of his malady, and he was unwilling to
discredit any of them; possibly, also, he did so in
order to illustrate the rule that he laid down for his
sons " to show absolute obedience in time of sickness
to those who have care of the body." When at last
they saw that he was actually dying someone ran for
the holy oils, but Ignatius was already in his agony.
For one reason or another, he had not designated
the vicar, who, according to the Constitution, was to
govern the Society, until a General was regularly
1
100 The Jesuits
elected. Hence, as the condition of the times prevented
the assembling of the professed from the various
countries of Europe, the fathers who were in Rome
elected Lainez. He, therefore, summoned the congre-
gation for Easter, 1557, but it happened just then that
Philip n and the Pope were at odds with each other,
and no Spaniard was allowed to go to Rome. Because
of that, Borgia, Araoz and others sent in a petition
for the congregation to meet at Barcelona. This
angered the Pope, and he asked Lainez, who put the
case before him: " Do you want to join the schism
of that heretic Philip?" Nevertheless, when the papal
nuncio at Madrid supported the request of the Spanish
Jesuits, his holiness relented somewhat, and said he
would think of it. ^ •*
The situation was critical enough with a Pope who
was none too friendly, when something very disedifying
and embarrassing occurred. The irrepressible Boba-
dilla who had not only voted for the election of Lainez
as vicar, but had served under him for a year, suddenly
discovered that the whole previous proceeding was
invalid, and he pretended, that, because St. Ignatius
had failed to name a vicar, the government of the
Society devolved on the general body of the professed.
The matter was discussed by the Fathers and he was
overruled, but he still persisted and demanded the
decision of Carpi, the cardinal protector of the Society.
When that official heard the case, he decided against
Bobadilla who forthwith appealed to the Pope. This
time the Cardinal assigned to investigate was no other
than the future St. Pius V. He took in the situation
at a glance and dismissed Bobadilla almost with
contempt. There was another offender, Cogordan, who
does not appear to have objected to Lainez personally
but who sent a written communication to his holiness
saying that Lainez and some others really wanted to
I
Conspicuous Personages 101
go to Spain, so as to be free from Roman control.
This so incensed the Pope that Lainez, though greatly
admired by Paul IV, obtained an audience only with
the greatest difficulty, and was then ordered to hand
over the Constitutions for examination. Fortunately,
the same holy Inquisitor was sent, and Cogordan never
forgot the lesson he received on that occasion for daring
to suggest such a thing about Lainez. In the meantime,
Philip had allowed the Spanish Jesuits to go to Rome,
and Lainez was elected General on July 2, 1558. As
has been said in speaking of Rodriguez, this incident
is another illustration of the tremendous difficulty of
the task St. Ignatius undertook when he gathered
around him those unusually brilliant men, who were
accustomed to take part in the diets of the Empire,
to be counsellors of princes and kings and even popes.
He proposed to make them all, as he said " think the
same thing according to the Apostle." He succeeded
ultimately.
The splendid work performed by Lainez at the
Council of Trent had naturally made him a prominent
figure in the Church at that time. Personally, also
he was most acceptable to the reigning Pontiff, Paul IV;
nevertheless, owing to outside pressure, there was
imminent danger on several occasions of serious
changes being made in the Constitutions of the Society.
The Pope had been dissuaded from urging most of
them, but he refused to be satisfied on one point,
namely the recitation of the Divine Office. He insisted
that it must be sung in choir, as was the rule in other
religious orders. Lainez had to yield, and for a time
the Society conformed to the decision, but the Pope
soon died, and in the course of a year, his successor,
Pius IV, declared the order to be merely the personal
wish of his predecessor and not a decree of the Holy
See.
102 The Jesuits
During this generalate there were serious troubles in
various parts of Europe. Thus, in Spain, when
Charles V withdrew into the solitude of Yuste he was
very anxious to have as a companion in retirement his
friend of many years, Francis Borgia. It was hard to
oppose the expressed wish of such a potentate as
Charles, but Lainez succeeded, and Borgia continued
to exercise his great influence in Spain to protect his
brethren in the storm which was then raging against
them. There were troubles, also, throughout Italy.
A veritable persecution had started in Venice; an
attempt was made to alienate St. Charles Borromeo in
Milan; in Palermo, the rector of the college was
murdered. The General himself had to go to France
to face the enemies of the Faith at the famous Colloquy
of Poissy ; Canisius was continuing his hard fight in
Germany; there were the martyrdoms of two Jesuits
in India where, as in Brazil, the members of the Society
were displaying the sublimest heroism in the prosecution
of their perilous missionary work.
Lainez died in 1565, and was succeeded by Francis
Borgia, who for many years had been the most con-
spicuous grandee of Spain. He was Marquis of
Lombay, Duke of Gandia, and for three years had filled
the office of Viceroy of Catalonia. His intimacy with
the Emperor Charles V, apart from his great personal
qualities, naturally resulted in having every honor
showered upon him. Astrain, in his history of the
Society in Spain, notes the difference in the point of
view from which the Borgia family is regarded by
Spaniards and by other mortals. The former always
think of the saintly Francis, the latter see only
Alexander VI. It is not surprising, however, for it is
one of the weaknesses of humanity to exult in its
glories and to be blind to its defects. Francis Borgia
was the great-grandson of Alexander on the paternal,
Conspicuous Personages 103
and of King Ferdinand on the maternal, side; there
are, however, bar sinisters on both descents that are
not pleasant to contemplate, and Suau says, " he was
unfortunate in his ancestry."
Bom on October 28, 15 10, Borgia began his studies
at Saragossa, interrupting them for a short space to be
the page of the Infanta Catarina, daughter of Joanna
the Mad. At eighteen, he was one of the brilliant
figures of the court of Charles V. At nineteen, he
married Eleanor de Oastro, who belonged to the highest
nobility of Portugal, and at that time he was made
Marquis of Lombay. When he was twenty-eight, the
famous incident occurred, which has been made the
subject of so much oratorical and pictorial exaggera-
tion — his consternation at the sight of the corrupting
remains of the beautiful Empress Isabella, and his
resolution to abandon the court and the world forever.
Astrain in speaking of this event merely says: " he was
profoundly moved;" Suau, in his " Histoire de Saint
Francois de Borgia," makes no mention of any perturba-
tion of mind and ascribes Borgia's vocation rather to
subsequent events. The Bollandists do not vouch for
the story of his consternation, but note that he was
the only one who dared to approach the coffin, the
others keeping aloof on account of the odor. They add
that his biographers make him say: " Enough has been
given to worldly princes." As a matter of fact, later
on, he willingly accepted the office of major domo to
Prince Philip, who was about to marry the Infanta of
Portugal. As the King and Queen of Portugal, how-
ever, refused to accept him in that capacity, he was sim-
ply disgraced in the eyes of all diplomatic Europe and
was compelled to keep out of the court of his own sov-
ereign, for three whole years. " This and other serious
trials, at that period," says Suau, " probably developed
in him the work of sanctification begun at Granada,"
104 The Jesuits
Borgia was thirty-sLx years of age when his wife
died in 1546, and he then consulted Father Faber,
who happened to be in Spain at the time, about the
advisability of entering a religious order. He made
the Spiritual Exercises under Oviedo, and determined to
enroll himself as one of the members of the Compania
founded by Ignatius, with whom he had been for some
time in communication. He was accepted and given
three years to settle his wordly concerns. By a special
rescript, the Pope allowed him to make his vows of
profession immediately. In January, 1550, he was
allowed to present himself for ordination to the priest-
hood whenever he found it feasible. On August 20
of the same year, he obtained the degree of doctor of
theology and ten days later, set out for Rome with
a small retinue. Accompanying him were nine Jesuits,
among whom was Father Araoz, the provincial. In
every city he was officially received, the nobility going
out to meet him at Rome. He was sumptuously
lodged in the Jesuit house, part of which St. Ignatius
had fitted up at great expense to do honor to the
illustrious guest. Soon, however, it was rumored that
he was to be made a cardinal, whereupon he took
flight, making all haste for Spain, without any of the
splendor or publicity which had surrounded him three
months before. His only purpose was to escape
observation. Arriving in Spain, he visited Loyola, the
birthplace of Ignatius, and then fixed his residence at
the hermitage of Ofiate, where, after receiving the
Emperor's leave, he renounced all his honors and
possessions in favor of his son Charles. He was
ordained priest on May 23, 1551.
After six months spent in evangelizing the Basques,
Borgia was sent to Portugal to put an end to the
troubles caused by Simon Rodriguez, but did not
reach that country until 1553. Meantime, sad to say,
Conspicuous Personages 105
Father Araoz astounded every one by displaying an
intense jealousy of Borgia, who had been made in-
dependent of all superiors except Ignatius himself, and
he demanded that his former friend and benefactor
should show himself less in public and give evidence of
greater htunility. His complaints were incessant, and
unfortunately an accidental unpopularity involving the
whole Borgia family which just then supervened gave
some color to the charges. In the meanwhile the
Pope had again insisted on bestowing the cardinalitial
honor upon Borgia, and for a moment Nadal, the
Commissary General of Spain, was afraid that it might
be accepted, not out of any ambition on the part of
Francis, but because of his profound reverence for the
will of the Sovereign Pontiff, especially as he had not
as yet pronounced the simple vow of the professed
against the reception of ecclesiastical dignities. Where-
upon, Ignatius sent an order for him to make the vow,
and from that forward his conscience was at rest on
the question of running counter to the desires of the
Pope.
In 1554 he was made commissary general in place of
Nadal, who had been summoned to Rome to assist
Ignatius, now in feeble health. The appointment of
Borgia to such a post was most extraordinary for the
reason that he had been but such a short time in the
Society, and had never been in a subordinate position.
The difficulty of his task was augmented by the fact
that he had been commissioned to divide the Spanish
section of the Society into four distinct provinces,
and to assume, in this and other matters the duties and
functions of an office which had no defined Hmitations,
and which would inevitably bring him into conflict
with other superiors. As a matter of fact, the com-
missariate was such a clumsy contrivance that it had
soon to be done away with.
106 The Jesuits
Araoz had previously been at odds with Nadal,
but he found it still more difficult to get along with
Borgia. This disedihing antagonism continued for
some time, and it is said that the old worldly superiority
of the viceroy showed itself occasionally in Borgia.
His dictatorial methods of government, his resentment
of interference with his plans, even when Nadal spoke
to him, showed that he was not yet a Jesuit saint. As
if he still possessed imlimited revenues he established
no less than twenty new houses; and, when there were
not sufficient resources to carry them on, he expected
his subjects to live in a penury that was incompatible
with general content and fatal to the existence of the
institutions. Moreover, his old propensity for great
mortifications manifested itself to such an extent that
there was danger of the Jesuits under him becoming
Carthusian in their mode of life. Indeed, he was of
opinion that the old monastic prison and stocks should
be introduced into the Societ}-, and he sent a postu-
latum or petition to that effect to the congregation
which elected Lainez. The result was that a spirit
of revolt began to manifest itself in Spain, and Nadal,
who was temporarily there, was happy when recalled
to Rome.
How all this can be reconciled with the admittedly
remarkable prudence of St. Ignatius and his profound
knowledge of the character of those he had to deal
with is difficult to say. Had he perhaps received
some divine intimation of what Borgia was yet to be?
On the other hand, it must be borne in mind that
these isolated instances of impatience, authoritativeness,
resentment and the like, naturally attract more atten-
tion when seen in one who is possessed of brilliant
qualities than they would in any ordinary personage.
Moreover, they occurred only in his dealings with
Jesuits of the same official standing, and were never
Conspicuous Personages 107
remarked when he had to treat with the rank and file
who were entrusted to his care and guidance. They
were, in any case, faults of judgment and not of
perversity of will. Indeed so intent was he on
acquiring the virtue of obedience that he fell into a
state of almost despondency and distress when he was
warned that Ignatius would disapprove of his methods
and measures. Finally, he was then only on the way
to sanctity; he had not yet achieved it.
It must be confessed, however, that Nadal was not
at all pleased with the attitude of Borgia and the
other Spanish Jesuits, when the call for the election
of a new general was issued. He fancied that it was
the beginning of a schism. When, as previously
pointed out, Philip II allowed the Spanish delegates
to go to the congregation, Borgia, remained in Spain.
The fear of the red hat still haunted him. The famous
postulatum about the prison and stocks which he sent
to the congregation was, of course, promptly rejected.
Borgia, however, had other reasons not to go to Rome.
Several Spanish cities were up in arms against the
Society; he himself was assailed openly in church by
Melchior Cano; a book he had written or was accused
of having written was condemned by the Inquisition,
and he expected momentarily to be arrested; evil
things were also said about his character. Unfortu-
nately, Araoz took advantage of all this and began to
pen a series of denunciatory letters to the General
against Borgia, and, though he was rebuked for them
and made public reparation for his offense, he soon
relapsed into his customary antagonism. To put an
end to it aU Lainez summoned Borgia to Rome and
conferred on him the honor of assistant. Even that
lesson Araoz failed to take to heart.
Francis reached Rome only in 1 5 6 1 . In the following
year when Lainez had to attend the re-opened Council
i
108 The Jesuits
of Trent, he made Borgia vicar general, and, when
Lainez died at the age of fifty-three in January, 1565,
the congregation which was convened in July of that
year elected Borgia in his place. At the same time
stringent laws were enacted against the hasty multi-
plication of houses and the inevitable lack of formation
which ensued. This was a notice served on the new
General to control his zeal in that direction. Borgia
instituted novitiates in every province; he circulated
the book of Exercises and laid down rules for common
life, which on account of the enormous growth of the
Society had now become a matter of primary impor-
tance. Instead of showing any proneness to the
eremitical life or wishing to impose it on the Society,
he gave an example of immense and intense activity
in public matters. Thus he had much to do with the
revision of the Bible, the translation of the
" Catechism " of the Council of Trent; the foundation
of Propaganda; and, omitting other instances of his
administrative ability, when the plague broke out in
Rome in 1566, he so successfully organized the financial
and medical machinery of the city that two years
afterwards, when the plague appeared again, all the
public funds were immediately placed in his hands.
The impression that his administration was severe,
exacting, harsh and narrow has no foundation in fact.
It is sufficient to glance at the five bulky volumes
made up mainly of correspondence and documents in
the " Monumenta Borgiana " to be convinced that the
reverse was the case. There is a kindliness, a gracious-
ness, even a joyousness observable in them on every
page. He even kept a list of all the sick in the Society,
and consoled them whenever the opportunity offered.
The vastness of his correspondence is simply astounding;
his letters are addressed to all kinds of people, the
lowest as well as the highest, and deal with every
Conspicuous Personages 109
variety of topic. Finally, there was no General who
developed the missions of the Society so widely and
so solidly as did St. Francis Borgia. He reformed
those of India and the Far East, created those of
America, and before he died he had the consolation
of knowing that sixty-six of his sons had been martyred
for the Faith during his Generalate. The discovery
of him by St. Ignatius was an inspiration, for Borgia
is one of the great glories of the Society. He ended
his remarkable life by a splendid act of obedience to
the Pope and of devotion to the Church.
On June 27, 1571, St. Pius V, his intimate friend,
requested him to accompany Cardinal Bonelli on an
embassy to Spain and Portugal. He was just then
recovering from a serious illness, and felt quite sure
that the journey would result in his death, but he
accepted the call. In Spain he was received with the
wildest enthusiasn. Indeed the papal legate was almost
forgotten in the public ovations. Portugal also lavished
honors on him, and when in consequence of new orders
from the Pope the embassy continued on to France to
plead with Charles IX and Catherine de' Medici, he
was received in the same manner in that cotmtry. On
February 25 he left Blois but by the time Lyons was
^ reached he had been stricken with congestion of the
lungs. From Lyons, the route led across the snow-clad
Mt. Cenis and continued by the way of Turin to
Alexandria, where they arrived on April 19.
As the invalid was in too perilous a state to permit
of his going any further for the moment, his relative,
the Duke of- Ferrara, kept him through the summer
until September 3, when another start was made for
Rome, where he wanted to die. The last stage of his
journey inflicted untold suffering on him, but he never
complained. On September 28, he arrived at the
professed house in Rome, and throngs of cardinals and
I
110 The Jesuits
prelates hurried to see him to get his blessing, for he
was already canonized in the popular mind. For two
days he lingered, retaining full consciousness, conversing
at times with those around him, but most of the time
absorbed in prayer. When asked to name his vicar he
laughed and said: " I have enough to do to give an
account of my own stewardship." Towards evening
he became speechless and about midnight peacefully
expired, ending a career which it would be hard to
equal in romance — a gorgeous grandee of Spain, a
duke, a viceroy, the affectionate friend of the greatest
potentate on earth, and now dying in the poor room
of a Jesuit priest, atoning by his splendid sanctity for
the offenses which have made the name of the family
to which he belonged a synonym of every kind of
iniquity.
Following close upon St. Francis Borgia came a
number of men w^ho have reflected glory upon the
Church and on the Society, some of them, the most
illustrious theologians of modem times, and others
acting as the diplomatic agents of the great nations
of Europe in the tentative but usually unsuccessful
efforts to reunite Christendom. We refer to Bellarmine,
Toletus, Suarez, Petavius, Possevin and Vieira.
Speaking of Bellarmine, Andrew White, in his
" Conflict of Science and Religion " informs us that
" there must have been a strain of Scotch in Bellarmine,
because of his name, Robert," — a typical illustration
of the unreliability of Andrew White as a witness. The
first Robert who appears in Scottish history is the son
of William the Conqueror, and consequently a Norman.
Even the name of Robert Bruce frequently occurs as
Robert de Bruce, just as there is a John de Baliol;
Robert de Pynkeny, etc. There is also a Robert of
Arbrissel, associated with Urban II in preaching the
Crusades; Robert of Geneva, an antipope; Robert de
Conspicuous Personages 111
Luzarches, who had to do with the building of Notre-
Dame in Paris, and scores of others might be cited.
Robert Bellarmine was bom at Montepulciano, in
1542. He was a nephew of Pope Marcellus II, and
after entering the Society was immediately admitted
to his vows. He studied philosophy for three years
at the Roman College and was then assigned to teach
humanities. In 1567 he began his theology at Padua,
but towards the end of his course, he went to Louvain
to study the prevailing heresies of the day at close
range. While there, his reputation as a preacher was
such that Protestants came from England and Germany
to hear him. In 1576 he was recalled to Rome to fill
the recently established chair of controversy, and the
lectures which he gave at that time form the ground-
work for his rem-arkable work " De controversiis." It
was found to be so comprehensive, conclusive and
convincing in its character that special chairs were
established in Protestant countries to refute it. It still
remains a classic. Singularly enough, though Sixtus V
had permitted the work to be dedicated to him, he
determined later to put it on the Index, because it gave
only an indirect power to the Holy See in temporal
matters. But he died before carrying out his threat,
and his successor, Gregory XIII, gave a special approba-
tion to the book and appointed its author a member
of the commission to revise the Vulgate, wliich Sixtus
had inaugurated, but into which certain faults had
crept. At Bellarmine's suggestion the revision was
called the " Sixtine edition " to save the reputation
of the deceased Pontiff.
j He was rector of the Roman College in 1592, and in
1595 provincial of Naples. In 1597 he was m.ade
theologian of Pope Clement VIII, examiner of bishops,
consultor of the Holy Office, cardinal in 1599, and
assessor of the Congregation " de Auxiliis," which had
112 The Jesuits
been instituted to settle the dispute between the
Thomists and Molinists on the question of the concilia-
tion of the operation of Divine grace with man's free
will. Bellarmine wanted the decision withheld, but
the Pope differed from him, though afterwards he
adopted the suggestion. He had, meantime, been
consecrated Archbishop of Capua, by the Pope, and
was twice in danger of being raised to the papacy. He
remained only three years at Capua, and passed the
rest of his life in Rome as chief theological adviser
of the Holy See. During this period occurred the
dispute between Venice and the Holy See in which
Bellarmine and Baronius opposed the pretensions of
Paolo Sarpi and Marsiglio, the champions of the
Republic. The English oath of allegiance also came
up for consideration at that time. In this controversy
Bellarmine found himself in conflict with James I
of England. He was conspicuous also in the Galileo
matter. His life was so remarkable for its holiness that
the cause of his beatification was several times intro-
duced, but was not then acted on, because his name
was connected with the doctrine of papal authority,
which was extremely obnoxious to the French regalist pol-
iticians. It has, however, been recently re-introduced.
When Baius, the theological dean of Louvain, first
broached his errors on grace, he was answered by
Bellarmine; and in 1579 when he again defended them,
he was taken in hand by Toletus, who, after refuting
him, induced him to acknowledge his heresy before the
united faculties of the university. Unlike Bellarmine,
who was of noble blood and the nephew of a Pope,
Toletus came of very humble people in Spain. Rosa
says he was one of the " new Christians," that is, of
Jewish or Moorish blood. He was bom at C6rdova
in 1532 and was, consequently, ten years older than his
friend and fellow -Jesuit, Bellarmine. He made his
Conspicuous Personages 113
studies at Salamanca, where his master, the famous
Soto, described him as an intellectual prodigy; he
must have been such, for he occupied a chair of
philosophy when he was fifteen. He entered the
Society in 1558, and was sent to Rome as professor
of theology. He was appointed theologian and preacher
of Pius V, Gregory XHI, Sixtus V and Urban VHI,
successively. He accompanied Cardinal Commendone
in his diplomatic visit to Germany, to form a league
against the Turks, just as Bellarmine had been deputed
to go with Gaetano to France during the Huguenot
troubles. He was made a cardinal in 1593, and in
1595 he induced Pope Clement to grant Henry IV
the absolution that brought peace to France. He
warned the Pontiff that a refusal in that case would
be a grevious sin. Shortly afterwards he was named
legate to that country, but, as he had offended his
fellow-countrymen by showing himself hostile to
Philip II in the matter of the succession of Henry IV,
it was considered advisable to send someone else in his
stead. He died in the following year, and that gave
occasion to the now discredited historian, d'Etoile, to
say that the Spaniards had poisoned him.
The writings of Toletus are very numerous. Bossuet
was a great admirer of his " Instructions to Priests,"
in which, as in his " Commentaries," his enemies
discovered the " lax " principles of probabilism, ultra-
montanism, and the like, and he has been accused of
teaching even perjury, simony and regicide. He was
the preacher and theologian of fotu* of the Popes, the
counsellor of princes, and the great defender of the
Faith in the northern countries. Cabassut, one of the
most learned of the French Oratorians in the reign of
Louis XIV, declared that we should have to wait for
several centuries before a man would appear who would
equal Cardinal Toletus. Tanner says that his life
8
I
114 The Jesuits
could not have been more useful or better employed
for Jesus Christ if he travelled over the whole earth
preaching the Gospel. Gregory XIII indignantly
denounced what he called the lies of those who assailed
his character. " We set against those calumnies our
own testimony," he wrote, " and we affirm in all
truthfulness that he is incontestably the most learned
man living to-day; we have a greater opinion still of
his integrity and his irreproachable life. We have ha*d
personal proofs of both. We know him perfectly and
we testify to what we know. We beg of your Highness
to give full and entire faith to the truth and to the
sincerity of our testimony, and to regard this man
henceforward as a true servant of Jesus Christ, and
marvellously useful to the whole Christian world."
These words were uttered before Toletus was clothed
with the purple. He will appear again at the election
of Aquaviva.
Very angry at the punishment he had received at
the hands of Bellarmine and Toletus, Baius turned on
Lessius, who was then teaching in the Jesuit Col-
lege at Louvain, where, acting on misinformation,
the university condemned thirty-four propositions
which Baius ascribed to him. Lessius declared that
they were not his, but the university refused to accept
his word. Baius, therefore, continued his denunciation
of Lessius in particular and of the Jesuits in general
as Lutherans and heretics. Whereupon, not only the
other universities but the whole country took up the
quarrel. When the question was ultimately referred
to the Pope, he replied that he himself had taught the
same doctrine as Lessius. Besides being one of the
very great theologians of the Society, Lessius was re-
markable for the holiness of his life. Pope Urban VIII,
who made such stringent laws about canonization, and
who knew Lessius personally, paid a special tribute to
Conspicuous Personages 115
his sanctity. He is now like Bellarmine ranked among
the venerable, and the process of his beatification is
proceeding.
Another great Jesuit theologian of this period was
the Spaniard, Juan Maldonado, who was bom in 1533
at Casas de Reina, about sixty-six leagues from Madrid.
He went to the University of Salmanca, where he
studied Latin under two blind professors. He took
up Greek with El Pinciano, philosophy with Toletus,
and theology with Soto. He was endowed with a
prodigious memory and never forgot anything he had
ever learned. His aspirations were at first for law,
but he turned to theology; and after obtaining the
doctorate, taught theology, philosophy and Greek a-t
the university. He entered the Society in 1562, and
was ordained priest in the following year. He lectured
on Aristotle in the new College of Clermont in 1564,
and then taught theology for the four following years;
after an interruption of a year, he continued his courses
until 1576. His lectures attracted such crowds that
at times the college courtyard was substituted for the
hall. He was appointed a member of the commission
for revising the Septuagint; his knowledge of Latin,
Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldaic and Arabic and his
comprehensive knowledge of history, of the early
Fathers and of all the heresies, gave him the first rank
among the Scriptural exegetes of his time. In Cornely's
opinion, his " Commentaries on the Gospels " are the
best ever published. Above all, he was a man of
eminent sanctity, endowed with an extraordinary
instinct for orthodoxy, and an unflinching courage in
fighting for the Church as long as he had life. " His
constant desire," says Prat, "was to make everything
the Society undertook, bear the mark of the greatness
and sanctity which St. Ignatius had stamped on the
Institute."
116 The Jesuits
There was also the great Suarez, who was bom at
Granada in 1548, and became a Jesuit in 1564. Pope
Paul V appointed him to answer King James of England
and wanted to retain him in the Holy City, but Philip
II claimed him for Coimbra to give prestige to the
university. When he visited Barcelona the doctors of
the university went out to meet him processionally to
pay him honor. Bossuet declared that his writings
contained the whole of Scholastic theology. In
Scholasticism he founded a school of his own, and
modified Molinism by his system of Congruism. His
book, " De defensione fidei," was burned in London
by royal command, and was prohibited as containing
doctrines against the power of sovereigns. One edition
of his works consisted of twenty-three and another of
twenty-eight volumes in folio. De Scoraille has
written an admirable biography of this great man.
Cardinal de Lugo also should be included in this
catalogue; indeed he is one of the most eminent
theologians of modem times. His precocity as a
child was almost preternatural, he was reading books
when he was three years old and was tonsured at
ten; at fourteen, he defended a public thesis in philos-
ophy, and about the same time he was appointed to
an ecclesiastical benefice by Philip II. He studied law
at the University of Salamanca, but soon followed his
brother into the Society. After teaching philosophy
at Medina del Campo and theology at Valladolid, he
was summoned to Rome to be professor of theology.
His lectures were circulated all over Europe before they
were printed, and only when ordered by superiors did
he put them in book form. Between 1633 and 1640
he published four volumes which cover the whole field
of dogmatic theology. Their characteristic is that there
is little, if any, repetition of what other writers had
already said. St. Alphonsus Liguori rated him as only
Conspicuous Personages 117
Just below St. Thomas Aquinas; and Benedict XIV
styles him " a light of the Church." He was made
a cardinal in 1643.
The distinguished Father Lehmkuhl appropriates
four long columns in " The Catholic Encyclopedia " to
express his admiration for Gregory de Valencia who was
bom in 1541 and died in 1603. He came from Medina
in Spain and was studying philosophy and jurisprudence
in Salamanca, when attracted by the preaching of
Father Ramirez, he entered the novitiate and had the
privilege of being trained by Baltasar Alvarez, who
was one of the spiritual directors of St. Teresa. St.
Francis Borgia called him to Rome, where he taught
philosophy with such distinction that all North
Germany and Poland petitioned for his appointment
to their universities. He was assigned to Dillingen,
and two years afterguards to Ingolstadt, where he
taught for twenty-four years. His " Commentary "
in four volumes on the " Summa theologica " of
St. Thomas is one of the first comprehensive theological
works of the Society. He contributed about eight
polemical treatises to the war on Lutheranism, which
was then at white heat ; but he was not at one with his
friend von Spec in the matter of witchcraft. Von
Spec wanted both courts and trials abolished ; Gregory
thought their severity might be tempered. He had
much to do with the change of view in moral theology
on the subject of usiiry; and the two last volumes of
his great work, the " Analysis fidei catholicae " cul-
minates in a proof of papal infallibility which expresses
almost literally the definition of the Vatican Council.
In 1589 he was summoned to Rome to take part in
the great theological battle on grace. The task
assigned to him was to prove the orthodoxy of MoHna,
which he did so effectively and with such consummate
skill that both friend and foe awarded him the palm.
118 The Jesuits
But the battle was not over, for it was charged that
isolated statements taken from Molina's book con-
tradicted St. Augustine. Consequently all of St.
Augustine's works had to be examined ; a scrutiny which
of course called for endless and crushing labor, but he
set himself to the task so energetically that when the
debates were resumed his health was shattered, and
he was allowed to remain seated during the discussions.
Thomas de Lemos was his antagonist at this stage.
In the ninth session, Gregory's strength gave way and
he fainted in his chair. His enemies said it was because
the Pope had reproached him with tampering with
St. Augustine's text, but as his holiness had decorated
him with the title of " Doctor doctorum," the accusa-
tion must be put in the same category as the other
which charged the Jesuits with poisoning Clement VIII
so as to prevent him from condemning their doctrine.
According to the " Biographic universelle," Denis
Petau, or Petavius, was one of the most distinguished
savants of his time. He was bom at Orleans, August
21, 1583, and there made his early studies. Later
he went to Paris, and at the end of his philosophical
course defended his thesis in Greek. He took no
recreation, but haunted the Royal Library, and amused
himself collecting ancient manuscripts. It was while
making these researches, that he met the famous
Casaubon, who urged him to prepare an edition of the
works of Synesius. While engaged at this work, he
was chosen for the chair of philosophy at Bourges,
though he was then only nineteen years old. As soon
as he was ordained to the priesthood, he was made
canon of the cathedral of his native city. There he
met Father Fronton du Due and entered the Society.
After his novitiate, he was sent to the University of
Pont-a-Mousson for a course of theology. He then
taught rhetoric at La Fleche, and from there went to
Conspicuous Personages 119
Paris. His health gave way at this time, and he
occupied himself in preparing some of the works which
Casaubon had formerly advised him to publish.
In 162 1, he succeeded Fronton du Due as professor
of positive theology, and continued at the post for
twenty-two years with ever increasing distinction.
Petau's leisure moments were given to deciphering
old manuscripts and studying history. Every year
saw some new book from his hands; meanwhile, his
vast correspondence and his replies to his critics in-
volved an immense amount of other labor. Though
naturally of a mild disposition, his controversies
unfortunately assumed the harsh and vituperative
tone of the period. It was the accepted method.
His great work on chronology appeared in 1627 and
won universal applause ; Philip IV of Spain offered him
the chair of history in Madrid, but he refused it on
the score of health. In 1637 he dedicated to Pope
Urban VIII a " Paraphrase of the Psalms in Greek
verse," for which he was invited to Rome, but he escaped
the honor on the plea of age. As a matter of fact, he
was so frightened at the prospect of being made a card-
inal that he fell dangerously ill, and recovered only when
assured that his name was removed from the list.
He stopped teaching in 1644, only eight years before
his death. The complete list of his books fills twenty-
five columns in Sommervogel's catalogue of Jesuit
publications. They are concerned with chronology,
history, polemics, and the history of dogma. His
" Dogmata theologica " is incomplete, not having been
carried beyond the fifth volimie.
In those days there was an extraordinary amount of
exaggerated confidence entertained by many of the
dignitaries of the Church that the Jesuits had an
especial aptitude for adjusting the politico-religious
difficulties which were disturbing the peace of Europe.
120 The Jesuits
Thus, we find Father Warsewicz sent to Sweden in
1574 to strengthen the resolution of the king of that
countr>', who, under the influence of his CathoHc
queen, was desirous of restoring the nation to the
Faith. Warsewicz appeared in the court of King John,
not as representing the Pope, but as the ambassador
of the King of Poland, who was related to Queen
Catherine. It was she who had suggested this means
of approaching the king. Accordingly, private meet-
ings were held with the monarch during an entire week,
for five and six hours consecutively, for John prided
himself on his theological erudition. He agreed to
re-establish Catholicity in his realm, provided the
chalice was granted to the laity and that marriage
of the clergy and the substitution of Swedish for
Latin in the liturgy were permitted He had no
difficulty about the doctrinal teaching of the Church.
The king's conditions were, of course, unacceptable,
and in 1576 Father Nicolai was sent to see if he could
induce him to modify his demand. According to the
" Realencyclopadie fur protestantische Theologie und
Kirche " and Bohmer-Monod, Nicolai represented
himself as a Lutheran minister, and taught in Protestant
seminaries. The " Realencyclopadie " adds, " he
almost succeeded in smuggling in what was virtually
a Romish liturgy." But in the first place, this
" liturgy " was not " smuggled in " by the Jesuit or
anyone else. It was imposed by the king, and was
in use until his death which occurred seventeen years
later, (The Catholic Encyclopedia). Secondly,
Nicolai could not have been posing as a minister, for
he let it be known that he had studied in Louvain,
Cologne, and Douay, which were Catholic seminaries.
It is true that he did not declare he was a Jesuit; but
it is surely possible to be a Catholic without being a
Jesuit. It is more than likely that the school was
Conspicuous Personages 121
«
a sort of union seminary, which was striving to arrive
at conciliation, for, according to the king, what kept the
two sections apart was merely a matter of ecclesiastical
usage. Finally, the Confession of Augsburg was not
admitted in Sweden as the religion of the State until
1593. Had Nicolai advocated Luther's doctrines either
in the pulpit or the professor's chair, he would have
been instantaneously expelled from the Society.
The next Jesuit who appeared in Sweden was
Anthony Possevin, an ItaHan of Mantua, who was
bom either in 1533 or 1534. He began his carreer as
the secretary of Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga, and became
a Jesuit at the age of twenty-five. He accomplished
much in France as a preacher and founder of colleges;
and in 1573 was made secretary of the Society under
Mercurian. In 1577 he was sent as a special legate
of the Pope to John IH of Sweden, and also to the
Courts of Bohemia and Bavaria to secure their support
for John in the event of certain political complications.
These political features of the mission made it very
objectionable to the Jesuits because of their possible
reaction on the whole Society. But as the order came
from the Pope, and as the conversion of the king and
of all Sweden was the predominating idea of the
mission, the attempt was made in spite of its possible
consequence.
Like his predecessor, he did not appear in his clerical
garb, nor even as the legate of the Pope. That would
scarcely be tolerated in a Protestant country like
Sweden, but he came as the ambassador extraordinary
of the Empress of Germany, the widow of Maximilian
n. With him were two other Jesuits — Good, an
Englishman, and Foumier, a Frenchman. Cretineau-
Joly makes Good an Irishman, but the English
" Menology " for July 5 says he was born at Glaston-
bury in Somersetshire, and was one of the first EngHsh-
122 The Jesuits
men admitted to the Society. After his noviceship
he was sent to Ireland, where he labored for four
years under the Archbishop of Armagh. He then
accompanied Posse vin to Sweden and Poland, and after
passing four years in the latter country, died at Naples
in 1586.
When Possevin had finished discussing the poiitical
situation with the king, he began his work as ambas-
sador of the Lord. He had many private interviews
with his majesty, and convinced him of his errors in
matters of faith; but the king insisted on points of
discipline and liturg}'' which could not be granted. In
brief, he was a Catholic, but reasons of State prevented
him from making any public declaration. However,
on May 16, 1578, he decided to take the step, and an
altar was erected in a room of his palace. There he
assisted at Mass, and in the presence of the queen, the
Governor of Stockholm and his secretary, declared
himself a Catholic. But he still hesitated about making
it known to his people, and begged Possevin to return
to Rome to see if he could not obtain the dispensation
already asked for, — such as Communion under both
kinds. Mass in Swedish, the marriage of priests, which
Possevin knew would never be granted. However, he
set out for Rome with seven young converts, and sent
two Jesuits to Stockholm as preachers. He also got
others ready in Austria, Poland, and Moravia, and
made arrangements with the Emperor Rudolph to give
his daughter in marriage to King John's son, Sigismund.
He finally reached Rome, but the congregation of
Cardinals, of course, rejected the king's pusillanimous
petition.
In spite of this failure, Possevin was then sent as
legate to Russia, Lithuania, Moravia, Hungary, and,
in general, to all the countries of the North; while
Philip II of Spain entrusted him with a confidential
Conspicuous Personages 123
mission to the King of Sweden. In Bavaria, he has to
see the duke; at Augsburg, he makes arrangements
for the Pope with the famous banking firm of Fugger,
the Rothschilds of those days, who had figured so
conspicuously in the question of Indulgences in Luther's
time. From, there he proceeded to Prague to deliver
a message to the Emperor; and at Vilna he conferred
with Bathori, the King of Poland. A Swedish frigate
waited for him at Dantzig and, after a fourteen days'
voyage, he landed at Stockholm on July 26, 1579. He
was no longer dressed as a layman, but went to the
court in his Jesuit cassock and was received with great
ceremony by the dignitaries of the realm.
Meantime, however, the king's brother and sister-
in-law had aroused the Lutherans ; the Swedish bishops
were banded against him, and finally, when the king
learned that none of his demands had been granted,
except that of keeping the confiscated ecclesiastical
property, he lost courage and reverted to Protestantism.
The assurance given him by Possevin that he could
rely on the help of Spain, of the Emperor, and of the
Catholic princes of Germany did not move him. He
saw before him the revolt of his subjects, and the
accession of his brother; and, while insisting that he
was a Catholic at heart, he refused to act, unless the
Pope granted all his demands. On February 19 he
convoked a Diet at Wadstena, at which Possevin was
present, but as the majority was clearly against return-
ing to the old Faith, the legate had to be satisfied with
being merely an onlooker, while the king, convinced
that he was acting against his conscience, yielded to
the popular clamor. Another Diet was held with the
same result. Meantime, the legate remained in Stock-
holm, devoting himself to the sick and dying, in a
pestilence that was then devastating the city. He also
succeeded in so strengthening the faith of the young
i
124 The Jesuits
Sigismund, the heir apparent, that when there was
question subsequently of his renouncing Catholicity in
order to ascend the throne, he had the courage to say
that he would relinquish all his rights and withdraw
into private life, rather than abandon the Faith.
A much more curious exercise of diplomacy came in
Possevin's way in the quarrel between the King of
Poland and the ruler of Muscovy. The latter had
made vast conquests in the East, and then turned his
attention to Livonia, which was Polish territory.
Bathori, who was ruler of Poland, met and conquered
the invader in a series of successful battles. Whereupon
the Czar, knowing Bathori 's devotion to the Holy See,
asked the Sovereign Pontiff, Gregory XIII, to intervene.
Possevin was again called upon, and set out as plenipo-
tentiary to arrange peace between the two nations.
Incidentally, the intention of the Pope was to obtain
the toleration of Catholics in the Russian dominions,
to secure a safe passage for missionaries to China
through Russia, to induce the Czar to unite with the
Christian princes against the Turks, and even to bring
about a union of the Greek and Latin churches.
Possevin arrived at Vilna in 1581. He found Bathori
elated by his victories, but in no humor to entertain
proposals of peace, which he wisely judged to be merely
a device of his opponent to gain time. However, he
yielded to persuasion, and Possevin set out to find the
Russian sovereign at Staritza. He was received with
all the honors due to an ambassador, and succeeded
in gaining a suspension of hostilities, the surrender of
Livonia to Poland, as well as the agreement to the
demands of the Pope for religious toleration, and the
passage across Russia to China for Catholic missionaries.
Even the proposal to join the crusade against the
Turks was accepted, in the hope that it would put
Constantinople in the hands of Russia. But when the
I
Conspicuous Personages 125
question of the union of Churches was mooted, which,
of course, impHed the recognition of the Pope as
Supreme Pastor, the savage awoke in the Czar, and,
for a moment, it seemed as if the Hfe of the ambassador
was at stake. The treaty of peace was finally signed
on January 15, 1582, the delegates meeting in the
chapel, where the ambassador celebrated Mass ; all the
representatives of Poland and Russia kissing the cross
as a declaration of their fidelity to their oath. Posse vin
and his associates then started for Rome towards the
end of April. They were loaded with presents from
the Czar; but to the amazement of the barbarians,
they distributed them among the poor of the city.
There was, however, an appendix to this mission.
Though the Polish king did all in his power to preserve
the Faith in Livonia, the German Lutherans, Calvinists,
Baptists, and other heretics had already invaded the
country, and were inflaming the population with hatred
of the Pope and the Church. Added to this was the
alarm awakened in the mind of the Emperor of Germany
at the growing power of the Poles. Again Posse vin
had to return to the scenes of his labors, but this time
it was more as a priest than a diplomat. Indeed,
much of his energy was expended in proving that he
was neither German nor Pole, but an ambassador of
Christ sent to build up the Faith of both nations
against heresy. We hear of him once more in the
matter of the reconciliation of Henry IV of France to
the Holy See. To him and Toletus was due the credit
of inducing the Pope to absolve the king, and by so
doing, save France from schism. When this was done,
Possevin became an ordinary Jesuit, laboring here and
there, exclusively for the salvation of souls. It is a
curious story, and it would be hard to find anything
like it in the chronicles of the Church, except, perhaps
the career of the famous Portuguese Jesuit, Antonio
126 The Jesuits
Vieira, sumamed by his fellow-countrymen, " the
Great."
Vieira was bom in Lisbon, on February 5, 1608, and
died at Bahia, in Brazil, on July 18, 1697. He was
virtually a Brazilian, for he went out to the colony
when still a child, and after finishing his studies in the
Jesuit college there, entered the Society in 1623, when
he was only fifteen years of age. At eighteen, he was
teaching rhetoric and writing commentaries on the
Canticle of Canticles, the tragedies of Seneca, and
the " Metamorphoses " of Ovid, but it was twelve
years before he was raised to the priesthood. The
eloquence of his first sermon astounded everyone.
In 1640 Portugal declared its independence from
Spain, to which it had been subject for sixty years.
As the union had been effected by fraud and force, and
as all the former Portuguese possessions in the East
and a part of Brazil had been wrested from Spain by
the Dutch and English; and as the taxes imposed on
Portugal were excessively onerous, there was a strong
feeling of hatred for the Spaniards. This hostility
broke out finally in a revolution, and John IV ascended
the throne of Portugal, but the change of government
involved the country in a disastrous war of twenty
years' duration.
Before the outbreak, the Jesuits were solemnly
warned by their Superiors to observe a rigid neutrality.
But in the excited state of the public mind, Father
Freire forgot the injunction, and, in an Advent sermon
in the year 1637, let words escape him that set the
country ablaze. Cretineau-Joly says " the provincial
promptly imprisoned him," which probably meant
that he was kept in his room, for there are no prisons
in Jesuit houses. But even that seclusion produced a
popular tumult. The provincial was besieged by
protests, and a delegation was even sent to Madrid to
I
I
Conspicuous Personages 127
protest that the words of the preacher had been misin-
terpreted. The Spanish king accepted the explanation,
and when the envoys returned to Lisbon, Freire had
been already liberated.
Ranke asserts in his " History of the Popes " that
as there was question of establishing a republic in
Portugal at that time, it is possible that Spain preferred
to see the innocuous John of Braganza, whose son was
a dissolute wretch, made king, than to run the risk of
a republic like those projected at that time by the
Calvinists in France and by the Lutherans in Sweden.
Later, however, an investigation was ordered, and a
Jesuit named Correa was incarcerated for having
predicted at a college reception given to John of
Braganza some years earlier that he would one day
wear the crown. Meantime the explosion took place,
and in 1640 John of Braganza was proclaimed king
of an independent Portugal.
In the following year Vieira arrived from Brazil and
was not only made tutor to the Infante, Don Pedro,
as well as court preacher, but was appointed member
of the royal council. In the last-named office he
reorganized the departments of the army and navy,
gave a new impetus to commerce, urged the foundation
of a national bank, and the organization of the Brazilian
Trading Company, readjusted the taxation, curbed the
Portuguese Inquisition, and was mainly instrumental
in gaining the national victories of Elvas, Almeixal,
Castello Rodrigo, and Montes Claros.
Between 1646 and 1650 he went on diplomatic
missions to Paris, the Hague, London, and Rome, but
refused the title of ambassador and also the offer
of a bishopric. He wanted something else, namely,
to work among his Indians, and he returned to Brazil
in 1652. There he provoked the wrath of the slave-
owners by his denunciation of their ill-treatment of
128 The Jesuits
the negroes and Indians, and was soon back in Lisbon
pleading the cause of the victims. He won his case,
and, in 1655, we find him once more at his missionary
labors in Brazil, evangelizing the cannibals, translating
the catechism into their idioms, travelling over steep
mountain ranges and paddling hundreds of miles on
the Amazon and its numberless tributaries. Eleven
times he visited every mission post on the Maranhon,
which meant twenty journeys along the interminable
South American rivers, on some of which he had to
keep at the oar for a month at a time. It is estimated
that he made 15,000 leagues on foot, and advanced
600 leagues farther into the interior of the continent
than any of his predecessors. He continued this work
till 1 66 1, and then the slave-owners rose against him
with greater fury than ever, and sent him a prisoner
to Lisbon. He was no longer as welcome at court as
previously, for the degenerate Alfonso, who had to be
subsequently deposed, was on the throne. In 1665
the Inquisition forbade him to preach, and flung him
into a dungeon, where he lay till 1667, when he was
released by the new king Pedro II. He then went to
Rome, and was welcomed by the Pope, the cardinals,
and the General of the Order, Father Oliva.
While at Rome he met Christina of Sweden, who had
abdicated her throne in order to become a Catholic.
Ranke, in his " History of the Popes," devotes a whole
chapter to this extraordinary woman, and she is
referred to here merely because of her admiration for
Vieira, and also to call attention to the fact that the
first priest she spoke to about her conversion was the
Jesuit, Antonio Macedo, who was the confessor of
Pinto Pereira, the Portuguese ambassador to Sweden.
The " Menology " tells us that Macedo did not wear
his priestly dress in that country. He was the ambas-
sador's secretary and interpreter, but he attracted the
Conspicuous Personages 129
attention of the queen, who remembered no doubt
that the Jesuit, Possevin, had appeared in the same
court, in the time of John III, disguised as an officer.
She finally asked Macedo about it, and he admitted
that he was a Jesuit. Then began a series of conversa-
tions in Latin, which Christina spoke perfectly, as she
did several other languages. She finally told him that
she had resolved to become a Catholic, even if she
forfeited her crown, and she commissioned him to
inform the Sovereign Pontiff of her purpose. To
reward Macedo she asked the Pope to make him a
bishop, but as he had been a missionary in Africa, the
mitre did not appeal to him, and he went back to
Lisbon, where he .died after sixty-seven years passed in
the Society.
Macedo's departure from Stockholm was so sudden
that it excited comment, and possibly to persuade the
public she had nothing to do with it, the queen
pretended to despatch messengers in pursuit of him.
In fact, she had requested the General of the Society
to send some of the most trusted members of the Order
to Sweden. It may be that the old African missionary,
Macedo, was not skillful enough in elucidating some of
the metaphysical problems which she was discussing.
" In February, 1652," says Ranke, " the Jesuits who
had been asked for arrived in Stocldiolm. They were
two young men who represented themselves to be
Italian noblemen engaged in travel, and in this char-
acter they were admitted to her table." They were
Fathers Cavati and Molenia, who were able mathe-
maticians as well as theologians. Descartes also was
there about that time. The queen did not recognize
the young noblemen in public, but, says Ranke: " as
they were walking before her to the dining-hall, she
said, in a low voice to one of them : ' Perhaps you have
letters for me.' Without turning his head he replied
9
I!
130 The Jesuits
that he had. Then, with a quick word, she bade him
keep silence. On the following morning they were
conducted secretly to the palace. Thus," continues
Ranke, " to the royal dwelling of Gustavus Adolphus
there now came ambassadors from Rome for the
purpose of holding conferences with his daughter about
joining the Catholic Church. The charm of this affair
for Christina was principally the conviction that no one
had the slightest suspicion about her proceedings."
The conferences seem to have been long drawn out,
although the envoys subsequently reported that " Her
Majesty apprehended with most ready penetration the
whole force of the arguments we laid before her.
Otherwise we should have consumed much time.
Suddenly she appeared to abandon every desire to
carry out her purpose, and attributed her doubts to
the assaults of Satan. Her spiritual advisers were in
despair, when just as suddenly she exclaimed : ' There
is no use. I must resign my crown.' " The abdication
was made with great solemnity amid the tears and
protests of her subjects. She left her country and
spent the rest of her life in Rome, where her unusual
intellectual abilities and great learning excited the
wonder of everyone. Her heroism in sacrificing her
kingdom was, of course, the chief subject of the praise
that was showered upon her.
When Vieira arrived in Rome and fascinated everyone
by his extraordinary eloquence, Christina wanted him
to be her spiritual director. But the old hero preferred
ruder work, and by 1681 he was again back in Brazil
among his Indians. Even in his old age he was a
storm centre, and although he had done so much for
the glory of God and the good of humanity, he was
deprived of both active and passive voice in the Society,
that is to say, he could neither vote for any measures
of administration or be eligible to any office, because
Conspicuous Personages 131
he was supposed to have canvassed a provincial
congregation. It was only after he had expired, at
the age of ninety, that his innocence was established.
His knowledge of scripture, theology, history, and
literature was stupendous, and he is said to have been
familiar with the language of six of the native races.
Southey, in his " History of Brazil," calls him one of
the greatest statesmen of his country. He was a
patriot, whose one dream was to see Portugal the
standard-bearer of Christianity in the Old and New
Worlds. As an orator he was one of the world's
masters, and as a prose writer the greatest that Portugal
has every produced. His sermons alone fill fifteen
volumes, and there are many of his manuscripts to be
found in the British Museum, the National Library
of Paris, and elsewhere.
When St. Francis Borgia, the third General of the
Society, died in 1572, his most likely successor was
Polanco, who had been the secretary of St. Ignatius,
and was generally credited with having absorbed the
genuine spirit of St. Ignatius. Had he been elected,
he would have been the fourth successive Spanish
General. It would have been a misfortune at that
time, and would have fastened on the members of the
Society the name which was already given to them in
some parts of Europe: "the Spanish priests," a
designation that would have been an implicit denial
of the catholicity of the Order, even though the Spanish
monarch was " His Catholic Majesty."
Their devoted friend. Pope Gregory XIII, saw the
danger and .determined to avert it. Fortunately, he
had just been asked by Philip of Spain, Sebastian of
Portugal, and the cardinal inquisitor not to allow the
election of Polanco, who was of Jewish descent. The
Pope determined to go further and to exclude any
Spaniard from the office, for the time being. At the
132 The Jesuits
customary visit of the delegates, prior to the election,
he intimated that as there had been three successive
Spanish Generals, it might be wise, in view of the
world-wide expansion of the Society, to elect someone
of another nationality, and he suggested Mercurian.
Doubtless his words found a ready response in the
hearts of many of those to whom they were addressed,
and even most of the Spaniards must have seen the
wisdom of the change. A remonstrance, however, was
respectfully made that His Holiness was thus with-
drawing from the Society its right of freedom of
election, to which the Pope made answer that such was
not his intention ; but in case a Spaniard was chosen he
would like to be told who he was, before the public
announcement was made. As the Pope's word is law,
the Spaniards were excluded as candidates, and appar-
ently, as a measure of conciliation, Everard de
Mercoeur, or Mercurian, was elected. As his native
country, Belgium, was then subject to Spain, the blow
thus given to the Spaniards was, to a certain extent,
softened. But it was the beginning of trouble which
at one time almost threatened the Society with destruc-
tion. Fortunately, Mercurian 's successor, Aquaviva,
had to deal with it when it came.
Mercurian had as yet done nothing great enough to
attract public attention; but he evidently enjoyed the
unqualified esteem of the Pope. In the Society itself
he had filled many important posts such as vice-
praepositus of the professed house in Rome, rector
of the new college of Perugia, visitor and provincial
of Flanders and France, and assistant of Francis Borgia.
And in all of these charges he was said to have re-
produced in his government the living image of St.
Ignatius. A man with such a reputation was
invaluable, especially for the spiritual life of the
Society, and that is of infinitely greater importance
Conspicuous Personages 133
than outward show. There is one thing for which the
Order is especially very grateful to him namely, the
" Summary of the Constitutions," and the " Common
Rules " and the rules for each office, which he drew up at
the beginning of his administration. This digest is read
every month in the refectory of every Jesuit house and
selections from it form the basis of the domestic
exhortations given twice a month to the communities
by the rector or spiritual father. By this means the
character and purpose of the Institute is kept con-
tinually before the eyes of every Jesuit, from the
youngest novice to the oldest professed, and they are
made to see plainly that there is nothing cryptic or
esoteric in the government of the Society. Hence,
when the priest, after his ordination, goes through
what is called his third year of probation, in which
the study of the Institute constitutes a large part
of his work, nothing really new is presented to him.
It is familiar matter studied more profoundly.
There were other great men whose names might
be mentioned here, but they will appear later in the
course of this history.
CHAPTER V
THE ENGLISH MISSION
Conditions after Henry VIII — Allen — Persons — Campion —
Entrance into England — Kingsley's Caricature — Thomas Pounde —
Stephens — Capture and death of Campion — Other Martyrs — South-
well, Walpole — Jesuits in Ireland and Scotland — The English Suc-
cession — Dissensions — The Archpriest Blackwell — The Appellants
— The Bye- Plot — Accession of James I — The Gunpowder Plot —
Garnet, Gerard.
When Dr Allen suggested to Father Mercurian to send
Jesuits to the English mission, Claudius Aquaviva
came forward as an enthusiastic advocate of the under-
taking, and was one of the first to volunteer. He was
not, however, accepted, because evidently only English-
speaking priests would be of any use there. But his
election as General shortly after gave new courage to
Campion and his companions when they were in the
thick of the fight.
Dr Allen had left England in 1561, and taken refuge
in Belgiiun, but he returned in the following year,
and went around among the persecuted Catholics,
exhorting them to be steadfast in their Faith. He
found that the people were not Protestants by choice,
and he was convinced that all they needed was an
organized body of trained men to look after their
spiritual needs, to comfort them in their trials, and
to keep them well-instructed in their religion. Because
of the lack of such help they were not only becoming
indifferent, but were almost ready to compromise with
their persecutors. Henry had confiscated ninety
colleges, two thousand three hundred and fourteen
chantries and free chapels and ten hospitals, besides
putting to death seventy-six priests and monks,
[1341
The English Mission 135
beginning with Fisher, the Bishop of Rochester, as
well as a great number of others, gentle and simple,
conspicuous among whom was the illustrious chancellor,
Thomas More. There was a partial cessation of
persecution when Edward VI, a boy, was placed
on the throne, and, of course, the conditions changed
completely when Mary Tudor came to her own. But
when the terrible Elizabeth, infuriated by her excom-
munication, took the reins of government in her hands,
no one was safe. Unfortunately, however, in the
interval, the people had become used to the situation,
and it began to be a common thing for them to resort
to all sorts of subterfuges, even going to Protestant
churches to conceal their Faith. Hence, there was
great danger that, in the very near future, Catholicity
would completely die out in England. Allen proposed
to Father Mercurian to employ the Society to avert
that disaster.
Some of the General's consultors balked at the
project because it implied an absolutely novel con-
dition of missionary life. There were none of the
community helps, such as were available even in the
Indies and in Japan; for, in England, the priest would
have to go about as a peddler, or a soldier, or a sailor,
or the like, mingling with all sorts of people, in all
sorts of surroundings, and would thus be in danger of
losing his religious spirit. The obvious reply was
that if a man neglected what helps were at hand he
would no doubt be in danger of losing his vocation,
but that otherwise God would provide. Allen had
already founded a missionary house at Douai in 1568,
and its success may be estimated from the fact that
one hundred and sixty priests, most of them from
the secular clergy, who had been trained there, were
martyred for the Faith. He had succeeded also
I in obtaining another establishment in Rome. In
136 The Jesuits
1578, however, when the occupants of Douai were
expelled, they were lodged at Rheims in the house of
the Jesuits. Meantime, the Roman foundation had
been entrusted to the Society; and with these two
sources of supplies now at his disposal, Father Mercurian
determined to begin the great work.
The most conspicuous figure in this heroic enterprise
was Edmund Campion. He was bom in London, and
after the usual training in a grammar school was
sent to Christ's Hospital. There he towered head and
shoulders over everyone; and when Queen Mary made
her solemn entry into London, it was he who made
an address of welcome to her at St. Paul's School.
With the queen on that occasion was her sister Eliza-
beth. Later, when Sir Thomas White founded St.
John's College, Oxford, Campion was made a junior
fellow there, and " for twelve years," says " The
Catholic Encyclopedia," " he was the idol of Oxford,
and was followed and imitated as no man ever was
in an English University except himself and Newman."
The " Dictionary of National Biography " goes further
and informs us that " he was so greatly admired for his
grace of eloquence that young men imitated not only
his phrases but his gait, and revered him as a second
Cicero." He was chosen to deliver the oration at the
re-interment of Amy Robsart, the murdered wife of
Robert Dudley, afterwards Earl of Leicester. The
funeral discourse on the founder of the college was
also assigned to him. In 1566 when Queen EHzabeth
visited Oxford, Campion welcomed her in the name of
the University, and was defender in a Latin disputation
held in presence of her majesty. The queen expressed
her admiration of his eloquence and commended him
particularly to Dudley for advancement.
Father Persons assures us that " Campion was always
a Catholic at heart, and utterly condemned all the
The English Mission 137
fonn and substance of the new religion. Yet the
sugared words of the great folk, especially the queen,
joined with pregnant hopes of speedy and great prefer-
ment, so enticed him that he knew not which way to
turn." While in this state of mind, he was induced by
Cheyney, the Bishop of Gloucester, who had retained
much of the ancient Faith, to accept deacon's orders and
to pronounce the oath of supremacy, but the reproaches
of a friend opened his eyes to his sin; and in anguish
of soul, he abandoned all his collegiate honors. In
August, 1569, he set out for Ireland. The reason for
going there was to participate in a movement for
resurrecting the old papal University of Dublin, the
direction of which was to be entrusted largely to him.
The scheme, however, feU through, chiefly on account
of Campion, but very much to his credit. His papistry
was too open. Meantime, he had written a " History
of Ireland " based chiefly on Giraldus Cambrensis,
which has ever since strongly prejudiced Irish people
against him, notwithstanding his sanctity. But his
good name has recently been restored by the dis-
tinguished Jesuit historian, Father Edmund Hogan, who
tells us, that when Campion fled from Dublin to escape
arrest for being a Catholic his manuscript fell into the
hands of his pursuers who garbled and mutilated it at
pleasure. He himself never published the book.
It will be of interest to students of literature to
learn that one of Shakespeare's most famous passages
was borrowed from this " History," namely, the
description of Cardinal Wolsey in Henry VIII. Whole
passages have been worked into the play. As Campion
wrote it in 1569, when Shakespeare was only four
or five years old, its authorship is beyond dispute.
Conditions finally became so unpleasant in Dublin that
he was obliged to take to flight. He left Ireland
disguised as a serving-man and reached London, in
138 The Jesuits
time to witness the execution of Dr. Storey in June,
1 57 1. That completed the work of his conversion,
and he went to Douai, where after a recantation of
his heresy, he resumed his course of scholastic theology ;
a year later, he set out for Rome as a penniless pilgrim,
arriving there barefooted and in rags, much to the
amazement of one of his former Oxford admirers, who
met him on the street.
He was received into the Society by Father
Mercurian, and made his novitiate at Prague in
Bohemia, where he was ordained in 1578. He was
one of the first group of missionaries who left the
Continent for England under the guidance of Persons.
In the party were Dr. Goldwell, Bishop of Saint
Asaph, thirteen secular priests, three Jesuits : Persons,
Campion and Ralph Emerson, a lay-brother, besides
two young men not in orders. Goldwell had been
consecrated as early as 1555 and had accompanied
Cardinal Pole to England; he was England's sole
representative at the Council of Trent. He was now
on his way again to his native country, but he fell ill
at Rheims and, according to the " Dictionary of
National Biography," was recalled by the Pope.
"This," says Dr. Guilday (English Refugees, p. 125),
" was a disappointment to Persons. The presence of
a bishop in England had been a condition of the Jesuits*
taking up the burden of converting lapsed Catholics,
and despite all the rebuffs the demand for a hierarchy
met at Rome, the Jesuits themselves continually
renewed it. ' ' These words of the distinguished historian
who is the most recent witness in the matter of the
archipresbyterate are invaluable testimony on a sorely
controverted point.
The missionaries left Rome on foot, and passing
through Milan were detained for a week by St. Charles
Borromeo, who made Campion discourse every day
The English Mission 139
to the episcopal household on some theological topic.
From there they directed their steps to Geneva and
were bold enough to visit Theodore Beza in his own
house, but he refused to discuss religious matters.
At Rheims Campion spoke to the students on the
glory of martyrdom. Finally he and Persons arrived
at Calais, and made their plans to cross the Channel;
the other missionaries had meantime scattered along
the coast, as it would have been manifestly unsafe for
all to embark at the same place. Persons went aboard
the boat disguised as a naval officer, and on stepping
ashore at Dover presented himself with supreme
audacity to the port warden or governor, and asked
for a permit for his friend " Patrick," a merchant who
was waiting on the other side for leave to cross.
" Patrick " was Campion. He had used that name
when escaping from Ireland, and as it had stood him
in good stead then, he again assumed it.
Campion, however, did not play his part as well as
Persons, for the governor eyed him intently and said:
" You are Doctor Allen." " Indeed, I am not," replied
Campion. " Well, you are a suspicious character, at
all events, and your case must be looked into." A
council was accordingly held, and it was decided to
send the new-comer to London, under an armed escort.
Campion thought himself lost, but up in his heart
arose a prayer: " O Lord, let me work at least
one year for my country, and then do with me what
Thou wilt." Immediately a change came over the
Governor's face, and, to the amazement of everyone,
he said: "I was mistaken; you can go." Full of
gratitude to God, the future martyr made all haste for
London, where someone was on the look-out for him,
and he soon met Father Persons.
Such are the plain facts taken from the writings
of Campion to his superiors, describing his arrival in
140 The Jesuits
England. But the public mind had to be debauched
on this as on every other point concerning the Jesuits,
even at the expense of the man whom Oxford is still
proud of as a scholar and a gentleman, who was called
by Cecil " one of the diamonds of England," and
whose grace and beauty and eloquence made him the
favorite of Dudley and Elizabeth. In spite of all that,
however, Kingsley, in his "Westward Ho" (chap, iii),
describes Campion at this juncture of his life as " a gro-
tesque dwarf whose sword, getting between his spindle
shanks, gave him, at times, the appearance of having
three legs, and figuring sometimes as a tail when it
stuck out behind. He was so small that he could only
scratch at the ribs of his horse which he was trying to
mount on the wrong side, but he finally succeeded in
gaining his seat by the help of a stool." He also wore
" a tonsure," we are informed, " cut by apostolic scis-
sors," and Londoner though he was, he is made to speak
of his countrymen as " Islanders." Persons also is
described as a blustering, blaspheming bully, who
gives himself absolution for his own transgressions.
All this is omitted, however, from the school edition
of "Westward Ho."
Persons and Campion set to work immediately, and
soon managed to call a meeting of the priests who were
in hiding in various places of the country. The purpose
of the summons was to let them know that the
new-comers had received the most stringent orders
from their superiors to keep absolutely aloof from
anything savoring of politics. At Hoxton, Campion
made a written statement to that effect; and it was
there that he received a visit from one of the most
interesting, and, to some extent, the oddest of the
English missionaries — a man who was made a Jesuit
by letter — the famous Thomas Pounde.
The English Mission 141
Pounde had begun by being a very conspicuous fop
at the court of Queen EHzabeth. He was a favorite
of the queen, and had, on one occasion, prepared a
splendid pageant at which her majesty was present.
One of its features was a dance, a pas seul by himself.
However, as luck would have it, he stumbled and fell
right at the queen's feet. The accident was ridiculous
enough to humiliate him, but when his gracious
sovereign honored him with a brutal kick, and called
out scoffingly: " Get up, Sir Ox," Pounde arose, indeed,
but not as an ox. He was a changed man. Up to
that, though a Catholic, he had put his religion aside
altogether. Now, he openly proclaimed his Faith and
exhorted others to do the same. The result was that
he was confined in almost every dungeon of the
kingdom. He was loaded with fetters and shut up in
cells where no ray of light could penetrate; and when
liberated, either through the influence -of friends, or
because he had served the appointed term, he was
incarcerated again. Everywhere and at all times he
preached the truths of the Faith, not only in a coura-
geous, but in an extraordinarily joyous fashion to his
fellow-prisoners, or to people outside the jail, making
converts of many and inducing others to amend their
lives. Of the latter class was a certain Thomas
Cottam, an Oxford man, who, thanks to his friend
Pounde, not only became very devout, but, after he
had succeeded in getting to the Continent, became a
Jesuit and returning later was martyred at Tyburn
on May 30, 1582.
A chance reading of the Jesuit missions in India had
quite captivated Pounde, as well as a friend of his,
named Thomas Stephens, who used to go around
disguised as Pounde 's servant. They determined to
make for the Continent and to ask for admission to
142 The Jesuits
the Society. On the way, Pounde was captured because
he had stopped too long in tr>'ing to convert a
Protestant who had given him shelter; Stephens,
however, reached Rome and was admitted to the
Society. But instead of being sent back to England,
as one would have fancied, his longing for India was
satisfied, and we find him in Goa, on October 24, 1579.
He was there known as Padre Estevao, or Estevan, or
again as Padre Busten, Buston, or de Buston, the
latter names being so many Portuguese efforts to
pronovmce Bulstan, in Wiltshire, England, where
Stephens was bom about 1549. As we see from the
dates, he had then reached the age of 30. He is
mentioned in Hakluyt's " Voyages " as the first
Englishman who ever went to India. Hakluyt's infor-
mation came from a series of letters which Stephens
wrote to his father, ' ' offering the strongest inducements
to London merchants to embark on Indian specula-
tions." These letters bore such evidence of sound
commercial knowledge that they are regarded as
having suggested the formation of the English East
India Company.
Father Stephens spent his first five years as minister
of the professed house at Goa, and was then sent to
Salsette as rector, and, for a time, was socius to the
visitor. After that he spent thirty-five years as a
missionary among the Brahmin Catholics of Salsette,
but his labors in that field did not prevent him from
doing a great deal of hard literary work. Thus, he
was the first to make a scientific study of Canarese.
He also plunged into Hindustani, and wrote grammars
and books of devotion in those languages. Most of
his writings, however, were lost at the time of the
Suppression of the Society. He died in Goa in 16 19.
(The Catholic Encyclopedia, XIV, 292.)
The English Mission 143
Pounde's Jesuit work was quite different from that
of Stephens. Not being able to present himself in
person to the General, he asked by letter to be received
into the Order. It was on December i, 1578, while he
was imprisoned in the Tower that an answer came
from Father Mercurian granting his request. That
encouraged him to labor more strenuously than ever,
and for thirty years he kept on defying the Government.
Lingard gives one notable instance of his audacity,
though the great historian does not seem to be aware
that Pounde was. a Jesuit. In the proceedings con-
nected with the Gunpowder Plot, someone was sen-
tenced for harboring a Jesuit. Pounde appeared in
court to protest against the ruling of the judge, with
the result that he himself was arrested. He was
condemned to have one of his ears cut off, to go to
prison for life, and to pay a fine of a thousand pounds,
if he did not tell who advised him to act as he did.
He did not lose his ear; while he was in the Tower the
queen, Anne of Denmark, interceded in his behalf.
Her loving husband, however. King James I, told her:
;' never to open her mouth again in favor of a Catholic."
Finally he got off by standing a whole day in the
pillory, an experience which he probably enjoyed, for
in spite of dungeons and chains and loss of property
and his own terrible austerity — he often scourged
himself to blood — he never lost his spirit of fun. He
ended his wonderful career on March 5, 161 5, at the
age of 76, at Belmont, breathing his last in the room
in which he was bom.
When Campion was caught on his way to Lancashire
and brought to London, where he was stretched on
the rack and interrogated again and again while being
tortured, the story was circulated that he had, at last,
not only recanted, but had revealed secrets of the
w
144 The Jesuits
confessional. Pounde was in a fury about it, and
wrote Campion an indignant letter, but he found out
that it was one of the usual tricks of the English
Government. The same villainy had been practised
by Elizabeth's father on More and Fisher, but "like them,
Campion was too true a man to yield to suffering. On
August 31, by order of the queen, bruised as he was
and almost dismembered by the long and repeated
racldngs, he was led with Sherwin to a public disputa-
tion in the royal presence. Against them were Nowell
and Day, two of the doughtiest champions of heresy
that could be found in the kingdom. The dispute
lasted for four hours in the morning and four in the
afternoon — the intention being to keep it up for days.
It was during this debate that the listeners saw with
horror, as Campion stretched out his arms to emphasize
his words by a gesture, that the nails had been torn
off the fingers of both hands. The public discussions
ended after the second session, for Nowell and Day
had been completely beaten. What happened in the
examinations held after that, behind closed doors, the
authorities never let the world know, but it leaked out
that Campion had made many converts among those
who came to hear him. One of them was Arundel,
who subsequently died for his faith on the scaffold.
On November 14 the Jesuits, Campion and Thomas
Cottam, with Ralph Sherwin, Bosgrave, Rhiston, Luke
Kirby, Robert Johnson and Orton, secular priests, were
called for trial. They all pleaded innocent of felony
and rebellion. " How could we be conspirators?"
Campion asked, " we eight men never met before;
and some of us have never seen each other." On
November 16, six others were cited. It was on this
occasion that Campion answered the question : " Do
you believe Elizabeth to be the lawful queen?" " I
told it to herself," he said, " in the castle of the Duke
The English Mission 145
of Leicester." Thither he had been called for a private
interview, and Elizabeth recognized him as the Oxford
man and the little lad of Christ Church, who, not then
dreaming of the terrible future in store for him, had
paid the homage of respectful and perhaps affectionate
loyalty to her majesty. At that meeting were Leicester,
the Earl of Bedford, two secretaries of state and the
queen. As the prosecution was so weak and the
defense made by Campion was so unassailable, everyone
expected an acquittal, but to their amazement, a
verdict of guilty was brought in. " The trial," says
Hallam, "was as unfairly conducted and supported
by as slender evidence as can be found in our books."
(Constitutional History of England, I, 146.)
When the presiding judge asked the accused if
they had anything to say, Campion replied: "The
only thing that we have now to say is that if our
religion makes us traitors we are worthy to be con-
demned, but otherwise we are and have been as true
subjects as ever the queen had. In condemning us,
you condemn all your own ancestors, all that was
once the glory of England, the Island of Saints, and
the most devoted child of the See of St. Peter. For
what have we taught, however you may qualify it
with the odious name of treason, that they did not
uniformly teach ? To be condemned along with those
who were the glory not of England alone but of the
whole world by their degenerate descendants is
both glory and gladness to us. God lives; posterity
will live, and their judgment is not so liable to corrup-
tion as that .of those who are now going to condemn
us to death. " When the sentence was uttered. Campion
lifting up his voice intoned the " Te Deum laudamus "
in which the others joined, following with the anthem
" Hasc est dies quam fecit Dominus, exultemus et
laetemur in ea " (This is the day which the Lord has
10
146 The Jesuits
made; let us rejoice and exult in it.) There were
conversions in the courtroom that day.
The scene at the scaffold on December i, was
characterized by the brutality of savages. The victims
were placed on hurdles and dragged through the streets
to Tyburn. Campion was the first to mount the fatal
cart, and when the rope was put about his neck and
he was addressing the crowd that thronged around,
Knowles interrupted him with, " Stop your preaching
and confess yourself a traitor." To which Campion
replied, "If it be a crime to be a Catholic, I am a
traitor." He continued to speak, but the cart was
drawn from under him and he was left dangling in
the air. Before he breathed his last he was cut down,
his heart was torn out and the hangman holding it
aloft in his bloody hand, cried out, " Behold the heart
of a traitor!" and flung it into the fire. Alexander
Briant and Ralph Sherwin then met the same fate.
Previous to this gruesome tragedy, 4,000 people had
been won back to the Faith.
Thomas Cottam and Vv-'illiam Lacey were the next
English martyrs of the Society. The latter calls for
special mention. He was a Yorkshire gentleman,
who for some time thought that he could, with a safe
conscience, frequent Protestant places of worship,
but as soon as he was made aware that it was forbidden,
he desisted; and fines and vexations of all kinds failed
to change his resolution. Becoming a widower, he
determined in spite of his years to consecrate himself
to God, and having met Dr. Allen at Rheims, he went
to Rome, where, after his theological studies he was
ordained a priest, and returning to England labored
strenuously to revive the faith of his fellow-country-
men. He succeeded even in entering a jail in York
where a number of priests were confined, and afforded
them whatever help he could. As he was leaving, he
The English Mission 147
was arrested and was executed a month later, August
22, 1582. Father Possoz, S. J., the author of " Edmond
Campion," says " there is no mention of Lacy, either
in Tanner or Alegambe, but I found, in the catalogue
of Rayssius, ' Gulielmus Lacasus, sacerdos romanus
qui in carcere constitutus, in Societatem Jesu fuit
receptus.' " The same is true of Thomas Methame
who did not die on the scaffold, but after seventeen
years of captivity in various prisons, gave up the
ghost at Wisbech in 1592 at the age of sixty. He
was remarkable for his profound knowledge both
of history and theology. There also appears on the
list an O'Mahoney (John Cornelius), who was a ward
of the Countess of Arundel. He was thrown into the
Marshalsea, where Father Henry Garnet admitted
him to make his vows. He won his crown at Dorchester
on July 4, 1594. His name is not found in the " Fasti
Breviores " or the " Menology," but it is given by
Possoz.
The poet Robert Southwell was martyred on February
21, 1595. Writing about him, Thurston calls attention
to an interesting coincidence in his life. His grand-
father, Sir Richard Southwell, a prominent courtier
in the reign of Henry VHI, had brought the poet
Henry Howard to the block, and yet Divine providence
made their respective grandsons, Robert Southwell
and Philip, Earl of Arundel, devoted friends and
fellow-prisoners for the Faith. The poetry, however,
had shifted to the Southwell side, for, unlike his
friend, Arundel did not cultivate the muse. Southwell
had been a pupil of the great Lessius at Louvain,
and had made the "grand act " in philosophy at the
age of seventeen. At Paris he appUed for admission
to the Society, but was refused, and his grief on
that occasion elicited the first poetical effusion of
I his of which we have any knowledge. Two years
148 The Jesuits
later, however, he was accepted; he was ordained in
1584, and became prefect of studies in the EngHsh
College at Rome, In 1586 he was sent to England,
and passed under the name of Cotton. Two years
later he was made chaplain of the Countess of Arundel,
and thus came into relationship with her imprisoned
husband, Philip, the ancestor of the present ducal
house of Norfolk. Southwell's prose elegy, " Triumphs
Over Death," was written to console the earl. In
going his rounds he usually passed as a country gentle-
man, and that accounts for the " hawk " metaphors
which so often occur in his verse. He was finally
arrested at Harrow in 1592, and after three years'
imprisonment in a dungeon which was swarming with
vermin, he was hanged, drawn and quartered. Even
during his lifetime, his poetical works were highly
esteemed.
Henry Walpole was one of the spectators at the
execution of Campion, and that gave him his vocation.
He was admitted to the Society by Aquaviva, and
made his second year of noviceship at the now famous
Verdun. He was chaplain of the Spanish troops in
Flanders, and was for some time in Spain. From
there he went to Dunkirk where he embarked for
England on a Spanish ship which landed him on the
coast sixteen miles from York. There he fell into the
hands of the Earl of Huntington, a grandnephew of
Cardinal Pole, but a bitter foe of the Church. He
was shifted about from prison to prison for a year or
more, and was stretched on the rack fourteen times;
at length, he was executed at York on April 7, 1595.
Roger Filcock, who was put to death at London,
on February 22 or 27, 1601, was a secular priest who
was admitted to the Society while engaged in the work
of the missions. So also was Francis Page. He had
been a Protestant lawyer, and was engaged to a Catholic
The English Mission 149
lady who converted him, but instead of marrying her
he became a priest. One day, while celebrating Mass,
he was so neariy caught that the chalice on the altar
was found, but he had time to get into his secular
clothes and escape. He applied for admission to the
Society and was received, but before he could reach
the novitiate in Flanders he was seized, racked and
put to death in London on April 20, 1602.
Twenty years after the visit of Salmeron and Brouet
to Ireland, David Wolff was sent there as Apostolic
delegate. O'Reilly in his " Memorials " says, he was
one of the most remarkable men who labored in Ireland
during the first years of Elizabeth's reign. About
1566, he was captured and imprisoned in Dublin
Castle, from which he escaped to Spain. He returned
again in 1572, and died of starvation in the Castle of
Clonoan near the borders of Galway. Bishop Tanner
of Cork had been a Jesuit, but was obliged to leave the
Society on account of his health. He was imprisoned
in Dublin, tortured in various ways and in 1678, after
eighteen months' suffering, died in chains. In 1575
Father Edmund Donnelly was hanged and disem-
bowelled in Cork and his heart throv/n into the fire.
In 1585 Archbishop Creagh, the Primate of Ireland,
who was poisoned while in jail in Dublin made his
confession, says O'Reilly " to a fellow-prisoner, Father
Critonius of the Society of Jesus." In 1588 Maurice
Eustace, a young novice, was hanged and quartered
in Dublin. Brother Dominick Collins, who had been
a soldier in France and Spain, was executed at Youghal
in 1602. He was the last of Elizabeth's victims.
An interesting character appears at this juncture
in the person of Father Slingsby, the eldest son of
Sir Francis Slingsby, a Protestant Englishman settled
in Ireland. Young Francis was converted to the Faith
in 1630, when he was twenty-two years old; he made
150 The Jesuits
up his mind to be a Jesuit, but in obedience to his
father's order he returned to Ireland. He was impris-
oned in Dublin. At the request of the queen, Henrietta
Maria, however, he was not executed but banished
from the kingdom. Returning to Rome in 1636, he
was received into the Society in the following year.
It was the intention of his Superiors to send him back
to Ireland but he was detained on the Continent for
his studies. He was ordained a priest in 1641 and a
short time afterwards died at Naples with the reputation
of a saint. Meantime he had converted most of his
Protestant relatives. In 1642 Father Henry Caghwell,
who had taught philosophy to Father Slingsby, was
dragged from his house in Dublin, paralytic though
he was, scourged in the public square, and left lying
on the ground in the sight of his friends, none of whom
dared to lift him up. He was then thrown into prison
and after a while flung with twenty other priests into
a ship. He reached France in a d}dng condition, but
unexpectedly recovered and made his way back to
Ireland, in spite of a storm that lasted twenty-one days.
A few days after landing, he fell a victim to his charity
in attending the sick.
Scotland had been visited in 1562 by Father Gouda
who was sent to Mary Queen of Scots to invite her
to have her bishops go to the Council of Trent. He
brought back with him six young Scots who were to
be the founders of the future mission. Prominent
among them was Edmund Hay, who became rector
of Clermont. In 1584 Crichton and Gordon attempted
to enter their country, but Crichton was captured,
while Gordon succeeded in finding his way in, and was
afterw^ards joined by Hay and Drury. The Earl of
Huntley, who was Gordon's nephew, and for a time
the leader of the Catholic party, joined the Kirk in
1597, and that put an end to the mission. Prior to
The English Mission 151
that, Father Abercrombie made a Catholic of the
queen, Anne of Denmark, but she was not much to
boast of. Meantime, the Scots College had been
founded by Mary Stuart in Paris, and later other
colleges were begun in Rome and Madrid. In 1614
Father John Ogilvie was martyred at Glasgow, while
his associates were banished.
Coming back to England, where more tragedies were
to be enacted, we find that before Campion was excuted,
Persons had succeeded in reaching France. He had
intended to return after he had secured a printing-
press to replace the one that had been seized, but, as
a matter of fact, England never saw him again. Dr.
Allen would not allow him to return; he, therefore,
remained on the Continent and was conspicuous as a
staunch supporter of the French League in its early
days, and an advocate of the invasion of England by
Philip II, primarily in the interest of Mary Queen of
Scots, but also, to secure a successor to Queen Elizabeth.
We find him frequently in Spain on various missions:
in 1588 to reconcile Philip with Father Aquaviva;
at other times, to obtain from the king the foundations
of the seminaries of Valladolid, Seville and Madrid,
as well as of two residences which afterwards developed
into collegiate establishments. Allen had left England
in 1565, sixteen years before Persons, and it is worth
noting that during the three years which he spent in
going around from place to place to sustain the courage
of the persecuted Catholics he was not yet a priest.
He was ordained only when he crossed over to Mechlin,
sometime in. 1565; it was not until 1587, twenty-two
years afterwards that he was made a cardinal; he
was never raised to the episcopal dignity. He was
mentioned, it is true, for the See of MechHn by Philip
II, but, for some reason which has never been thor-
oughly explained, the nomination, although publicly
152 The Jesuits
allowed to stand several years, was never confirmed.
He continued to reside at the English College in Rome
until his death on October i6, 1594.
For some time previously the burning question
of the English succession was being discussed by
English Catholics and it did more harm to the Church
in England than the persecutions of Henry and Eliza-
beth. Elizabeth had left no issue, and had not des-
ignated her heir. Some were in favor of a certain
princess of Spain, who could trace her lineage back to
John of Gaunt, and both Allen and Persons espoused
her cause. Others held out for James VI of Scotland ;
a rabid partisan on this side was the Scotch Jesuit,
Crichton, who was supported by a ver>^ large contingent
of the seciilar clerg}'. A similar divergence of sentiment
showed itself in Rome. Thus, for example, the cardinal-
protector of the English mission, Gaetano, was
pro-Spanish; the vice-protector. Cardinal Borghese,
was pro-French, and with him was the Jesuit Cardinal
Toletus, who, though a Spaniard, was against his
countr>'men in this matter. The Pope was not pro-
Spanish. The result was that the English College in
Rome was torn asunder by dissensions or " stirs "
and some of the students gave public scandal in the
city. Order was not restored till Persons was recalled
from Spain to be rector of the college, but even he
was told to his face by some of his boisterous pupils
that they would never change their opinion, and they
contended that if they died for it they would be mart>TS
of the Faith. Conditions were much worse in England
itself. Even among the priests who were confined at
Wisbeach, bitter disputes were kept up year after year
in a way that was the reverse of edifpng. Finally,
when cognizance of this deplorable state of affairs
was taken at Rome, Father Persons was requested to
suggest a remedy, after Dr. Stapleton, who was a
The English Mission 153
pro-Spaniard, had been summoned to Rome, but had
failed to arrive on account of ill-health. In 1597
Persons, now no longer rector of the college, presented
to the Pope a memorial drawn up in England asking
for the appointment of two bishops, one for England
proper, and the other for the EngHsh in Flanders.
This proposition was sent to a commission of the Holy-
Office, but they gave an adverse decision, namely
that the new hierarchy should not be episcopal, but
sacerdotal, with an archpriest at its head.
Persons, who had been from the outset insisting on
the necessity of sending a bishop to England, did not
easily give up his plan, and he persuaded Cardinal
Gaetano to take him around to all the members of the
commission in order to press his views upon them,
but without avail. Out of caution, the Pope resolved
not to set up the hierarchy by Papal brief, and he gave
orders to the cardinal-protector, Gaetano, to issue
" constitutive letters " to that effect. The draft for
these letters was prepared in the Papal Archivi dei
Brevi, where it is still extant (Pollen, Institution of
the Archpriest Blaclov^ell, p. 25 ; see also Meyer, England
and the Church under EHzabeth, p. 409. Meyer is a
German Protestant). Hence, it is clear tha't the
Jesuits are not responsible for the establishment of
an archipresbyterate instead of an episcopate to rule
England. It was the explicit act of the Holy Office
and of the Pope. Moreover, the trouble that sub-
sequently arose was due, not from the function itself,
but from the person to whom it was entrusted; for,
though Blackwell was the man most in evidence at
that time, and one for whom everyone would have
voted, he had too exalted an idea of his new dignity,
and resorted to such high-handed and autocratic
methods that his rule became intolerable. As a result,
two Appellants made their way to Rome, as repre-
154 The Jesuits
sentatives of the clergy, though, as a matter of fact,
no such commission had been given them. On their
arrival, they were promptly put in seclusion in one of
the colleges, and were forbidden to return to England.
Then began a bitter war of pamphlets between the
adherents and the adversaries of the archpriest.
Persons, and the Jesuits, in general, were especially
assailed. One of the malcontents, Bluet, actually
put himself in communication with the Protestant
Bishop Bancroft, who expressed the opinion that
" it was clearer than light that Persons had no other
object except the conquest of England by the
Spaniards." Bluet assented, and added that " the
charge against the Jesuit would be proved best by our
appeal to the Pope, in which we should make all our
grievances manifest." Bancroft revealed this to the
queen, and the government then did all in its power
to foment the dissensions and facilitate the appeal
to the Pope. In 1602 another party of Appellants
set out for Rome with no authorization whatever,
except that of their own faction. On their way they
were joined by a Dr. Cecil, who was, though they were
unaware of it, in the employ of the English Government
as a spy — a degradation to which he had descended,
not precisely to ruin his co-religionists, but because
he was under the delusion that he could so reconstruct
the Church in England that it would be acceptable
to the queen.
Cecil and his companions were admitted to Rome
only because the French Ambassador, de B^thune,
took them under his protection. He had constituted
himself their patron, not, however, for religious reasons,
but merely to score a point against the influence of the
King of Spain with the Pope. Their reception by his
Holiness was extremely cold, and when they reported
back to de B6thune, he appeared before the Pope on
The English Mission 155
the next day, and said: " Hitherto the Catholic policy-
has been grossly wrong (turpiter erratum est). Nothing
has been tried except arms, poisons, and plots. If
only these were laid aside Elizabeth would be tolerant.
Therefore, (i) Your Holiness must withdraw your
censures from the queen; (2) you must threaten the
Catholics with censure if they attempt political
measures against her directly or indirectly; (3)
Father Persons and his like must be chastised and
expelled from your seminaries; (4) the Archpriest,
who seems to have been constituted solely to help the
Spanish faction by false informations, should be
removed or much restrained; (5) if perhaps all this
cannot be done at once, a beginning should be made
by giving satisfaction to the Appellant priests; (6)
then, by degrees, Henri will intervene and Elizabeth's
anger will cool down." As Pollen remarks: "The
Frenchman's boldness was almost sublime. To throw
over St. Pius V, Cardinal Allen, Gregory, Sixtus,
Campion and all the seminaries, with one sweeping
remark : iurpiter erratum est — was worthy of la furie
francaise. De Bethune scoffed at a past already
acknowledged to be one of the glories of the Church,
as a period of murder plots, diversified by armed
invasions."
On October 12 the Pope gave a Brief to the con-
tending parties to settle their quarrel. Both sides
shouted victory, and the paper was at once sent to
England, where it was intercepted by Elizabeth's
spies. The government' responded by a proclamation
against the Catholic clergy, banishing them from the
realm lest it might be thought that Elizabeth had ever
meant to grant toleration. " God doth know our
innocency," it said, " of any such imagining." The
royal proclamation was cunningly devised. It declared
that all Jesuits were unqualified traitors and must
156 The Jesuits
leave the country within thirty days. For other
Catholics, a commission was to be appointed which,
after three months, was to begin an individual exami-
nation of all suspects and deal with them at discretion.
By the Scottish party this was regarded as the begin-
ning of a new era, and they, consequently, drafted an
instnmient stating: (i) that they owed the same civil
obedience to the queen as that which bound Catholic
priests to CathoHc sovereigns; (2) that they would
inform her of any plots or attempts at evasion, even
when made to place a Catholic sovereign on the
throne; (3) that were any excommunication issued
against them on account of their performance of this
duty, they would regard it as not binding. This state-
ment was issued on January 31, 1603. It never reached
Elizabeth, for she died in the following March. But
as it stood, it was in direct contravention of the Pope's
instructions to the clergy to do all in their power,
short of rebellion, to restore the Catholic succession.
Before the death of Elizabeth, two clergymen,
Watson and Clarke had gone to Scotland to sound
James on his possible attitude to English Catholics
in case he obtained the throne. Of course, he was
extremely affable, to them, as he was to the English
Puritans, who were just then arrayed in opposition
to the Established Church. But he was no sooner
king than he began to treat both Puritans and Catholics
with such rigor that a plot was formed by both of the
aggrieved parties to seize his person and compel him
to modify his policy. Among the Protestant con-
spirators were such men as Cobham, Markham, Grey
and Walter Raleigh. The whole history of this singular
combination, however, is so confused that it is hard to
pronounce with certainty as to what really was done
or intended. But it appears that the purpose of the
Catholic conspirators was to allow the king to be taken
The English Mission 157
prisoner by the Puritans and then to rescue him from
their hands. It was called the Bye Plot, and was
based on the hope that James would be so grateful
for this act of devotion to his interest that he would
grant all their requests. On the other hand, such
childish simplicity seems almost incredible. It was
worthy of the visionary, Watson, who planned it.
The farce ended in a tragedy. The two priests were
hanged without more ado. Of the Puritans, Cobham
was sent to the scaffold, and Grey, Markham and
Raleigh, after being condemned, were pardoned.
King James received a letter from the Pope regretting
the action of Watson and Clarke, and assuring him
of the abhorrence with which he regarded all acts of
disloyalty. He also expressed his willingness to recall
any missionary who might be an object of suspicion,
and both Jesuits and seculars were ordered to confine
themselves to their spiritual duties and to discourage
by every means in their power any attempt to disturb
the tranquillity of the realm (Lingard, History of
England, IX, 21).
In 1604 James drew up for Catholics an oath of
allegiance which not only denied the power of the Pope
to depose kings, but declared that such a claim was
heretical, impious and damnable. It was condemned
by Paul V, but the Archpriest Blackwell publicly
announced that notwithstanding the condemnation,
the oath might be conscientiously taken by any English
CathoHc, and he accepted it himself before the Com-
missioners of Lambeth. Bellarmine and Persons
wrote long expostidations to him, but without avail,
He was finally deposed from office, and Birkhead
took his place as archpriest. ** This measure," says
Lingard, " was productive of a deep and long-continued
schism in the Catholic body. The greater number,
swayed by the authority of the new Archpriest and
158 The Jesuits
of the Jesuit missionaries, looked upon the oath as a
denial of their religion; but, on the other hand, many
preferring to be satisfied with the arguments of Black-
well and his advocates, cheerfully took it, when it
was offered, and thus freed themselves from the severe
penalties to which they would have been subject by
the refusal " (op. cit, IX, 77).
Now came the disaster. Irritated beyond measure
by the treachery and the tyranny of King James I,
a number of Catholic gentlemen, some of them recent
converts, formed a plot to blow up the House of
Parliament and so get rid of king, lords and commons
by one blow.
While the plans were being laid, some of the con-
spirators began to doubt about their right to involve
so many innocent people in the wholesale ruin that
must result from this terrible crime. To settle their
scruples, Catesby, the chief plotter, proposed a sup-
posititious case to Father Garnet, the Jesuit pro-
vincial. " I am going to join the army of the Archduke
on the Continent," he said, "and I may be ordered,
for example, to blow up a mine in order to destroy the
enemy. Can I do so, even if a number of innocent
persons are killed?" The answer of course was in
the affirmative, and then Catesby made haste to assure
his friends that they could proceed in their work
with a safe conscience. But as time wore on, he was
noticed by his friends to be habitually excited, very
often absent from home, and apparently not preparing
to go abroad, as he had said he intended to do. Hence,
suspicion was aroused, and Garnet, having received
some vague hints of the conspiracy, took occasion at
Catesby 's own table, to inculcate on his host the
necessity of submitting meekly to the persecution
then going on. Whereupon Catesby burst out in a
rage: " It is to you and such as you," he exclaimed,
The English Mission 159
" that we owe our present calamities. This doctrine
of non-resistance makes us slaves. No priest or pontiff
can deprive a man of the right to repel injustice."
Garnet, alarmed at this utterance, immediately wrote
to his superior in Rome, and in due time received two
letters, one from the General, the other from the Pope,
putting him under strict orders to do all in his power
to prevent any attempt against the State. These
letters were shown to Catesby, but he protested that
they were written on wrong information, and he
volunteered to send a special messenger to Rome to
put before the authorities there the true state of things.
This promise satisfied Garnet, and he felt sure the
matter was disposed of, at least, for a time.
This was on May 8, 1605. On October 26, Catesby
went to confession to Father Greenwell, or Greenway,
or Texmunde, or Tessimond, a Yorkshire man, and
revealed the whole plot. Greenwell showed his horror
at the proposition and forbade him to entertain it,
but Catesby refused to be convinced, and asked him
to state the case to Garnet, under seal of confession, with
leave to speak of it to others, after the matter, had be-
come public. This will explain how the fact of the con-
fession came out in the trial. Unfortunately, Greenwell
was foolish enough to communicate it to Garnet under
seal of confession. He was bitterly reproved for
doing so, but it was too late ; had he kept it to himself,
Garnet would not have died on the scaffold. On
November 5 after midnight, the plot was discovered,
' and Guy Fawkes, who was guarding the powder in
the cellar of the building where Parliament was to
meet, was seized, and acknowledged that the thirty-
five barrels of powder which had been placed there
I were "to blow the Scottish beggars back to their
native mountains " — an utterance that won from the
Iking the expression: " Fawkes is the English Scasvola."
160 The Jesuits
The other conspirators had time to flee, but were
caught on November 8, at Holbeach House. They
made a brief stand, but in the fight four were killed,
among them Catesby. The others, with the exception
of Littleton, who, it would seem, had betrayed them,
purposely or otherwise, were taken prisoners and
lodged in the Tower.
" More than two months intervened," says Lingard,
"between the apprehension and the trial of the con-
spirators. The ministers had persuaded themselves,
or wished to persuade others, that the Jesuit mission-
aries were deeply implicated in the plot. On this
account the prisoners were subjected to repeated
examinations; every artifice which ingenuity could
devise, both promises and threats, the sight of the
rack, and occasionally the infliction of torture were
employed to draw from them some avowal which
might furnish a ground for the charge; and in a pro-
clamation issued for the apprehension of Gerard,
Garnet, and Greenway, it was said to be plain and
evident from the examinations that all three had been
peculiarly practisers in the plot, and therefore no
less pernicious than the actors and counsellors of the
treason."
The mention of Gerard in the warrant arose from
the fact that two years previously, namely on May i,
1604, the first five conspirators, Catesby, Percy,
Wright, Fawkes, and Winter, met " at a house in the
fields beyond St. Clement's Inn, where," according to
Fawkes' confession, " they did confer and agree on the
plot; and they took a solemn oath and vowed by all
their force to execute the same, and of secrecy not
to reveal it to any of their fellows, but to such as^
should be thought fit persons to enter into the action,
and in the same house they did receive the sacrament
of Gerard, the Jesuit, to perform their vow and oath
The English Mission . 161
of secrecy aforesaid, but that Gerard was not acquainted
with their purpose." This document is in the hand-
writing of Sir Edward Coke, but there appear in the
original paper, just before the phrase exculpating
Gerard, the words hue usque (i. e. up to this). Coke
read the passage to the judges, "up to this " but
the words that would have freed Gerard from suspicion
he witheld. " At length," continues Lingard, " the
eight prisoners were arraigned. They all pleaded
not guilty, not, they wished it to be observed, because
they denied their participation in the conspiracy,
but because the indictment contained much to which
till that day they had been strangers. It was false
that the three Jesuits had been the authors of the
conspiracy, or had ever held consultations with them
on the subject : as far as had come to their knowledge,
all three were innocent." They maintained their own
right to do as they had done, because " no means of
liberation was left but the one they had adopted."
Gerard and Greenwell escaped to the Continent,
whereas Garnet, after sending a protestation of his
innocence to the Council, secreted himself in the house
of Thomas Abingdon, who had married a sister of
Lord Mounteagle, the nobleman who had first put
the authorities on the scent. According to Jardine
(Criminal Trials, 67-70) much ingenuity was employed
at the trial to prevent Mounteagle's name from being
called in question. With Garnet were Father Oldcome
and Owen, a lay-brother, and also a servant named
Chambers. Oldcome was the chaplain of the house,
but Hallam in his " Constitutional History (I-5S4)
says: "the damning circumstance against Garnet is
that he was taken at Hendlip in concealment, along
with the other conspirators." As Oldcome and the
two others had nothing whatever to do with the affair
And as all the conspirators had been already shot or
' 21
162 The Jesuits
hanged, " the damning evidence" of perverting the facts
of the case is against Hallam.
On February i, the Bill of Attainder was read, and
day after day, till March 28, the commissioners visited
the Tower to elicit evidence. Oldcome was repeatedly
put on the rack, but nothing was extorted from him.
So also with Owen, Chambers and Johnson, the chief
steward of the house where the priests were found.
On March i, after Owen had been tortured, he was
told he would be stretched on the rack the two following
days. The third experiment killed him, and it was
given out that " he had ripped his belly open with a
blunt knife." Garnet, when threatened with the rack,
replied that "the threat did not frighten him — he
was not a child." 4
The trial was finally called for March 28. The
most distinguished lawyer in the realm at that time
was Attorney-General Coke. He began his charge by
recalling the history of all the plots that had been
hatched since Elizabeth's time; he declaimed against
Jesuitical equivocation and the temporal power of the
Pope, and insisted that all missionaries, and the Jesuits
in particular, were leagued in conspiracy against the
king and his Protestant councillors. But when he got
down to the real merits of the indictment, he soon
betrayed the groundlessness of his charge. Not a word
did he say of the confessions or the witnesses or their
dying declarations, although he had boasted he would
prove that Garnet had been the original framer of the
plot and the confidential adviser of the conspirators.
His whole charge rested on his own assertions, and
was supported only by a few unimportant facts,
susceptible of a ver>^ different interpretation (Lingard,
op. cit. IX, 63).
Garnet answered that he had been debarred from
making known his information of the plot for the reason
The English Mission 163
that it had been imparted to him under the seal of
confession, and could not be revealed until it had
become public property. His concealment of it,
nevertheless, was considered by the judges as mis-
prision of treason, and on that ground, and not by
anything adduced by the attorney-general, was he
condemned. Indeed, Coke had so utterly failed to
prove his case that even Cecil confessed that nothing
had been produced against Garnet, except that he
had been overheard to say in conversation with Old-
come in the Tower, that " only one person knew of
his acquaintance with the conspiracy." It is this
particular feature of the trial that has evoked ever
since a great deal of hypocritical denunciation of
Garnet's lack of veracity. When asked if he had
spoken to Oldcome or written to Greenway, he replied
in the negative; but it was proved that he had done
both. As it is Coke who alleges this inveracity of
Father Garnet, we may reject it as a calumny for
that same distinguished personage declared in his
official report that Garnet, when on the scaffold,
admitted his complicity in the crime, whereas this
was flatly denied by those who were present at the
execution. If Coke could lie about one thing, he
could lie about another. But in any case a criminal
court is not a confessional, and the worst offender
can plead " not guilty " without violating the truth.
Garnet was executed on March 3, 1606, but his body
was not quartered until life had left it.
Gerard, who had been proscribed, but who was
perfectly innocent of any knowledge of the conspiracy,
had made haste to leave the country. It was a difficult
thing to do but he finally succeeded, and at the very
time that Garnet was standing on the scaffold, Gerard
was leaving London as a footman in the train of the
Spanish ambassador. A lay-brother was with him
164 The Jesuits
in some other capacity. Such was his farewell to his
native country. He had been sent there as a missionary
in 1588, and had stepped ashore on the Norfolk coast
just after the defeat of the Armada — a time when
ever>-one was hunting for Papists. The story of the
adventure of this handsome, courtly gentleman, who
had three or four languages at his disposal, who was
a keen sportsman, a skilful horseman, and a polished
man of the world, and was at ease in the highest society,
yet who was always preaching the Gospel wherever
he went, in prisons and even on the rack, forms one of
the most attractive pages in the records of the Enghsh
mission. He died in Rome at the age of seventy-three.
During the trial of Father Garnet, Oldcome had
been removed from the Tower and executed at
Worcester on April 7 or 17. Littleton, who had saved
himself at the time of the conspiracy by informing on
the others, begged the father's pardon on the scaffold
and died with him. Two years aften;\'ards, on June
23, 1608, Father Garnet's nephew, Thomas was
martyred in London. He was then thirty-four years
old, and had been only three years a Jesuit.
After the execution of Garnet a much more drastic
penal code was enacted. Henry IV of France, through
his ambassador and the Prince de Joinville, tried hard
to restrain the anger of King James, but without
avail, except that two missionaries, under sentence of
death for refusing to take the oath, were saved by
the French king's intercession. He could not obtain
the reprieve of Drury, however, who was condemned
to death because a copy of a letter from Persons
denouncing the oath of allegiance was found in his
possession. Whether this Drury was a Jesuit or not
cannot be ascertained, for the " Fasti Breviores "
and the " Menology " speak only of a Drury who was
killed with another Jesuit in the collapse of a church
The English Mission 165
at old Blackfriars in 1623. James would not listen to
the remonstrances of Henry ; he assured the ambassador
that he was, by nature, an enemy of harsh and cruel
measures, and that he had repeatedly held his ministers
in check, but that the Catholics were so infected with
the doctrine of the Jesuits that he had to leave the
matter to parliament. When the ambassador remarked
that there was apparently no difference of treatment
whether Catholics took the oath or not, the king did
not reply.
CHAPTER VI
JAPAN
1555-1645
After Xavier's time — Torres and Femandes — Civandono —
Nunhes and Pinto — The King of Hirando — First Persecution —
Gago and Vilela — Almeida — Uprising against the Emperor —
— Justus Ucondono and Nobunango — Valignani — Founding of
Nangasaki — Fervor and Fidelity of the Converts — Embassy to
Europe — Journey through Portugal, Spain and Italy — Reception by
Gregory XIII and Sixtus V — Return to Japan — The Great Perse-
cutions by Taicosama, Daifusama, Shogun I and Shog\m II — Spinola
and other Martyrs — Arrival of Franciscans and Dominicans — Pop-
ular eagerness for death — Mastrilli — Attempts to establish a Hier-
archy — Closing the Ports — Discovery of the Christians.
When Francis Xavier bade farewell to Japan in
1 5 5 1 , he left behind him Fathers Torres and Femandes.
They could not possibly have sufficed for the vast
work before them, and hence, in August of the following
year, Father Gago was sent with two companions,
neither of whom was yet in Holy Orders. They were
provided with royal letters and well supplied with
presents to King Civandono, who was a devoted friend
to Francis Xavier.
The newcomers were amazed at the piety of the
3,000 Christians, who were awaiting further instruction.
They found them kind and charitable, very much
given to corporal austerities, and extremely scrupulous
in matters of conscience and there was no difficulty
in getting enthusiastic catechists among them to
address the people and teach them the new religion.
As the belief of the Japanese, was then, as it is today,
Shintoism, which has no dogma, no moral law,
and no books, and is tinctured with Buddhism, the
[166]
Japan 167
main doctrine of which is the transmigration of
souls, it was easy to arouse interest in a religion which
presented to their consideration spiritual doctrines, a
moral law and sacred books. In 1554 there were 1500
baptisms in the kingdom of Arima alone, though no
priest had as yet entered that part of the country.
The feudal system of government then prevailing
made conversions easy. Thus, when the Governor of
Amaguchi became a Christian, more than three hundred
of his vassals and friends immediately followed his
example. This influence was still more in evidence
whenever a distinguished bonze accepted the Faith,
an example of which occurred when the two most
celebrated personages of that class came down from
Kioto to Amaguchi for a public disputation. After
the conference they fell at the feet of Torres, and not
only asked for baptism, but became zealous instructors
of the people. Naturally all the bonzeries of the Empire
were alarmed and they rose in revolt against the
Government for not checking these conversions. But
Civandono called his troops together to quell what soon
assumed the proportions of organized warfare. Indeed
at one time, the insurgents seemed to be getting the
upper hand : but just as the king was on the point of
being entrapped, Femandes at the risk of his life
slipped through the ranks of the enemy and gave
Civandono information which won the victory. After
that the friendship of the monarch never failed his
Christian subjects. He had ample opportunity to
show his devotion to them, for uprisings were as com-
mon as the earthquakes in Japan, which were said to
average three a day. \
Father Nunhes, the provincial, had been induced by
the Viceroy of the Indies to pay a visit to Japan at
this juncture, and he arrived with Father Vilela and
a number of young scholastics. With them was a
168 The Jesuits
rich Portuguese named Pinto, who had resolved to j
employ most of his money in building a school in
Civandono's dominions. In order to help the scheme,
the viceroy had made Pinto his ambassador. They
arrived in April, 1556, after a perilous journey, only to
find a letter there from St. Ignatius, reminding Father
Nunhes that provincials had no business to undertake
such journeys and leave their official work to others.
However, such a pressing invitation had come meantime
from the King of Firando or Hirando, as it is now
called, and the chance seemed so promising for the
king's conversion, that Father Nunhes presumed
permission to delay his return to India. He was
received by Civandono, whom he had to visit on his
way to Hirando, with the same splendid ceremonies
that had been accorded to St. Francis Xavier; and,
during a long conference which was held with the help
of Femandes, he urged the king to become a Christian,
but Civandono insisted that reasons of State prevented
him from doing so for the moment. Nunhes then set
out for Hirando, but fell ill before he reached it, and,
in consequence, was compelled to return to Goa, As
he had not converted a single idolater, and as Pinto's
grand plans for the education of the Japanese were a
failure, the provincial concluded that it would have
been wiser to have remained in Hindostan, where he
was accomplishing great things, than to engage in
apostolic work to which obedience had not assigned
him. Pinto's failure, however, was compensated for by
the devotion of another rich man, Louis Almeida,
who had come with Father Nunhes to Japan. Almeida
being a physician, immediately set to work to build
two establishments — a hospital for lepers and a refuge
for abandoned childem, which the immorality of the
Japanese women made extremely necessary. This was
another expression of gratitude to Civandono, which
Japan 169
the king appreciated. By this time Almeida had
become a Jesuit.
Meantime the King of Hirando, who had asked for
Nunhes, was propitiated by having Father Gago sent
to him. The missionary's success was marvellous.
Numberless conversions followed his visit, beginning
with that of the king himself. Helpers were sent,
among them being the illustrious bonze, Paul of Kioto,
whose conversion had caused a great stir some few
years before. In a month or so 1400 baptisms were
recorded ; but Paul had reached the end of his apostolic
career and he returned to die in the arms of Father
Torres.
The usual uprising occurred, and the king who had
made so much ado about calling Father Nunhes
turned out to be a very weak-kneed Christian.
Churches were destroyed, crosses desecrated, and other
outrages committed, but he did nothing to quell the
disturbance. Political reasons, he alleged, prevented
him. It was in this outbreak that the first martyrdom
occurred, that of a poor slave-woman who had been
accustomed to pray before a cross erected outside the
city. She had been warned that it was as much as
her life was worth to declare her Christianity so openly;
she persisted, nevertheless, and was killed as she
knelt down in the roadway to receive the blow of the
executioner's sword. Even Father Gago himself came
near falling a victim to the popular fury. In view of
subsequent events, if they were as reported, it is to
be regretted that he missed the opportunity of winning
the crown.
The first Jesuit who reached Kioto and remained
there was Vilela. He had travelled a long distance
to visit a famous bonzery to which he had been invited ;
and then, finding himself not far away from the imperial
\ city, he determined to present himself to the emperor,
170 The Jesuits
or Mikado as he was called. His method of approach-
ing that great potentate amazed the onlookers by its
novelty. Holding his cross high in the " air, he pro-
claimed his purpose in coming to Japan. To the
surprise of every one, the Mikado seemed extremely
pleased; but that alarmed the bonzes, and they accused
Vilela of all sorts of crimes, not excluding cannibalism.
Indeed, they had seen great pieces of human flesh at
Vilela's house, they said. To stop their clamors, the
Mikado finally consented to a public debate, doing so
with great apprehension, however, for Vilela's success.
The discussion took place, but, if the metempsychosis
set forth by their spokesman on that occasion, repre-
sented the popular creed, one is forced to say that the
Japanese mentality of that period was not of a very
superior character. Vilela's easy victor^' gave him the
right to preach everyAvhere in the Empire; and the
number of converts was so great that many missionaries
were needed to help him.
Father Gago, who had missed the chance of
martyrdom a short time before, was looked upon as
the man for the emergency. Francis Xavier had
chosen him expressly for Japan ; his facility in learning
the language was marvellous; his piety was admitted
by all; his zeal knew no bounds, and his success cor-
responded with his efforts. Indeed, he was almost
adored wherever he went; but suddenly, just as he
was needed he appeared to be a changed man. His
energy, his zeal, his enthusiasm had all evaporated.
There was, absolutely, nothing amiss in his conduct —
not even a suspicion suggested itself. But he wanted
to give up his work; and to the dismay of his associates
he returned to Goa. He was nearly shipwrecked on his
way, but that resulted only in a temporary revival of
his fervor. He was sent to Salsette and was taken
prisoner but was subsequently released. He was never
Japan 171
again, however, the man that he had been in the
beginning of his career. " I have enlarged on this,"
says Charlevoix, "for I am writing a history and not
a panegyric." The " Menology " of Portugal, however,
assails both Charlevoix and Bartoli for this charge, but
the defence lacks explicitness.
From Kioto, Vilela went to Sacai, which was an
independent city — republican in its administration,
but in its rule as tyrannical as Venice was about that
time. Over and above that, it was grossly immoral,
and only one family in it would have anything to do
with the missionary. So he shook its dust from his
feet and went elsewhere.
Almeida, the physician, distinguished himself in his
missionary journeys at this time, and he tells how he
came across a whole community of people in a secluded
district who had seen a priest only once in passing,
yet had remembered all that had been told them, and
were keeping the commandments as well as they knew
how. He baptized them all, and leaving them capable
catechists, one of whom had written a book about
Christianity, he continued on his way, hunting for
more souls to save. It was largely due to him that
some of the reigning princes were gained over. One of
them, Sumitanda by name, had distinguished himself
by throwing down a famous idol, called the God of
War, just at the moment the army was going into
battle. As the fight was won, most of the soldiers not
only became Christians, but, later on, when Sumitanda
foimd himself attacked by two kings who resented his
conversion, a great number of his men fastened crosses
on their armor and swept the enemy from the field.
Meantime a revolution had broken out at Kioto
against the Mikado; he was besieged in his citadel,
but finally succeeded in beating back the foe. When
jt)eace was restored in 1562 Vilela returned to the
172 The Jesuits
capital; and multitudes, not only of the people, but
many princes of the blood and distinguished nobles,
made a public profession of Christianity. This again
brought the bonzes to the fore, and as a prelude to a
decree of expulsion of the missionaries, they succeeded
in having two of the most influential men of the king-
dom, both bitter pagans, constituted as a commission
to examine into the new teachings. So convinced was
everyone that it was only the beginning of a process
of extermination that Vilela was advised to withdraw
from the capital. He acquiesced, much against his
will; but it happened that two of his Christians of the
humbler class so astounded the inquisitors by their
answers that both of the great men asked for baptism.
A discourse of Vilela gained another convert in the
person of the father of a man who became famous in
those days of Japanese history — Justus Ucondono.
In 1565 the missionaries were treated with special
consideration by the Mikado, on the occasion of the
splendid court ceremonies which marked the opening
of the new year. The whole nation was astounded at
the unprecedented favor, but as usual it was only the
prelude of a storm. In the following year. the Mikado
was murdered; and all his adherents w^ere either put
to the sword or expelled from the capital. This was
the first act of a tragedy that would make a theme
for a Shakespeare. It is as follows : The successful
rebels had placed the younger brother of the emperor
on the throne, but fearing a similar fate, he had fled
to the castle of the distinguished soldier, Vatadono,
who, finding himself not strong enough to maintain
the claim of the fugitive monarch, induced the ablest
military man of Japan, Nobunaga, the King of Boari,
to take up the cause of their sovereign. The offer
was accepted; two bloody battles followed; the
insurgents were cut to pieces, and the young emperor,
I
Japan 173
under the name of Cubosama, was enthroned at Kioto.
The palace, which had been wrecked in the war, was
replaced by a new one, built of the stones of the
bonzeries and the statues of the national idols. The
two conquerors then made haste to show their esteem
for the missionaries and assured them of protection;
Nobunaga withdrew to his kingdom when the work
was completed, and Vatadono, his lieutenant, remained
as viceroy at Kioto. All these events occurred in the
single year of 1568.
Just then the illustrious Alexander Valignani, the
greatest man of the missions in the East after Francis
Xavier, came on the scene. For thirty-two years all
his efforts were directed to shaping and guiding the
various posts of the vast field of apostolic work in
this new part of the world, his success being marvellous.
He was bom at Chieti. The close friendship of his
father with Pope Paul IV made the highest offices
of the Church attainable if he chose to aspire to them;
but he left the papal court, and was received into the
Society by Francis Borgia, beginning his life as a
Jesuit by the practice of terrible bodily mortifications,
which he continued until the end of his career. He
was chosen by Mercurian to be visitor to the Indies;
thirty-two companions were given him, and he was
authorized to select eight more, wherever he might
find them.
At that time Japan had only twenty missionaries,
while there were none at all in China. When Valignani
died, there were in the empire of Japan one hundred
and fifty Jesuits and six hundred catechists, who in spite
of wars and persecutions had three hundred churches
and thirty-one places for the missionaries to assemble.
There were a novitiate, a house of theological and
philosophical studies, two colleges where the Japanese
nobles sent their sons, besides a printing establishment,
174 The Jesuits
two schools of music and painting, multitudes of
sodalities, schools, and finally, hospitals for every kind
of human suffering, and when the persecutions began,
he had resources enough at his disposal to provide for
nine hundred exiled Japanese. Finally, it was his
guidance and help that enabled Matteo Ricci to
plant the cross in the two capitals of China. He
wielded such an influence over the terrible Taicosama
that it was a common saying in the empire that if
Father Alexander had survived, the Church of Japan
would never have succumbed. There was great
rejoicing when his arrival was announced. The ship
which brought him to port had not dropped anchor,
before it was surrounded by hundreds of boats filled
with Christians, all of them carr>'ing flags on which
a cross was painted. When he approached the city, |
throngs of people came out to meet him, some kissing
his robe, others his hands, others his feet, and a long
procession led him in triumph to the Church, where
a Te Deum was sung to thank God for his coming.
In that year, Nagasaki, which was afterwards to
furnish so many matryrs to the faith, suddenly de-
veloped from an inconspicuous village to a great city,
because of the number of Christians who had settled
there. A great sorrow, however, just then fell on the
Church; Femandes, one of the missionaries whom
Xavier had left behind him in Japan, had died. Torres
still remained, indeed, but he also was to end his
glorious career in a year or two. However, they had
built up a splendid Church; and under such conditions
the work of evangelization could not fail to proceed
rapidly. Indeed, the records of that period teem
with accounts of conversions of princes and entire
populations; and when Cabral arrived as superior in
place of Torres, the emperor gave the missionaries his
protection, in spite of the unrelenting opposition of
Japan 175
the bonzes, who still exercised a preponderating
influence at Court. In one of the provinces, Cabral,
in his official visitations, found a very remarkable
evidence of solidity in the faith. No priest had been
there for ten years; yet a beautiful church had been
erected and a fervent congregation filled it continually.'
In another place where the constant wars in which
the ruler was engaged and the carnage which he had
committed in conquering the territory had kept out the
missionaries for at least twenty years, thanks to an
old blind man named Tobias whom St. Francis Xavier
had baptized and named, all the people who were left
in the vicinity were thoroughly instructed in their
Faith.
Meantime a new historical drama was being enacted,
which was more marvellous than the first. The weak
character of Cubosama had made him the victim of the
bonzes, whom he heartily detested. They had also
succeeded in disrupting the friendship of Vatadono and
Nobunaga. Fortunately, the two friends were recon-
ciled in time, but that gave rise to a counter movement
to destroy them. War was declared on some pretext
or other, and in one of the first engagements Vatadono
was killed. It was a sad blow for the missionaries,
for the hero was a catechumen and was waiting to be
baptized. Left alone now and supposed to be unable
to defend himself, Nobunaga was more fiercely assailed
than ever by the bonzes. Wearied of it all, he called
his troops together and set out for Kioto. His enemies
fled before him. He took the city and set it on fire,
and then, not because he was actuated by motives of
personal ambition, but because he saw that if Cubosama
was allowed to rule the state of warfare would continue,
he locked up the feeble monarch in a fortress, and
constituted himself supreme military commander or
Shogun. It was then that Civandono, King of Bungo,
176 The Jesuits
the original friend of Francis Xavier, became a Christian
and took the name of Francis; furthermore he built
a city in which only Christians were allowed to live.
There he passed the rest of his days an example of
piety to all.
^'Ieantime, Nobunaga continued to shower
favors on the missionaries. He built a new and
splendid city, and in the best part of it founded a college
and a seminary. Christianity made great strides under
his administration, as he was the deadly enemy of the
bonzes who for years had endeavored to compass his
ruin. Nevertheless, though he listened with interest
and pleasure to explanations of the creed, and asked
the missionaries, half roguishly, if they really believed
all they said, and if they were not as bad as the bonzes,
he went no further.
In the first years of Nobunaga's rule, Valignani
conceived the idea of having a solemn embassy sent by
the various Christian kings of the country, to pay their
homage to the Sovereign Pontiff in the Eternal City.
It was not an imperial delegation, but was restricted
to the three devout rulers of Bungo, Arima and
Omura. Nobunaga willingly gave his consent, and the;
ambassadors left Nagasaki on February 22, 1582, and
repaired to Kioto. From there they went by the way of
Malacca to Goa. On this part of the journey they
were frequently in imminent danger of shipwreck, but
they arrived safely in Goa at the beginning of 1583.
There they were received with great ceremony by the
Viceroy, Mascaregnas, who entertained them for several
months. Valignani, who had conducted them thus far,
returned to Japan after putting them in the hands
of Fathers Mesquita and Rodrigues, who remained
with them till they reached Rome.
They set sail at the end of February, and on
August 10 dropped anchor in the Tagus. Charlevoix
Japan 177
remarks that " this part of the journey was not long,"
though it was nearly six months in duration. The
prince cardinal who was at that time Viceroy of Portugal
showered honors upon them, and made them his guests
in the royal palace for an entire month. They then
visited the principal cities of Portugal. Nothing was
too much for them in the way of honor and even in
the way of money. Finally they were conducted to
Madrid and had a public audience with Philip II, to
whom they presented their credentials and offered the
presents of the Christians of Japan and their expression
of gratitude for all that his majesty had done for the
infant Church of their country. Philip is said to have
embraced them affectionately, assuring them of the
great regard he had for the kings whom they repre-
sented. The Queen Maria put her carriages at their
disposal, and on the following day they were conducted
to the Escorial where they received the congratulations
of the princes and grandees of Spain. The French
ambassador also paid them a ceremonious visit. Even
the king himself called upon them and had a vessel
equipped at Alicante to conduct them to Italy. They
left Madrid on November 26, and were received with
almost royal honors in every city on their way. It was
already January, 1585, when they left Spain. The
Mediterranean treated them badly ; and it was only in
the month of March that they stepped ashore at
Leghorn, amid the salvos of artillery from the fort.
The carriages of the grand duke carried them on their
journey to Pisa. There the prince and all his court
were waiting- to receive them, and led them to the
palace, where a splendid banquet was prepared, after
which Pietro de' Medici and the grand duke came to
pay them their respects.
They saw the carnival at Pisa, and then journeyed
on to Florence, where the papal nuncio and the cardinal
12
178 The Jesuits
archbishop, who was afterwards Pope Leo XI, bade
them welcome. From there they passed to Siena,
where, as guests of the Pope, they were met at the
frontier by two hundred arquebusiers sent by the
vice-legate of Viterbo to show them special honor.
Gregory XIII was then on the Pontifical throne; and
feeling that his end was approaching, he sent a company
of light horse to hasten their coming. It was Friday,
March 20, 1585, when they entered Rome, and their
first visit was to Father Aquaviva, who was then
General of the Society. He led them to the church,
where a Te Deum was sung ; and on the following day
the Pope held a consistory which ordered that the
envoys should be regarded as royal ambassadors; that
their reception should be as splendid as possible; and
that their first audience should be at the full consistory
in the papal palace.
On the day appointed for the solemn entry, March 23,
the Spanish ambassador sent his carriages to convey
the visitors to the villa of the Pope ; and then with the
papal light horse at the head, followed by the Swiss
guards, the cardinalitial officials and the ambassadors
of Spain and Venice, with their pages and officers and
trumpeters and all the papal household in their purple
robes, the delegates proceeded to the City. The
Japanese were on horseback and wore the costume of
their country; princes and archbishops rode on either
side, and followed by Father Diego, who acted as
interpreter. A throng of mounted cavaliers in gorgeous
apparel closed the pageant. The whole city turned out
to receive them. The streets were crowded with
people, as were the roofs of the houses, all observing a
reverential silence, interrupted only by the blast of the
trumpets or the occasional but enthusiastic acclama-
tions of the multitude. When the bridge of Castle
Sant' Angelo was reached, the cannon boomed out a
Japan 179
welcome which was repeated by the guns of the papal
palace and taken up by strains of musical instruments
that resounded from every quarter as the envoys
approached the palace.
So great was the throng of cardinals and prelates in
the hall that the Swiss guards had to force their way
through it, to conduct the Pontiff to his throne. When
he was seated the ambassadors approached, holding
their credentials in their hands; and then, kneeling at
the feet of the Pope, they announced in a clear and
loud voice that they had come from the ends of the
earth to see the Vicar of Jesus Christ and to offer him
the homage of the princes whose envoys they were.
Tears flowed down the cheeks of the Pontiff as he
lifted the envoys up and embraced them tenderly,
again and again, with an affection they never forgot.
They were then conducted to a raised platform; and
the secretary of the Pope read aloud the letters, which
they had brought. When that was concluded, Father
Gonzales explained at length the purpose of their
mission, and a bishop replied in the name of His
Holiness. The second kissing of the feet was next in
order, and the cardinals crowded around the wondering
Japanese to ask them numberless questions about their
country and the events of their voyage, to all of which
replies -were given with a refinement and courtesy that
charmed all who heard them. The session was now
ended, and rising from his throne, the Pope withdrew,
giving to the visitors the honor, conferred only on the
imperial ambassadors, of bearing the papal train. They
were then entertained at a sumptuous banquet.
Private interviews with the Pope followed ; and after
receptions by various dignitaries, at some of which the
Japanese wore their national dress, at others appearing
in the Italian apparel, the Pope gave them expensive
robes, which they wore with an ease and grace that
180 The Jesuits
was amazing for men so unaccustomed to such surround-
ings and ceremonies. When they went to offer their
prayers at the seven churches they were received
processionally at each of them, the bells ringing and
organs playing. Meantime physicians were sending
hourly bulletins to His Holiness, who was deeply
concerned about one of the envoys who had been
debarred from all these ceremonies by an attack of
sickness. The invalid, however, did not die, but,
later on, in his native country, gave his life for the
Faith.
Indeed it was the Pope himself who died a few days
after these pageants. He was ill only a few days, but
in his very last moments he was making inquiries about
the sick man from the Far East. He departed this
life on April lo, and on the 25th Sixtus V mounted
the throne. Before his election he had been most
effusive in his attention to the Japanese, and was more
so after his election, even giving them precedence over
cardinals, when there was question of an audience.
They assisted at his coronation, served as acolytes at
his Mass, and were guests at a banquet in his villa.
He even decorated them as knights, and when they
had been belted and spurred by the ambassadors of
France and Venice, he hung rich gold chains and medals
on their necks, lifted them up and kissed them and
gave them communion at his private Mass. He sent
letters and presents to the kings they represented, and
the ambassadors themselves were recipients of rich
rewards from the generous Pontiff.
Finally, they were made patricians by the Senate,
which assembled at the Capitol for that purpose; and
were given letters patent with a massive gold seal
attached. They then bade farewell to the Pope, who
defrayed all the expenses of their journey to Lisbon.
Invitations were extended to them from other sovereigns
Japan 181
of Europe, but it was impossible to accept them, and
they left Rome on June 3, 1585, conducted a consider-
able distance by the light horse and numbers of the
nobility. At Spoleto, Assisi, Montefalcono, Perugia,
Bologna, Ferrara and elsewhere, every honor was given
them. As they approached Venice, for instance, forty
red-robed senators received them and accompanied
them up the Grand Canal in a vessel that was usually
kept for the use of kings. Every gondola of the city
followed in their wake; the patriarch and all the
nobility visited them; and they were then conducted
to the palace of the Doge, where the attendant
senators accorded them the first places in the assembly.
Tintoretto painted their portraits, and they were shown
tapestries on which their reception by the Pope had
been already represented. A hundred pieces of artillery
welcomed them to Mantua; the city was illuminated
and the people knelt in the street to show their venera-
tion for these new children of the Faith from the Far
East. They even stood sponsors at the baptism of a
Jewish rabbi. It was the same story at Milan and
Cremona. They approached Genoa by sea, and galleys
were sent out to convoy them to the city. Leaving
there on August 8 they reached Barcelona on the 17th.
At Moncon they again saw Philip II who had a vessel
specially equipped for them at Lisbon; he lavished
money and presents on them, and gave orders to the
Viceroy of India to provide them with everything they
wished till they reached Japan. They finally left
Lisbon on April 30, 1586. During their stay in Europe
they had the happiness of meeting St. Aloysius Gonzaga,
who was then a novice in the Society.
The splendor of these European courts must have
dazzled the eyes of the dark-skinned sons of the East
as they journeyed through Portugal, Italy and Spain;
but they were probably not aware of the tragedies that
182 The Jesuits
were enacted near-by in the dominions of the Most
Christian King, where CathoHcs and Huguenots were
at each other's throats; nor did they know of the
fratricidal struggles in Germany that were leading up
to the Thirty Years War, which was to make Christian
Europe a desert ; nor of the fury of Elizabeth who was
at that very time putting to death the brothers of the
Jesuits whom they so deeply revered. The revolutions,
assassinations and sacrileges committed all through
those countries would have been startling revelations
of the depths to which Christian nations could descend.
However, they may have been informed of it all, and
could thus understand more easily the remorseless
cruelty of their own pagan rulers whose victims they
were so soon to be.
Cubosama, as we have seen, had been kind to the
Christians, and Nobunaga had welcomed the priests
to his palace and found pleasure in their conversations.
He had given them a place in the beautiful city he
built; but in reality he doubted the sincerity of their
belief just as he disbelieved the teaching of the bonzes.
In default of another deity, he had begun to worship
himself, and, like, Nabuchodonosor of old, he finally
exacted divine honors from his subjects. Such an
attitude of mind naturally led to cruelty, and in 1586
he was murdered by one of his trusted officials who, in
turn, perished in battle when Ucondono, the Christian
commander of the imperial armies, overthrew him.
Unwisely, perhaps, Ucondono did not assume the office
of protector of the young son of Nobunaga, but left
it to a man of base extraction, the terrible Taicosama,
who quickly became the Shogun. At first he protected
the Christians, made the provincial, Coelho, his friend
and permitted the Faith to be preached throughout
the empire. The chief officers of his army and navy
were avowed believers.
Japan 183
Three years passed and the number of neophytes
had doubled. There were now 300,000 Christians in
Japan — among them kings and princes, and the three
principal ministers of the empire. But it happened
that, in the year 1589 two Christian women had
refused to become inmates of Taicosama's harem,
and that turned him into a terrible persecutor.
Ucondono was deprived of his office and sent into
exile; Father Coelho was forbidden to preach in
public, and the other Jesuits were to withdraw from
the country within twenty days, while every convert
was ordered to abjure Christianity. The two hundred
and forty churches were to be burned. The recreant
son of the famous old king of Bungo gave the first
notable example of apostasy, but, as often happens in
such circumstances, the persecution itself won thousands
of converts who, up to that, had hesitated about
renouncing their idols. At this juncture. Father
Valignani appeared as ambassador of the Viceroy of
the Indies, and in that capacity was received with
royal magnificence by Taicosama. But the bonzes,
who had now regained their influence over the emperor,
assured him that the embassy was only a device to
evade the law, and, hence, though he accepted the
presents, he did not relent in his opposition; yet in
his futile expedition against China two Jesuits accom-
panied the troops.
Blood was first shed in the kingdom of Hirando.
Fathers Carrioni and Martel were poisoned, and
Carvalho and Furnaletto, who took their places, met
the same fate. A fifth, whose name is lost, was killed
in a similar fashion. Unfortunately, the Spanish
merchants in the Philippines just at that time induced
the Franciscan missionaries of those islands to go over
to Japan, for the rumor had got abroad that the Jesuits
in Japan had been wholly exterminated, although there
184
The Jesuits
were still, in reality, twenty-six of them in the country.
It is true they were not in evidence as formerly, for
with the exception of the two army chaplains, they were
exercising their ministry secretly. Of that, however,
the Spaniards were not aware and probably spoke in
good faith. The Franciscans, on arriving, discovered
that they had been duped in believing that the persecu-
tion was prompted by dislike of the Jesuits' personality,
some of whom no doubt they met. Nevertheless, they
determined to remain, and Taicosama permitted them
to do so, because of the letters they carried from the
Governor of the Philippines, who expressed a desire
of becoming Taicosama's vassal. Meantime, a Spanish
captain whose vessel had been wrecked on the coast
had foolishly said that the sending of missionaries to
Japan was only a device to prepare for a Portuguese
and Spanish invasion. Possibly he spoke in jest, but
his words were reported to Taicosama, with the result
that on February 5, 1597, six Franciscans and three
Jesuits were hanging on crosses at Nagasaki. The
Jesuits were Paul Mild, James Kisai, and John de Goto,
all three Japanese. On the same day a general decree
of banishment was issued.
Just then Valignani, who had withdrawn, returned
to Japan with nine more Jesuits and the coadjutor
of the first bishop of Japan — the bishop having died
on the way out. Valignani, who was personally very
acceptable to Taicosama, was cordially received and
the storm ceased momentarily; but unfortunately,
Taicosama died a year afterwards and, strange to say,
two Jesuit priests, Rodrigues and Organtini, who had
won his affection, were with him when he breathed his
last, but they failed to make any impression on his
mind or heart. He left a son, and Daifusama became
regent or Shogun. Fortunately, Valignani had some
success in convincing him that to establish himself i
Japan 185
firmly on his throne it would be wise to extend his
protection to his Christian subjects. Moreover, the
King of Hirando, though at first bent on continuing
the persecution, was constrained by the threatening
attitude of his Christian subjects, who were very
numerous and very powerful in his kingdom, to desist
from his purpose, at least for a while. Probably he
was assisted in this resolution by the fact that in the
first year after the outburst, namely in 1599, seventy
thousand more Japanese had asked for baptism.
In 1603 there were 10,000 conversions in the single
principality of Fingo.
Father Organtini succeeded in getting quite close
to Daifusama who, to strengthen himself politically,
allowed the churches to be rebuilt in the empire and
even in Kioto. Unfortunately, however, in 1605 he
heard that Spain was sending out a number of war
vessels to subjugate the Moluccas, and fancying that
its objective was really Japan, he gave orders to the
Governor of Nagasaki to allow no Spanish ships to
enter the harbor. To make matters worse, it happened
that Valignani, who exercised an extraordinary influence
on Daifusama, was not at hand to disabuse him of his
error. He was then dying, and expired the next year
at the age of sixty-nine. For the moment Daifusama
was so much affected by the loss of his friend that he
forgot his suspicions and gave full liberty to the mission-
aries to exercise their ministry everywhere. In fact,
he summoned to his palace the famous Charles Spinola,
who appears now for the first time in the country for
which he was soon to shed his blood. With Spinola
was Sequiera, the first bishop who had succeeded
in reaching Japan. The imperial summons was eagerly
obeyed by Spinola and the bishop, for such progress
had already been made in the formation of a native
clergy that five parishes which they had established
186 The Jesuits
in Nagasaki were at that time in the hands of Japanese
priests, and an academy had been begun in which,
besides theology, elementary physics and astronomy
were taught. Organtini, who had labored in Japan
for forty-nine years, had even built a foundling asylum,
to continue the work which Almeida had inaugurated
elsewhere. A hospital for lepers had also been started.
Nothing happened for the moment, but though out-
wardly favoring the missionaries, Daifusama was in
his heart worried about this amazingly rapid expansion
of Christianity, and when in 1612 two merchants,
one from Holland and one from England, which
were plotting to oust the Spanish and Portuguese
from the control of the commerce of Japan, aroused
his old suspicions by assuring him that the priests
were in reality only the forerunners of invading armies,
the old hostility flamed out anew. The opportunity
to work on Daifusama's fears presented itself in a
curious way. A Spanish ship had been sent from
Mexico by the viceroy to see what could be done
to establish trade relations with Japan, and on coming
into port it was seen to be taking the usual soundings —
a mysterious proceeding in the eyes of the Japanese.
The fact was reported to Daifusama, who asked an
English sea-captain what it meant. " Why," was the
reply, " in Europe that is considered a hostile act.
The captain is charting the harbor so as to allow a fleet
to enter and invade Japan. These Jesuits are well
known to be Spanish priests who have been hunted
out of every nation in Europe as plotters and spies,
and the religion they teach is only a cloak to conceal
their ulterior designs."
Whether Daifusama believed this or not is hard to
say, but greater men than this rude barbarian have
been deceived by more ridiculous falsehoods. There
was no delay. Fourteen of the most distinguished
t
t.
Japan 187
families of the empire were banished, and others
awaited a like proscription. Then the persecution
became general; the churches were destroyed and all
the missionaries were ordered out of the empire.
Daifusama died in 1616, but his son and successor
outdid him in ferocity though there was a short lul]
on account of internal political troubles.
It was during this period that thirty-three Jesuits
slipped back into the country under various disguises.
Their purpose was to work secretly, so that the govern-
ment would not remark their presence. Unfortunately,
twenty-four Franciscans, deceived by a rumor that
a commercial treaty had been made with Spain and
'under the impression that the root of the trouble was
personal dislike for Jesuits, landed at Nagasaki at the
end of the year 16 16, and insisted on going out in the
open and proclaiming the Gospel publicly. They
reckoned without their host. A decree was issued
making it a capital offense to harbor missionaries of
any garb. Not only that, but it was officially
announced that death would be inflicted on the occu-
pants of the ten houses nearest the one where a
missionary was discovered. The Jesuits took to the
mountains and marshes to save their people, but the
Franciscans defied the edict. The result was that
immediate orders were issued to take every priest that
could be found. Nagasaki was first ransacked. The
Jesuits had all vanished except Machado; he and a
Franciscan were captured, and on May 21, 161 7, were
decapitated. In spite of this warning, however, a
Dominican and an Augustinian publicly celebrated
Mass, under the very eyes of Sancho, an apostate
prince who was an agent of the Shogun. The result
was immediate death for both. The same useless
bravado was repeated elsewhere. Different tactics, as
we have said, were adopted by the Jesuits. Thus,
188 The Jesuits
de Angelis covered the mountains of Voxuan; Navarro
and Porro lived in a cave in Bungo, and crept out when
they could, to visit their scattered flocks. There was
a group also on the rich island of Nippon — among
them Torres, Barretto, Femandes and a Japanese
named Yukui. From this place of concealment they
spread out in all directions, usually disguised as native
peddlers; all of them, even in those terrible surround-
ings, winning many converts to the Faith.
A phenomenon not unusual in the Church, but car-
ried to extraordinary lengths in this instance, now
presented itself. Instead of striking terror into the
hearts of the Christians, the very opposite result
ensued. A widespread eagerness, a special devotion
for martyrdom, as it were, manifested itself. Crowds
gathered in every city to accompany the victims to
the place of execution; the women and children put
on their richest attire; songs of joy were sung and
prayers aflame with enthusiasm were recited by the
spectators, who kept reminding the sufferers that
the scaffold was the stairway to heaven. At JCioto
there was no trouble in filling out the Usts of those
who were to be executed. People came of themselves
to give their names. Those who did not were rated as
idolaters. The number ran up to several thousands
and the emperor was so alarmed that he cut them
down to 1700. There were fifteen Jesuits in the city.
Six of them were banished, but the other nine went
from place to place, keeping up the courage of their
flocks. Gomes and the bishop had died in the midst
of these horrors; and the duties of both devolved on
Carvalho.
Unfortunately, at this juncture, a paper was found
signed in blood by a number of Christians pledging
themselves to fight to death against the banishment
of the missionaries. That was enough for the Shogun.
Japan 189
The Jesuits, to the number of one hundred and
seventeen, with twenty-seven members of other religious
orders, Augustinians, Franciscans and Dominicans,
were dragged down to Nagasaki and shipped to Macao
and the Philippines. With them was Ucondono, the
erstwhile commander of the forces of Taicosama,
On the vessels also were several families of
distinguished people. Some died on the journey;
and others, Ucondono among the number, gave up the
ghost shortly after arriving at the Philippines.
Twenty-six Jesuits and some other religious succeeded
in remaining in Japan. As the provinicial Carvalho,
was among the exiles, he named Rodrigues as his
successor, and appointed Charles Spinola to look after
Nagasaki and the surrounding territory. The work
had now become particularly difficult. Thus, one of
these concealed apostles tells how most of his labor
had to be performed at night. Often he found himself
groping along unknown roads through forests and
on the edges of precipices, over which he not infre-
quently rolled to the bottom of the abyss. Another
says: " I am hiding in a hut, and a little rice is handed
in to me from time to time. The place is so wet that
I have got sciatica, and cannot stand or sit; most of
my work is done at night, visiting my flock, while
my protectors are asleep." So it was for all the
rest.
The Protestant historian Kampfer is often quoted
in this matter. In his " History of Japan " he says
that " the persecution was the worst in all history,
but did not produce the effect that the government
expected. For, although, according to the Jesuit
accounts, 20,570 people suffered death for the Christian
religion in 1590, yet in the following years, when all
the churches were closed, there were 12,000 proselytes.
Japanese writers do not deny that Hideyori,
190 The Jesuits
Taicosama's son and intended successor, was suspected
of being a Catholic, and that the greater part of the
court officials and officers of the army professed that
religion. The joy that made the new converts suffer
the most unimaginable tortures excited the public
curiosity to such an extent that many wanted to
know the religion that produced such happiness in the
agonies of death; and when told about it, they also
enthusiastically professed it."
Spinola, who was seized at Nagasaki, was called upon
to explain why he had remained in Japan, in spite of
the edict. He replied: "There is a Ruler above all
kings — and His word must be obeyed." The answer
settled his fate, and he and two Dominicans were
condemned to a frightful imprisonment. It is recorded
that as the three victims approached the jail, they
intoned the Te Deum, and that the refrain was taken
up by a Dominican and a Franciscan who had already
passed a year in that horrible dungeon. When the
martyrs met inside the walls they kissed each other
affectionately and fell on their knees to thank God.
Leonard Kimura, a Japanese, was arrested at Nagasaki
on suspicion of having concealed the son of the Shogun,
and also of having killed a man while defending the
prince. He was acquitted, but when withdrawing he
was asked if he could give the court information about
any Jesuit who might be hiding in the vicinity. " Yes,
I know one," he said, " I am a Jesuit." After three
years in a dungeon he was burned at the stake.
In 1619 the Jesuits, Spinola and Femandes, with
fourteen others, Dominicans and Franciscans, were
brought out of prison and kept in a pen with no protec-
tion from cold or heat and so narrow that it was
impossible to assume any but a crouching posture. It
was hoped that by exposing them publicly, emaciated,
hungry, filthy, and diseased, that the heroic element
Japan 191
which the executions seemed to develop in the victims
would be eliminated, and their converts alienated from
the Faith. The contrary happened, and from that
enclosure Spinola not only preached to the people, but
actually admitted novices to the Society. As he stood
at the stake where he was to be burned, a Uttle boy
whom he had baptized was put in his arms; Spinola
blessed him, and the child and his mother were executed
at the same time as their father in God. Five Jesuits
died in 1619; and in 1620 six others came from Macao
to replace them. Next year brought down an edict
on all shipmasters, forbidding them to land such
undesirable immigrants as missionaries. Nevertheless,
two months after the edict was published, Borges,
Costanza, de Suza, Carvalho and Tzugi, a Japanese,
appeared in the disguise of merchants and soldiers.
The Dutch and English traders volunteered after that
to search all incoming vessels, and report the suspicious
passengers. An attempt at a prison delivery precipi-
tated the condemnation of Spinola and his companions
in the pens. They were burned alive on September 10,
1622; on the 19th of the same month three more met
the same fate, and in November two others went to
heaven through the flames.
In 1623 de Angelis and Simon Jempo, with a number
of their followers, were burned to death, after having
their feet cut off. Carvalho and Buzomo were caught
in a forest in mid-winter, and on February 21, 1624,
were plunged naked into a pond, and left there to
freeze for the space of three hours. Four days after-
wards the experiment was repeated for six consecutive
hours. But the night was so cold that they were both
found dead in the morning, wrapped in a shroud of ice.
Another Carvalho perished in the same year. Petitions
were sent from the Philippines and elsewhere, imploring
a cessation of these horrors, but the appeals made the
192 The Jesuits
Shogun more cruel. As the persecutions had produced
only a few apostacies, the executioners were told to
scourge the victims down to the bone, to tear out their
nails, to drive rods into their flesh or ears or nose, to
fling them into pits filled with venomous snakes, to
cut them up piece by piece, to roast them on gridirons,
to put red-hot vessels in their hands, and, what was
the most diabolical of all, to consider the slightest
movement or cry a sign of apostasy. Another favorite
punishment was to hang the sufferer head down over
a pit from which sulphurous or other fumes were rising,
or to stretch them on their backs and by means of a
funnel fill them full of water till the stomach almost
burst, and then by jimiping on the body to force the
fluid out again.
It is unnecessary here to enter into all the details
of these martyrdoms; but it will be enough to state
that in a very few years, twenty-eight native Japanese
Jesuits, besides multitudes of people who were living
in the world, men, women and children, gave up their
lives for the Faith, side by side with those who had
come from other parts of the world to teach them how
to die. In 1634 only a handful of Jesuits remained.
Chief among them was Vieira. He had been sent to
report conditions to Urban VIII, and in 1632 he
returned to die. He re-entered Japan as a Chinese
sailor, and for nearly two years hurried aU over the
blood-stained territor}^ facing death at every step,
until finally he and five other Jesuits stood before the
tribunal and were told to apostatize or die. Vieira,
the spokesman, said: " I am 63 years old, and all my
life I have received innumerable favors from Almighty
God; from the emperor — nothing, and I am not
going now to bow down to idols of sticks and stones
to obey a mortal man like myself. So say the others."
They were put to death.
Japan 193
In that year, however, it is painful and humiliating
to be obliged to say there was a Jesuit in Japan who
apostatized: Father Ferara. It was the only scandal
during those terrible trials. He had even been provin-
cial, at one time, but when the test came, he fell, and
the glorious young Church was thrilled with horror at
seeing a man who had once taught them the way to
heaven now throwing away his soul. The shame was
too much for the Society, and it resolved to wipe it
out. Marcellus Mastrilli, a Neapolitan, made the first
attempt to atone for the crime. No one could enter
Nagasaki without trampling on the cross — a device
suggested by the Dutch and English merchants.
However, Mastrilli made up his mind to enter without
committing the sacrilege. He succeeded, but was
arrested and led through the streets of Nagasaki, with
the proclamation on his back: "This madman has
come to preach a foreign religion, in spite of the
emperor's edict. Come and look at him. He is to die
in the pit." For sixty hours he hung over the horrible
opening through which the poisonous fumes continually
poured. Finally he was drawn up and his head struck
off. It was October 17, 1637, and Ferara was looking
on. Three years afterwards a similar execution took
place. There were four victims this time, and the
apostate stood there again.
In 1643 the final attempt was made to win back the
lost one. Father Rubini and four other Jesuits landed
on a desolate coast. They were captured and dragged
to Nagasaki. To their horror the judge seated at the
tribunal was none other than Ferara. " Who are you,
and what do you come here for?" he asked. " We are
Jesuits," they answered, " and we come to preach
Jesus Christ, who died for us all." " Abjure your
faith," cried Ferara, " and you shall be rich and
honored." " Tell that to cowards whom you want to
13
194 The Jesuits
dishonor," answered Rubini. " We trust that we shall
have courage to die like Christians and like priests."
Ferara fled, and the missionaries died, but the shaft
had struck home, though it took nine years for Divine
grace to achieve its ultimate triumph. The victory
was won in 1652, when an old man of eighty was
dragged before the judge at Nagasaki. " Who are
you?" he was asked. " I am one," he replied, " who
has sinned against the King of Heaven and earth. I
betrayed Him out of fear of death. I am a Christian;
I am a Jesuit." His youthful courage had returned,
and for sixty hours he remained unmoved in the pit,
in spite of the most excruciating torture. It was
Ferara; and thus Christianity died in Japan in his
blood and in that of 200,000 other martyrs. Eighty
Jesuits had given their life for Christ in this battle.
This disaster in Japan has been frequently laid at
the door of the Society, because of its unwillingness to
form a native clergy. Those who make the cruel charge
forget a very important fact. It is this: precisely at
that time a native clergy was not saving England
or Germany or any of the Northern nations. Not only
that, but the clergy themselves first gave the example
of apostasy in those countries. Secondly, it had been
absolutely impossible, up to that time, to obtain a
bishop in Japan to ordain any of the natives. Sixteen
years had not elapsed from the moment the first
Jesuits began their work in Japan, namely in 1566,
when Father Oviedo, the Patriarch of Ethiopia, was
appointed Bishop of Japan. But he entreated the
Pope to let him die in the hardships and dangers by
which he was surrounded in Africa. Father Camero
was then sent in his place, but he died when he reached
Macao. In 1579 a petition was again dispatched to
Rome asking for a bishop, but no answer was given.
When the Japanese embassy knelt at the feet of the
Japan 195
Pope, they repeated the request. Morales was then
named, but he died on the way out. In 1596 Martines
arrived with a coadjutor, Sequiera, and immediately
a number of young Japanese who had been long in
preparation for the priesthood were ordained; in 1605
a parish was established in Nagasaki and put in the
hands of a native priest. In 1607 four more parishes
were organized. Then Martines died, and in 16 14
Sequiera followed him to the grave. Finally, Valente
was appointed, but he never reached Japan.
Rohrbacher, the historian, was especially prominent
in fastening this calumny on the Society, and when
Bertrand, the author of " Memoires sur les missions,"
put him in possession of these facts, not only was the
charge not withdrawn, but no acknowledgment was
made of the receipt of the information. As a matter
of fact, it would be difficult to find in the history of
the Chiirch an example of greater solicitude to provide
a native priesthood than was given by the Jesuits of
Japan. The crushing out in blood of the marvellous
Church which Xavier and his successors had created
in that part of the world cannot be considered a
failure — at least in the minds of Catholics who under-
stand that " the blood of martyrs is the seed of the
Church." Nor can such a conclusion be arrived at by
any one who is aware of what occurred in the city of
Nagasaki as late as the year 1865.
The ports of Japan had been opened to the commerce
of the world in 1859. But even then all attempts to
penetrate into the interior had been hopelessly
frustrated. On March 17, 1865 Father Petitjean, of
the Foreign Missions, was prajdng, disconsolate and
despondent, in a little chapel he had built in Nagasaki.
No native had ever entered it. One morning he
became aware of the presence of three women kneeling
at his side. " Have you a Pope ?" they asked. " Yes,"
196 The Jesuits
was the answer. " Do you pray to the Blessed Virgin ?"
"Yes." "Are you married?" "No." "Do you
take the discipline?" To the last interrogatory he
replied by holding up that instrument of penance.
" Then you are a Christian like ourselves." To his
amazement he found that in Nagasaki and its immediate
surroundings, which had been the principal theatre of
the terrible martyrdoms of former times — there were
no less than 2,500 native Japanese Catholics. In a
second place there was a settlement of at least a
thousand famiHcs, and, later on, five other groups were
found in various sections of the country; and it was
certain that there was a great number of others in
various localities. As many as 50,000 Christians were
ultimately discovered. Pius IX was so much moved
by this wonderful event, that he made the 17 th of
IVIarch the great religious festival of the Church of
Japan, and decreed that it was to be celebrated under
the title of " The Finding of the Christians."
A Church that could preserve its spiritual life for
over two hundred years in the midst of pagan hatred
and pagan corruption, without any sacramental help
but that of baptism, and without priests, without
preaching, without the Holy Sacrifice, and could
present itself to the world at the end of that long
period of trial and privation with 50,000 Christians,
the remnants of those other hundreds and hundreds
of thousands who, through the centuries, had never
faltered in their allegiance to Christ, was not a failure.
It may be noted, moreover, that this survival of the
Faith after long years of privation of the sacraments
of the Church is not the exclusive glory of Japan.
Other instances will be noted when the Society resumed
its work after the Suppression.
CHAPTER VII
THE GREAT STORMS
1580-1597
Manares suspected of ambition — Election of Aquaviva — Beginning
of Spanish discontent — Denis V^squez — The " Ratio Studiorum " —
Society's action against Confessors of Kings and Political Embassies —
Trouble with the Spanish Inquisition and Philip II — Attempts at a
Spanish Schism — The Ormanetto papers — Ribadeneira suspected —
Imprisonment of Jesuits by the Spanish Inquisition — Action of Toletus
— Extraordinary Congregation called — Exculpation of Aquaviva —
The dispute " de Auxiliis " — Antoine Amauld's attack — Henry IV
and Jean Chastel — Reconciliation of Henry IV to the Church — Royal
protection — Saint Charles Borromeo — Troubles in Venice — Sarpi
— Palafox.
When Mercurian died, on August i, 1580, Oliver
Manares, who, like the deceased General, was a Belgian,
called the general congregation for February 7, 1581.
Two of the old companions of St. Ignatius, Salmeron
and Bobadilla, were there, as were also the able
coadjutor of Canisius, Hoffaeus, and Claude Matthieu,
the latter of whom was beginning to be conspicuous
in the League against the King of Navarre. Maldo-
natus, also, occupied a seat in the distinguished
assembly. Before the congregation met, rumors began
to be heard that Manares was seeking the generalship
for himself. The grounds of the suspicions seem
almost too frivolous for an outsider, but in an order
which had pronounced so positively against ambition
in the Church, it was proper that it should be
scrupulously sensitive about any act in the body
itself that might resemble it. The grounds of the
accusation were that he had sent a present to Father
Toletus who was very close to the Pope, and had also
once said to a lay-brother: "If I were General,
I would do so and so." A committee was appointed
197
198 The Jesuits
to examine the case, and Manares was declared in-
eligible. The Pope found the action of the congre-
gregation excessively rigid, but, possibly, as in the
preceding congregation it had been decided that the
succession of three Spanish Generals contained in it
an element of danger, so it was feared that as the dead
General who had appointed one of his own race to be
vicar, there might be reason for apprehension in that
also. As a matter of fact, the power given to the
General to appoint his vicar was by some looked up)on
as quite unwise, as it afforded at least a remote oppor-
tunity for self -perpetuation.
On February 19, 1581, Claudius Aquaviva was
elected General of the Society by thirty-two votes
out of fifty-one. He was not yet thirty-eight years of
age. The Pope was astounded at the choice, but the
sequel proved that it was providential. " No one,"
says Bartoli, " was raised to that dignity who had
given more evident or more numerous signs that his
election came from God, and perhaps, no one, with
the exception of St. Ignatius, has a greater claim to
the gratitude of the Society or has helped it more
efficaciously to achieve the object for which it was
founded." He was the youngest son of the Duke of
Atri, and was bom at Naples in 1543. As his youth
was passed in his father's palace, he could at most
only have heard the names of some of the companions
of St. Ignatius, but when he was about twenty years
of age he was sent to Rome to defend some family
interest, and he attracted so much attention that he
was retained at court, first by Paul IV, and afterwards
by Pius V, both of whom were struck by his superior
qualities of mind and heart. There for the first time
he came in contact with the Jesuits. It happened
that Christopher Rodriguez, John Polanco, and Francis
Borgia were frequently admitted to an audience with
:V
The Great Storms 199
the Holy Father, and young Aquaviva was so drawn
to them when he heard them speaking of Divine
things, that he began to make inquiries about their
manner of life and the rule they followed. He felt
called to join them but he hesitated a while, for the
Roman purple was an honor that was assured him;
finally, however, he made up his mind, and after the
Pontifical Mass on St. Peter's day he fell at Borgia's
feet and asked for admission to the Society. When
Ormanetto, the papal legate, heard of it, he exclaimed :
" The ApostoHc College has lost its finest ornament."
Nine years later, Aquaviva was made rector of the
Roman Seminary, and then, by a strange coincidence,
became rector of the College of Naples, as successor
of Dionisio Vasquez, who later on was to be very con-
spicuous in an attempt by the Spanish members
to disrupt the Society, and thus occasion the bitterest
trial of Aquaviva's administration as General. After
rapidly repairing the ruin that Vasquez had caused in
Naples, Aquaviva was made provincial, and was then
entrusted with the care of the Roman province. He
had served in that capacity only a year when he was
elected General. Some years before that, Nadal must
have foreseen the promotion when he advised Aquaviva
to make the Constitutions of Saint Ignatius his only
reading. " You will stand very much in need of it,"
he said. The congregation formulated sixty-nine
decrees, one of which gave the General power to appoint
his vicar, and another to interpret the Constitutions.
Such interpretations, however, were not to have the
force of law,- but were to be considered merely as
practical directions for government. Another decree
regulated the method to be followed in the dissolution
.>f houses and colleges.
Aquaviva's first letter to the Society was concerned
chiefly with the qualities which superiors should possess
200 The Jesuits
— especially those of vigilance, sweetness and strength.
His second was more universal, and dealt with the
necessity- of a constant renewal of the spiritual life.
To him the Society is indebted for the " Direct orium,"
or guide of the Spiritual Exercises.
Under his administration the " Ratio Studionun,"
QT scheme of studies, was produced- It was the
result of fifteen years of collaboration (1584-99) by
a number of the most competent scholars that could
be foimd in the Sodetv*. It covers the whole edu-
cational field from theology down to the grammar of
the lower classes, exclusive, however, of the elements.
Of course, this " Ratio " has not escaped criticism,
for scarcely an}-thing the Society' ever attempted has
had that good fortune. Thus, to take one out of many,
Mkhdet bemoans the fact that " the Ratio has been
in operation for 300 years and has not yet produced
a man." Such a charge, of course, does not call for
discussion.
The greatest ser\-ice that AquaWva rendered the
Society, and for which it will ever bless his memory
is that he saved it from destruction in a fight that ran
through the thirty years of his Generalate, and in
which he found opposed to him Popes, kings, and
princes, along with the terrible authority- of the Spanish
Inquisition and, worst of all, a number of discontented
members of the Order, banded together and resorting
to the most reprehensible tactics to alter completely
the character of the Institute and to rob it of that
CathoHdtj* which constitutes its glory and its power.
He began his work by making it impossible, as far
as it lay in his power, for a Jesuit to be used as the
tool of any prince or potentate, no matter how dazzling
might be the dignity with which one so employed
was invested, or the glor>' which his work reflected on
the Society. Thus, he put his ban on the ofiBce (rf
f
1
The Great Storms 201
royal confessor, which some of the members of the
Society in those days were compelled to accept. He
could not prevent it absolutely just then, but he laid
down such stringent laws regarding it, that all ambition
or desire of that very imapostoHc work was eliminated.
Its inconveniences were manifest. It is inconceivable,
for instance, that a sovereign like Henry TV, who was
a devoted friend of the Societ>", ever consulted Father
Coton about scruples of conscience; for his majesty
was never subject to spiritual worry of that description;
and on the other hand, the unfortunate confessor was
often suspected or accused of influencing or advising
political measures with which he could have had
nothing whatever to do. Jealousy also, of those
who were appointed to the oflSce was inevitable, and
disHke and hatred not only of the individual who
occupied the post, but of the order to which he belonged
was aroused. Even the confessor's own relatives and
friends were alienated, because he was forbidden to
make use of his spiritual influence for their worllly
advantage. Finally, apart from the loss of time,
dail}- contact with the vice of the court, which he
could not openly reprehend, necessarily reacted on the
spiritual tone of the rehgioiis himself.
The same objections obtained for the flamboyant
embassies which had been so much in vogue up to
that time, and which are still quoted as evidencing
the wonderful influence wielded by the Society in those
da3,-s. They, too, were stopped, for the ^e^^on that
although they were nearly always connected with the
interests of the Faith, yet they were very largely
controlled by worldly politics. Hence Possevin, who
had made such a stir by his embassies to Muscovy,
Sweden, Poland and elsewhere, was relegated to a
class-room in Padua. Matthieu, who figured con-
spicuously in the poHtico-reHgious troubles of France
202 The Jesuits
as the " Courier de la Ligue," was told to desist from
his activities, although Pope Sixtus V judged otherwise;
and finally, the most famous orator of his day in France,
Father Auger, who was loud in his denunciation of
the Holy League, received peremptory orders to
desist from discussing the subject at all. His quick
obedience to the command was the best sermon he
ever preached.
Aquaviva had also a very protracted struggle with
Philip n in relation to the Spanish Inquisition. The
king had frequently expressed a desire to have a Jesuit
in one or other of the conspicuous offices of that
tribunal, but Aquaviva stubbornly refused, first,
because of the odium attached to the Inquisition itself,
and also because he suspected that Philip designed, by
that means, to lay hold of the machinery of the Society
and control it. His most glorious battle, however,
was one that was fought in the Society itself, against
an organized movement which was making straight for
the destruction of the great work of St. Ignatius. It
is somewhat of a stain on the splendid history of the
Order, but it should not be concealed or palliated or
explained away, for it not only reveals the masterful
generalship of Aquaviva, but it also brings out, in
splendid relief, the magnificent resisting power of the
organization itself.
The Spanish Jesuits were profoundly shocked when
the Pope prevented the perpetuation of Spanish rule
in the Society. The psychological reason of their
surprise was that the average Spaniard at that time
was convinced that Spain alone was immune from
heresy. As a matter of fact, all the other nations of
Europe, Ireland excepted, had been infected, and
possibly it was a mistaken loyalty to the Church that
prompted a certain number of them to organize a plot
to make the Society exclusively Spanish or destroy it.
The Great Storms 203
It will come as a painful discovery for many that the
originator of this nefarious scheme was Father Araoz,
the nephew of St. Ignatius. Astrain (II, loi) regrets
to admit it, but the documents in his hands make it
imperative. He quotes letters which show that even
in the time of St. Ignatius, Araoz complained of the
Roman administration, putting the blame, however,
on Polanco. His discontent was more manifest under
Lainez, when he maintained that the General should
not be elected for life; that provincials and rectors
should be voted for, as in other Orders; that there
should be a general chapter in Spain to manage its own
affairs, and not only that no foreigner should be
admitted to a Spanish province, but that there should
not even be any communication with non-Spaniards
in other sections of the Society. One would not expect
such KJiownothingism in a Jesuit, but the documents
setting forth these facts which were found among the
papers of Araoz after his death make it only too
manifest. They contain among other things accounts
of the opposition of Araoz to Lainez, to Francis Borgia,
and to Nadal, none of which is very pleasant reading.
In a letter unearthed by Antonio Ibafiez, the visitor
of the province of Toledo, Araoz goes on to say:
" (i) We must petition the Pope and ask that all
religious orders in Spain shall have a Spanish general,
independent of the one in Rome, so as to avoid the
danger of heresy. (2) No Spaniard living outside of
Spain should be elected general, commissary or visitor
in Spain. (3) As there is such a diversity of customs
and usages in each nation, they should not mix with
one another. (4) General congregations expose the
delegates to act as spies for the enemy. (5) The king
shoiild write to the cardinal protector of the religious
orders not to oppose this plan." Other papers by
Spanish Jesuits were found among those of Ormanetto,
204 The Jesuits
nuncio at Madrid, who died on June 17, 1577. They
call for drastic changes, in the difference of grades, the
manner of electing superiors, dismissals from the
Society, and such matters. The authorship of the
Ormanetto papers could not be determined with
certainty, but suspicion fell upon Father Solier, and
for a time, even upon Ribadeneira who, at that time,
was in Madrid for his health, and was in the habit
of calling frequently at the nunciature with SoHer. In
the following year, it was admitted that the suspicion
about him was unfounded. As a matter of fact, he
subsequently wrote a denunciation of the conspiracy
and a splendid defense of the Institute. That King
Philip knew what was going on was revealed by certain
remarks he let drop, such as: " Your General does not
know how to govern; we need a Spanish superior
independent of the General; we have able men here
like Ribadeneira and others, etc."
At the end of 1577 it was discovered that Father
Dionisio Vasquez, who was of Jewish extraction, was
disseminating these ideas by letter and by word of
mouth. The friendship that existed between him and
Ribadeneira from childhood again threw a cloud over
the latter, but finally the provincial learned from Vasquez
himself that Ribadeneira knew nothing at all about
the whole affair. By that time the names of the chief
plotters were revealed, and it was also discovered that
Vasquez had given one copy of his memorial to the
king and another to the Inquisition. Two more had
been shown to various other people. Vasquez alleged
eight reasons for this attempt to change the character
of the Society: (i) Because the General had to treat
with so many depraved and heretical nations, that
there was a danger of contaminating the whole Society.
(2) Money and subjects were being taken from Spain
to benefit other provinces. (3) If any one was in
The Great Storms 205
danger of being punished by the Inquisition it was
easy to send the culprit elsewhere. (4) Rome was
governing by means of information which was fre-
quently false. (5) There were delays in correspondence.
(6) As the General never left Rome, he could not visit
his subjects. (7) When the king asks for missionaries,
Rome often answers that there are none to send.
(8) There should be a commissary in Spain, because
Spaniards are badly treated in Rome. Astrain notes
that these pretences of the danger of heresy, respect
for the Inquisition, and the needs of satisfying the
king's demands for missionaries were devised merely to
win the favor of Philip. Another conspirator whose
name appears is Estrada. He is described by the
provincial as a " novus homo whose conversation is
pestilential."
There was no public manifestation of this spirit
of schism in the first years of Aquaviva's Generalship,
though in Spain a great deal of underhand plotting
was going on between some of the discontented ones
and the Inquisition. Four persons, however, had
caused grave anxiety to their Superiors, namely:
Dionisio Vasquez, Francisco de Abreo, Gonzalo
Gonzalez and Enrique Enriquez. Following in their
wake, came Alonso Polanco, nephew of the famous
Polanco, Jose de San Julian, Diego de Santa Cruz, and
a certain number of inconspicuous persons whose
names it is not necessary to give. In the background,
however, there were two men of considerable impor-
tance: Mariana, whose writings have given so much
trouble to the Society, and Jose de Acosta. To these
Jouvancy in his " Epitome" and Prat in his
" Ribadeneira " add the name of Jerome de Acosta,
but according to Astrain, the two historians are in error
both as to the character of Jerome and his participation
in the plot. He was, indeed, suspected of being mixed
206 The Jesuits
up in it, but the suspicion was soon dispelled, as in the
case of Ribadeneira. Manuel L6pez was at most a
suspect, because he was a friend and admirer of Araoz
and because, although the oldest man in the province,
he gave no aid to the defenders of the Institute. When
the fight was ended, however, he pronounced for those
who had won.
Meantime Enriquez, by means of false accusations,
had induced the Inquisition to put in prison on various
charges Fathers Marcen, Lavata, Lopez and the famous
Ripalda. That tribunal also expelled others from
Valladolid and Castile, and called for the Bulls, the
privileges, and the "Ratio studiorum " of the Society.
The findings of the judges were put before the king,
and the Inquisition then demanded all the copies of
the aforesaid documents that the Fathers had (Astrain,
III, 376). So far the inquisitors were safe, but they
took one step more which ruined the plot in which they
were conscious or unconscious participators. Under
pain of excommunication they forbade a band of thirty
Jesuit missionaries who were on their way to Transyl-
vania to leave Spain, the reason being that they
endangered their faith in embarking on such an enter-
prise. It was the plotter, Enrique Enriquez who
suggested this piece of idiocy. When Sixtus V, who
was then Pope, heard of the order, he sent such a
vigorous reprimand to the Inquisition that all the
confiscated papers were immediately restored and the
imprisoned theologians were liberated from jail after
two years' confinement.
But the enemy was not yet beaten. Anonymous
petitions kept pouring in upon the Inquisition, " all
of them," says Astrain, " bearing the stamp of the
atrabilious Vasquez, the rigorist Gonzalez, the under-
handed Enriquez, and the sombre Abreo." Besiiles
the old demands, a new one was made, namely, the
The Great Storms 207
investigation of the Society by an official of the
Inquisition. Finally, in the provincial congregation
of 1587, the hand of Vasquez was visible when a general
congregation was asked for unanimously and a request
made for a procurator for the Spanish provinces. Mean-
time, Philip had been wrought upon and he sup-
ported the petition for the visit of an inquisitor,
who was none other than D. Jeronimo Manrique, the
Bishop of Cartagena, a choice which shows that these
Jesuit insurrectos were not gifted with the shrewdness
usually attributed to their brethren. For apart from
the odiousness of having an unfriendly outsider investi-
gate, it so happened that Manrique had a very unsavory
past, and when that was called to the attention of
Sixtus, the whole fooHsh project collapsed of itself, and
King Philip confessed his defeat.
All this finally convinced Sixtus V that there was
something radically wrong with the Society, and he
ordered the Congregation of the Holy Office (the Roman
Inquisition) to examine the Constitutions. Aquaviva
protested that it was unjust to judge the Order from
anonymous writings, many of them forgeries by a
single individual ; and that the faults were alleged not
with a view to correction, but to alter the Institute
radically. With regard to the proposal of a capitular
government, several objectionable consequences, he
said, must follow, such as ambition, simony, laxity of
discipline, and the like, and he emphasized the fact
that Sixtus himself, only a short time before, had
urged the appointment of Italian superiors in France.
He convinced the Pope, also, that the exclusiveness
advocated by the Spaniards, in refusing subjects from
other parts of the world would soon shrivel up the
Spanish provinces themselves. Finally, a capitular
government in missionary countries was a physical
impossibility, and would disrupt the whole Order.
208 The Jesuits
Indeed, when Cardinal Colonna mentioned the word
"capitular" to the Pope, His Holiness interjected:
" I don't want chapters in the Society. You would
have one in every city and every family ; and that does
not suit the system of the Jesuits."
While this was going on, letters were received from
the Emperor Rodolf, King Sigismond, the Duke of
Bavaria, and other princes and distinguished person-
ages, entreating the Pope to make no change in the
Institute. The protest of the Duke of Bavaria espe-
cially startled the Pontiff, and he surmised that it was
a Jesuit fabrication, or that it had been asked for or
suggested. Such was really the case. The points had
been drawn up by Alber, the provincial of Germany,
and the Duke had heartily approved of them. At
that, the Pope relented and declared that he never had
any intention of changing the Institute. What he
chiefly desired was to prevent certain Jesuits from
interfering in politics more than was proper — an
allusion, in Sacchini's opinion, to Possevin and Auger,
who had already been retired by the General. Sixtus
had apparently changed his mind about these semi-
political occupations.
Thus ended the year 1589, but the year 1590 had
new troubles in store. Up to that time, the Sacred
Congregation, whose members, especially Caraffa, were
friendly to the Society, had purposely delayed sending
in a report to the Pope. He was indignant at this,
and handed the case over to four theologians. Their
verdict was in conformity with the views of Sixtus.
They were more timid than the cardinals. By de-
duction from Aquaviva's argument against the findings,
the first complaint was about the name: "The
Society of Jesus." Then follow the various matters
of stipends, penances, the profession, the examinations
for grade, doctrines, the eighth rule of the Summary
The Great Storms 209
forbidding assistance to relatives, obedience, the
account of conscience, delay of profession, fraternal
correction, censors, and simple vows. Astrain gives
Aquaviva's answer to all these charges in detail
(III, 465). The cardinals, without exception, admitted
Aquaviva's rebuttal, and when they gave the Pope
their verdict, he said: "All of you, even those who
are of my own creation, favor these Fathers." One
thing, however, he insisted on, and that was the
change of name, and he therefore ordered Aquaviva
to send in a formal request to that effect. There was
nothing to do but to submit, and the Pope signed
the Brief, but as the bell of San Andrea summoned the
novices to litanies that night, Sixtus died, and ever
since the tradition runs in Rome that if the litany
bell rings when the Pope is sick, his last hour has
come. As was to be expected, the Society was accused
of having had something to do with the Pope's
opportune demise. The successor of Sixtus tore up
the Brief, and the Society kept its name.
In spite of aU this, the battle continued. Clement
VIII succeeded Sixtus V on January 29, 1592, and his
election was welcomed by the Spanish rebels, for he
was credited with a personal antipathy to Aquaviva.
Hence they revived Philip's interest in the matter.
His ambassador at Rome was more than friendly
to the project, and it was confidently hoped that the
great Spanish Jesuit, Toletus, the friend of the Pope,
could be won over. The fact that, at the suggestion of
Aquaviva, the Pope had rendered a decision about
the sacrament of Penance which the Inquisition
regarded as an infringement of its rights, again brought
that tribunal into the fray. The new plan of the
conspirators was, first, to re-assert the claims advanced
by Vasquez the year before, and failing that, to de-
mand, at least, a commissary general for Spain. They
14
210 The Jesuits
wrote to Philip asking for his authorization and support.
When Aquaviva was apprised of all this, he requested
the king to name anyone he chose to pass on the
proposal for a commissary, Philip picked out Loyasa,
the instructor of the heir apparent; but he, after
examining the question, bluntly told the insurgents:
" I do not at all share your opinion, and I am positive
that Ignatius, like St. Dominic and St. Francis, was
inspired by God in the foundation of his Order. One
Pope is enough to govern the Church, and one General
ought to be enough for the Society." Foiled in this,
they induced the Pope and the king to compel the
General to call a general congregation; and in order
to make it easier to carry out their plot, they per-
suaded the Pope to send Aquaviva to settle a dispute
between the Dukes of Parma and Mantua, thus
keeping him out of Rome for three whole months.
Toletus is accused of having been a party to this
removal of Aquaviva, but the proof adduced is not
convincing. At Naples, Aquaviva fell seriously ill, and
the Fathers demanded his recall. It was only on his
return that he began to appreciate the full extent
and bearing of the movement as well as the peril in
which the Society was involved. For although all the
cardinals were on his side, yet arrayed against him
were the king, the Pope and a number of the pro-
fessed. The case seemed hopeless. Finally, Toletus
informed him that the Pope insisted on a general
congregation and it was summoned for November 4,
1593-
To make matters worse, Toletus was then made
cardinal; whereupon the insurgents asked the Pope to
authorize Jose Acosta and some of his associates to
enter the congregation — a privilege they had no
claim to — and also to have Toletus preside. The
congregation began its sessions on the day appointed.
■a:
The Great Storms 211
There were sixty-three professed present among them
Acosta, but Aquaviva, not Toletus, was in the chair.
The usual committee was appointed for the business
of the congregation, and Aquaviva insisted that they
should begin by investigating the complaints against
his administration. They did so, and were amazed to
find that all the charges were based on false impressions,
personal prejudices, and imaginary acts. They were
naturally indignant and when they reported to the
Pope, he said: " They wanted to find a culprit and
they have discovered a saint." The demands of the
Spaniards were then examined. According to
Jouvancy, the province of Castile fathered them.
They were in the main: a modification of the time
and manner of profession; the abolition of grades;
the introduction of a new mode of dismissal; and
the full use of the " Bulla Cruciata."
The business of the congregation was conducted as
usual up to the twenty-first decree. Philip II of Spain
had asked that the members of the Society should
not avail themselves of the privileges accorded them
— first of reading prohibited books; secondly, of
absolving from heresy; thirdly, of exemption from
honors and dignities outside the Society. The twenty-
first decree states that the first two royal requests
had already been acted upon. With regard to the
third, it was decreed that his majesty should be en-
treated to use his authority against the acceptance of
ecclesiastical and civic honors by members of the
Society. It was only in the fifty-second decree that
the Society expressed its mind on the race question,
by ruling that applicants of Hebrew and Saracenic
origin were not to be admitted to the Society. It
even declared that those who were admitted through
error should be expelled if the error were discovered
prior to their profession. It had been found that out
212 The Jesuits
of the twenty-seven conspirators, twenty-five were of
Jewish or Moorish extraction.
The twenty-seven guilty men were denounced as
" false sons, disturbers of the common peace, and
revolutionists {architecti rerum novarum) whose punish-
ment had been asked for by many provinces. The
congregation, therefore, while grievously bewailing the
loss of its spiritual sons, was nevertheless compelled
in the interests of domestic imion, religious obedience,
and the perpetuation of the Society, to employ a severe
remedy in the premises." After recounting their
charges against the Society, and their claim to be
" the whole Society," although they were only a few
" degenerate sons " the decree denounces them and
their accomplices as having incurred the censures and
penalties contained in the Apostolic Bulls, and orders
them to be expelled from the Society. " If for one
reason or another, they cannot be immediately dis-
missed they were declared incapable of any office or
dignity and denied all active or passive voice." It
also orders that " those suspected of being parties to
such machinations shall make a solemn oath to
support the Constitution as approved by the Popes,
and to do nothing against it. If they refuse to take
the oath, or having taken it, fail to keep it, they are
to be expelled, even if old and professed."
Aquaviva had thus triumphed all along the line.
He had not only saved the Institute, but had received
the power of expelling every one of the insurgents
if they refused the oath of submission. Acosta, the
leading rebel, was one of the chief sufferers; although
he was the representative of Philip II, he was struck,
like his associates, by the condemnation. The one
who was punished, most, however, was Toletus, who
like Acosta had a Jewish strain, which may explain
the moroseness which the delegates remarked when-
The Great Storms 213
ever they met him, and also his complaints that
" the proceedings of the Congregation could not have
been worse that it had treated Philip like
a valet."
Toletus, however, continued to fight. On January
12 he advised Aquaviva to propose the discussion of
a change of assistants and a sexennial congregation.
A commission was immediately formed to wait on the
Pope, but it failed to see him; whereupon Toletus
appeared on January 14 and informed the General that
the two points should be regarded as settled with-
out discussion. Accordingly, four days later, new
assistants were elected, but the law of the six-year
convocations became a dead letter. On January 8
Toletus had presented a document to the Pontiff
urging nine different changes in the Constitutions,
adding that Philip II had asked for them, though in
reality the king had only asked that they should be
discussed. Doubtless Toletus had mistmderstood.
Fortunately, the Pope would not admit all of the changes,
but suggested to the congregation four haiinless ones
— first, that except for the master of novices,
the term of office should be three years; second, that
at the end of their term the provincials should give an
account of their administration; third that the papal
reservations should be observed; and fourth, that the
assistants should have a deciding vote. The three
first were readily accepted, and the fourth respectfully
rejected. The remaining business was then expedited,
and the congregation adjourned on January 19, 1594.
The conspirators, however, had not yet been beaten.
They proposed to the Pope to appoint Aquaviva
Archbishop of Capua. Of course, Aquaviva refused,
and then it was ctmningly suggested that it would be
an excellent thing if the General, in the interests of
unity and peace, should visit the Spanish provinces.
214 The Jesuits
Philip III, who was now on the throne, had been
approached, and he wrote to the Pope to that effect.
Clement rather favored the proposition, but Henry
IV of France, Sigismund of Poland the Archdukes
Ferdinand and Matthias and other German princes
protested. Then the Pope took the matter under
consideration, but before he reached any conclusion
he died, and the plot was thus thwarted.
The one who planned this visit to Spain was the
plotter Mendoza. His purpose was simply to humiliate
the General by confronting him with the king, the
greatest nobles of the realm and the Inquisition, and
then to force from him all sorts of permissions which
were in direct violation of the methods of Jesuit life.
The story, as it appears in Astrain, is simply amazing.
Mendoza had actually procured from the Pope, through
the magnates of Spain, permission to receive and
spend money as he wished, to be free from all superiors,
and to go and live wherever he chose. When Aquaviva
protested to the Pope that such permissions were
subversive of all religious discipline. His Holiness
suggested a way out of the difficulty, which took
every one by surprise — Mendoza was made Bishop
of Cuzco in Peru. This interference of rich and power-
ful outsiders in the family life of the Society, as well
as the shameful way in which some of the members
sought the favor of men of great influence in the State
may explain how, after the angry fulminations of the
congregation against the Spanish plotters, it took
several years to get even a few of them out of the
Society.
The dispute, known as the " De Auxiliis," which
raged with great theological fury for many years, had
for its object the reconciliation of Divine grace with
human freedom. ' ' The Dominicans maintained that the
difficulty was solved by their theory of physical pre-
The Great Storms 215
motion and predetermination, whereas the Jesuits
found the explanation of it in the Scientia media whereby
God knows in the objective reahty of things what a man
would do in any circumstances in which he might be
placed. The Dominicans declared that this was con-
ceding too much to free will, and that it tended towards
Pelagianism, while the Jesuits complained that the
Dominicans did not sufficiently safeguard human
liberty and hence seemed to lean towards the doctrines
of Calvin " (Astrain). It was not until 1588, that Luis
de Molina, whose name is chiefly connected with the
doctrine of the Scientia media, got into the fight. Do-
mingo Ibanez, the Dominican professor at Salamanca,
was his chief antagonist. The debates continued for
five years, and by that time there were public disturb-
ances in several Spanish cities. Clement VIII then
took the matter in his own hands, and forbade any
further discussion till the Holy See had decided one
way or the other. The opinions of universities and
theologians were asked for, but by 1602 no conclusion
had been arrived at, and between that year and 1605,
sixty-eight sessions had been held with no result. Thus
it went on till 1607, when the Pope decided that both
parties might hold their own opinions, but that each
should refrain from censuring the other. In 161 1, by
order of the Pope, the Inquisition issued a decree
forbidding the pubHcation of any book concerning
efficacious grace until further action by the Holy See.
The prohibition remained in force during the greater
part of the seventeenth centiiry. The principal theo-
logians who appeared on the Jesuit side of this contro-
versy were Toletus, Bellarmine, Lessius, Molina,
Padilla, Valencia, Arubal, Bastida and Salas.
While these constitutional and theological wars were
at their height a discussion of quite another kind was
going on in the immediate surroimdings of the General.
216 The Jesuits
It was to determine what amount of prayer and
penitential exercises should be the normal practice
of the Society. Maggio and Alarc6n, two of the
assistants, were for long contemplations and great
austerities, while Hoffacus and Emmanuel Rodrigues
advocated more sobriety in those two matters. Aqua-
viva decided for a middle course, declaring that the
Society was not established especially for prayer and
mortification, but, on the other hand, that it could not
endure without a moderate use of these two means of
Christian perfection. As this was coincident with the
Spanish troubles, these five holy men were like the old
Roman senators who were speculating on the improve-
ment of the land which was still occupied by the
Carthaginian armies. Meantime, another storm was
sweeping over the Society in France.
When Henry IV entered Paris in triumph, his former
enemies, the Sorbonne and the parliament, hastened
to pay him homage; but something had to be done to
make the public forget their previous attitude in his
regard. The usual device was resorted to of denouncing
the Jesuits. A complaint was manufactured against
the College of Clermont, about the infringement of
someone's property rights, and the rector was haled
to court to answer the charge. The orator for the
plaintiffs was Antoine Amauld, the father of the famous
Antoine and Ang61ique, who were to be, later on,
conspicuous figures in the Jansenist heresy. Absolutely
disregarding the point at issue, Amauld launched out
in a fierce diatribe against the Jesuits in general;
" those trumpets of war," he called them, " those
torches of sedition; those roaring tempests that are
perpetually disturbing the calm heavens of France.
They are Spaniards, enemies of the state, the authors
of all the excesses of the League, whose Bacchanalian
and Catalinian orgies were held in the Jesuit college
The Great Storms 217
and church. The Society is the workshop of Satan,
and is filled with traitors and scoundrels, assassins
of kings and public parricides. Who slew Henry III?
The Jesuits. Ah, my King!" he cried, "when I
contemplate thy bloody shirt, tears flow from my eyes
and choke my utterance." And yet every one knew
that it was his own clients, the Sorbonne and the
parliament, who were the centre of all " the orgies
of the League "; that it was they who had glorified
the assassin of Henry III as a hero, and made the
anniversary of his murder a public holiday; that it
was they who had heaped abuse on Henry IV, and had
sworn that he never should ascend the throne of
France, even if he were absolved from heresy by the
Pope, and had returned to the Faith. The travesty
of truth in this discourse is so glaring that Frenchmen
often refer to it as " the second original sin of the
Amauld family," the source, namely, of its ineradicable
habit of misrepresentation.
A short time after this, Jean Chastel struck Henry IV
with a knife and cut him slightly on the Up. Immedi-
ately everyone recalled Amauld's furious denunciation
of the Jesuits, and a descent was made on the college.
A scrap of paper was conveniently found in the library,
incriminating the custodian, but the voltimes upon
volumes of denunciations which had been uttered in
the university and in parliament, and which were piled
upon the Hbrary shelves, were not discovered. The
scrap of paper sufficed. The college was immediately
confiscated, the inmates expelled from France, and
after Jean Chastel had been torn asunder by four
horses, Father Gueret was stretched on the rack and
Father Guignard was hanged. This occurred at the
end of December, 1594.
Up to this Henry IV had not yet been reconciled to
the Church, for the Pope doubted his sincerity and
218 The Jesuits
refused to withdraw the excommunication which the
king had incurred at the time of his relapse. At last,
however, owing to the persistency of Father Possevin
and of Cardinal Toletus, he was absolved from his
heresy, and could be acknowledged, with a safe con-
science by all Catholics, as the legitimate King of
France. The action of Toletus in this matter is all
the more remarkable from the fact that he was a
Spaniard, and in espousing the cause of Henry he was
turning his back on his own sovereign, who was using
all his power to prevent the reconciliation. This
service was publicly recognized by Henry who thanked
the Cardinal for his courageous act, and when Toletus
died elaborate obsequies were held by the king's orders
in the cathedrals of Paris and Rheims. Of course, the
appeal of the banished Jesuits was then readily listened
to by the king. He restored Clermont to them; gave
them other colleges, including the royal establishment
of La Fl^che, and was forever after their devoted
helper and friend. It must have been a great con-
solation for Father Aquaviva, during the battle he was
waging and from which he was to emerge triumphant,
to be told of this support of Henry; and also to hear
of the welcome the Society had received in loyal
Belgium in spite of the persistent animosity of Louvain.
Almost every city had been asking for a college.
About this time, the Jesuits lost a devoted friend in
the person of St. Charles Borromeo, who died in 1584.
It is a caliminy to say that he had turned against them
and had taken the seminary of Milan from their
direction. It was they themselves who had asked to
be relieved of the responsibility, for he had so multiplied
their colleges in his diocese, that it was impossible to
give the seminary the attention it required. It is true
that he was grievously offended by one individual
Jesuit who injected himself into a controversy that
The Great Storms 219
was going on between the governor and the archbishop,
and assailed the great prelate in the pulpit of the very
church which had been given to the Society by
Borromeo; but Aquaviva quickly brought him to the
cardinal's feet to ask forgiveness, and then suspended
him for two years from preaching. That incident, how-
ever, in no way diminished the affection of the saint for
the Society. His last Mass was said in the Jesuit noviti-
ate which he had founded, and he died in the arms of his
Jesuit confessor, Father Adomo, two days afterwards.
Seven years later, on June. 21, 1591, another saint
died, the young Aloysius Gonzaga. Borromeo knew
him well, and had given him his first Communion.
This boy saint was not only an angel of purity, but
also a martyr of charity, for he died of a fever he had
caught from the victims of a plague whom he was
attending during a pestilence that devastated Italy.
The venerable Bellarmine was his confessor and
spiritual father, and, later, when he was about to
expire, he said to those around him: " Bury me at the
feet of Aloysius Gonzaga."
There was still another trouble before Aquaviva, for
while the disturbances were going on in France and
Spain, a storm arose in Venice. The Society had been
expelled from the republic; but it is to its credit to
have been hated by the government that ruled Venice
at that time. The republic had become embroiled
with the Holy See, and war was imminent. The Pope
put the city under interdict, ahd as the Jesuits who
were established there submitted to the injunction,
they were all exiled; their property was confiscated,
and they were forbidden ever to return. This treat-
ment was in keeping with the traditions of the govern-
ment of ** a repubUc," as some joine had said, " which
in reality was a monarchy tempered by assassination."
Hallam (Hist, of Eiu-ope during the Middle Ages, iii,
220 The Jesuits
144) insists that " it had all the pomp of a monarchy;
and its commerce with the Mohammedans had dead-
ened its sense of religious antipathy." Its action in
this instance is ascribed to the influence of the Servite
friar, Paolo Sarpi, whom the apostate Bishop de Dominis
and Duplessis-Momay, the chief of the French Hugue-
nots at that time, describe as " another Calvin." He
was in league with the Dutch and English to create a
schism by defying the Pope, and to convert Venice into
a Protestant republic. He is also the author of the
virulent and calumnious " History of the Council of
Trent."
Henry IV of France interested himself in this
quarrel, and finally succeeded in having the papal and
Venetian representatives meet to discuss their griev-
ances. After protracted negotiations, the republic
finally came to terms, but on one condition, namely
that the Jesuits should not be allowed to return. As
both the Pope and Henry absolutely refused to admit
that clause, a deadlock ensued, until Aquaviva declared
himself unwilling to allow any such difficulty to stand
in the way of reconciliation: and as a consequence,
the Society did not return to Venice until after fifty
years of exile. Henry, however, had his revenge on
Sarpi. He intercepted a letter written by a minister of
Geneva to a Calvinist in Paris which revealed the fact
that the Doge and several senators had already made
arrangements to introduce the Reformation into
Venice; and that Sarpi and his associate, Fulgenzio,
had formed a secret society of more than a thousand
persons, among whom were three hundred patricians,
who were merely awaiting the signal to abandon the
Church (Daru, Hist, de la republique de Venise).
The letter was read in the Senate, and many a guilty
face grew pale. That was the end of Sarpi 's influence.
It was, probably also Henry IV who prevented him
The Great Storms 221
from going to England when the friar wrote to
Casaubon to provide him a home there in case he
had to leave Venice. In view of all that Henry IV
had done for the Society, the sixth general congre-
gation voted unanimously and enthusiastically to
establish a French assistancy in the Society as an
expression of gratitude to the monarch.
In Mexico the storm evoked by Palafox did not,
it is true, result in expulsions, confiscations and execu-
tions as elsewhere, nevertheless it was deadly in its
effects; and a century later it furnished the Jansenists
of Europe with an exhaustless supply of calumnies
against the Society. Its arraignment by Palafox was
particularly efficacious because it expressed the mind
of a distingmshed functionary of the Church who was
held by some to be a saint and whose canonization
was insisted on by the politicians and nobility of Spain.
The character of this extraordinary personage has
always been a mystery, and perhaps it would have
been better or, at least, more comfortable to have
left it in its shroud instead of revealing the truth about
his Ufe. He tells us himself in his " Vida interior "
that his university days were wild ; but though the text
is explicit enough, it may be a pious exaggeration.
In 1628 occurred what he calls his conversion. He
made a general confession and determined to embrace
an ecclesiastical career. His preparation for it was
amazingly brief, and we find him soon occupying the
post of grand almoner of the Princess Mary, whom
he accompanied to Germany. On his return to Spain,
he resumed his occupation as fiscal, and in 1639 was
consecrated Bishop of Puebla in Mexico and, in the
following year, was sent to America with the most
extravagant plenipotentiary powers. Besides being
Bishop of Puebla, he was simultaneously administrator
of the vacant see of the city of Mexico and visitor of
222 The Jesuits
the andiencia of the colony, with the absolute right to
depose any civil official whom he judged unsuitable.
He did not wait long to exercise his power, and in
1 64 1, to the consternation of everyone, he flung out
of office no less a personage than the viceroy himself
who was universally esteemed for his upright and
virtuous life. By this extraordinary act, Palafox
became practically viceroy and captain general, while
retaining his ecclesiastical dignities. In a few months,
however, the new viceroy, Salvatierra, arrived. Palafox
was soon to clash with him also, by blocking all the
official work of the audiencia; holding up despatches,
delaying decisions, absenting himself from the city,
etc. For five years complaints against him poured
into Spain but without effecting any change. Sal-
vatierra even accused him of malversation in office,
particularly in its finances and added that his whole
occupation seemed to consist in writing the Life of
St. Peter. His ecclesiastical government was no less
disorderly. To gain the favor of those around him he
transformed the Indian missions into parishes and put
them in charge of priests who were absolutely ignorant
both of the habits and language of the natives. The
motive back of this change was that as mere mission
posts the Indian settlements paid no tithes.
During all this time he continued to proclaim him-
self a friend of the Jesuits, but in 1641 when a canon of
the cathedral wanted to make over a farm to the
College of Vera Cruz, he was forbidden to do so under
pain of excommunication unless the property was
made subject to tithes. When the canon submitted the
case to the audiencia he of course, lost it, because Pala-
fox was the visitor of that tribunal. A further appeal
was then made to the council of the Indies, but after
two years of litigation the case was dropped without
a decision. In the course of this contest, Palafox
The Great Storms 223
wrote in his plea that the Jesuits were enormously
wealthy, while the cathedral of Puebla was destitute
of resources. When Father Calderon refuted these
assertions, the bishop was wrought up to fury and
laid down as a diocesan rule that, under pain of excom-
munication, no property transfers could be made to
religious orders unless this tithe clause was inserted,
and he enjoined that the sick and dying should be
admonished of that censure. He followed this up by
sending an order to all the Jesuits to deliver up their
faculties for inspection within twenty-four hours,
under penalty of excommunication. Their reply was
that they would have to refer the matter to the pro-
vincial. This was, according to Astrain, a grave act
of imprudence on the part of the Fathers, and such,
later on, was the ruling of the Roman Congregation
and of the Pope himself. _^
Of course, in the rigor of the law the bishop had an
absolute right to demand the faculties of all the priests
of his diocese, but in the concrete it is hard to blame
the action of the Fathers in this instance. They did
not refuse, but merely wanted time to lay the case
before their superior. Moreover, the action of the
bishop was altogether out of the ordinary. Up to
that time, his own confessor was a Jesuit, and faculties
had been issued by the bishop to several others of the
Society; during his incumbency he had employed
them in various missions of the diocese, he had invited
them to preach in his cathedral; and, indeed, they
had been using their faculties to confess and preach
ever since 1572. It is true that some of their original
pri\'ileges had been modified or curtailed, but in these
two principal fimctions no radical change had been
made. Might they not then have thought that, in
view of what the bishop had already done both in
civil and ecclesiastical matters, he was mentally
224 The Jesuits
deranged? The average man of the world would have
arrived at that conclusion.
At all events, the faculties were not forthcoming
within the twenty-four hours, and all the Jesuit priests
of Puebla not only found themselves dishonored and
disgraced by being held up to the people as excommuni-
cated, but by this act of the bishop doubt was thrown
upon the validity of all the absolutions they had
given in the administration of the sacrament of Penance.
Astrain tells us that Father Legaspi attempted to
preach in the Jesuit church, and when forbidden to do
so by a messenger from the bishop's palace, refused
to obey, but apart from the fact that this would be
in absolute contradiction with the traditional instincts
and training of any Jesuit, Astrain himself relates
in the following chapter that the Roman Congregation
which examined the whole miserable quarrel decided
that Legaspi 's sermon was delivered before and not
after the prohibition. Recourse was then had to a
privilege accorded to the Spanish colonies of con-
stituting a commission of judges to consider and decide
the case. This also was subsequently condemned by
the Roman Congregation and by Innocent X, but
on the other hand, communication with Rome was
difficult in thoce days, and the course entered upon
was taken with the approval of the heads of other
religious orders, of the viceroy and of the cabildo or
mayor. It is true that efforts should have been made
to placate the angry prelate, but the documents show
that the most humble supplications had been made
to him only to be repulsed with abuse.
It would have been futile to refer the case to the
audiencia, for Palafox controlled it absolutely. More-
over, it was urged that the plea presented to the com-
mission did not regard merely the wholesale suspension
and excommunication, but other grievances as well.
The Great Storms 225
There were twenty-nine in all. The commission
brought in a verdict against the bishop, but he refused
to recognize the authority and even excommunicated
the members of the court who, with what Father
General Caraffa described as an " exorbitancia grande,"
had excommunicated the prelate. Then the whole
city was in an uproar and Palafox rode through the
throngs of the excited populace conjuring them to
keep the peace, but at the same time preventing it by
proceeding to the cathedral, and, amid the most
lugubrious ceremonies and in full pontificals, excom-
m^unicating all his opponents. The Mexican Inqui-
sition now intervened and enjoined silence on all
parties. Salvatierra, the viceroy, also helped to quell
the disturbance. Nevertheless, on June 6, Palafox
issued another proclamation declaring that his enemies
had been assembHng arms in their houses, and were
bent on getting control of the country. He again made
a pubHc appearance in the streets of Mexico, but two
days afterwards he submitted the whole matter to
the viceroy.
Salvatierra then implored him with the greatest
respect and kindness to restore tranquillity and peace
to the distracted colony, but on June 15, Palafox
disappeared from the city; and no one knew whither
he had gone. It was officially reported later on, that
he had betaken himself first to the hacienda of Juan de
Vergus, but after two days had disappeared again.
For two months his whereabouts could not be ascer-
tained, but in a letter to the Pope, he described himself
as wandering for ten days in the forest and mountains
without shelter or food, and exposed to death from
serpents and wild beasts. He called himself another
Athanasius. Finally he returned to the original
hacienda and remained there until November. Before
his departure, he had empowered the cabildo to have
15
226 The Jesuits
the diocese administered by three ecclesiastics whom
he designated; but one of them was imprisoned by the
viceroy, and the two others refused to serve. Where-
upon, the cabildo called a meeting at the city hall.
Alonzo Salazar de Baraona presided and the Jesuits
were ordered to display their faculties, which they did;
they were then declared rightful riiinisters of the
sacraments.
During his retirement Palafox had received two
letters from Spain, one deposing him from his office of
visitor, and another announcing the transfer of Sal-
vatierra to Peru. The first was the reverse of pleasant,
but the second was a source of great satisfaction for,
if we are to believe Salvatierra, Palafox had aspirations
for the viceregal office. Possibly with that in view,
he willingly assented to the conditions on which he
was to be allowed to re-enter his diocese, namely to
regard as binding all that had been done in his absence.
It was fully nine months before Salvatierra left Mexico,
and during all that time there was peace in Puebla;
but hostilities were resumed immediately afterwards.
Palafox refused to be bound by his contract with
Salvatierra; he declared the acts of the commission to
be null and void, reasserted the invalidity of the
Jesuit faculties, and put three of his own canons in
jail. In September, he received a brief from the Pope
which he regarded as a justification of all that had been
done. In the main, the document asserted the funda-
mental right of the bishop to examine the faculties of
the priests and condemned the proceedings of the
commission. Whereupon twelve of the Fathers sub-
mitted their faculties to the bishop. But that did not
satisfy him. He insisted on the Jesuits appearing
in public in a penitential garb, as at an auto-da-f6,
and receiving from him a solemn absolution from their
excommunication. He also made it a matter of con-
The Great Storms 227
fession for the faithful to have been absolved by Jesuits
or to have listened to their sermons.
From this odious ruling an appeal was taken to the
royal council; whereupon Palafox despatched three
letters to the Pope. The first was about the parochial
rights of the other religious orders; the second com-
plaining of the silver mines, vast haciendas and wealth
of the Jesuits, and the third consisting of fifty-eight
pages of the most atrocious calumnies ever written by
a Catholic, and asking finally that they should be made
like other religious orders with choir, cloister, etc.
Ten years later, the General of the Discalced Carmelites
inquired of Palafox why he wrote these letters, " I
did so," he says, " because I was incensed against the
Jesuits for not treating me with proper respect, but
I am surprised that I have lost their affection and was
not aware of it till now ." At last, wearied of it all,
Philip IV ordered him to return to Spain immediately,
but he obeyed in a very leisurely fashion. In Rome,
the case dragged on for four more years and finally
a verdict was rendered affirming among other things
that the Fathers had been properly provided with
faculties, and had ceased to preach and hear confessions
when ordered to do so. The only censure they received
was for having convoked the commission to judge the
case in the absence of the bishop. The trouble had
lasted for sixteen years, but it created a deep prejudice
against the Society a century later.
CHAPTER VIII
THE ASIATIC CONTINENT
The Great Mogul — Rudolph Aquaviva — Jerome Xavier — de
Nobili — de Britto — Beschi — The Pariahs — Entering Thibet —
From Peking to Europe — Minpjelia, Paphlagonia and Chaldea —
The Maronitcs — Alexander de Rhodes — Ricci enters China — From
Agra to Peking — Adam Schall — Arrival of the Tatars — Persecutions
— Schall condemned to Death — Verbiest — de Toumon's Visit —
The French Royal Mathematicians — Avril's Journey.
At the very time that Queen Elizabeth was putting
Jesuits to death in England, there was a remarkable
pagan monarch reigning in what is now part of English
India, who was inviting Jesuits to his court and making
them his friends. His name was Akbar, and he is
known in history as the Great Mogul. He was bom
in 1542, and ruled four years longer than the forceful
Eliza. She was queen from 1558 to 1603; he was
king from 1556 to 1605. Akbar appears first as the
ruler of the Punjab and the country around Delhi and
Agra; but in 1572 he drove the Afghans out of Bengal,
and reunited the lower valley of the Ganges to Hindo-
stan. Later, he annexed Cabul, Kashmir, Sind and
Kandahar. He was a mighty warrior, but remarkable
likewise as a civil ruler, the proof in this case being
that he levied more money in taxes than England
extracts at the present day from the same territory.
He was very much interested in religious matters,
and Christianity appealed to him, because one of his
numerous wives had been a Christian; but he fancied
that it was part of a general system which could be
incorporated in a new cult which he had devised to
conciliate the conflicting creeds of his realm. His own
personal devotion was sun-worship, and he appeared
(2281
The Asiatic Continent 229
every morning in public, devoutly offering up his
orisons to the god of day. He fancied it was the worid-
soul that animates all things, a concrete fonn of one
of the illusions of the present time.
At the invitation of Akbar, Rudolph Aquaviva,
accompanied by Anthony Montserrat and Francisco
Henriques, left Goa in 1579, to present himself
at his court for the purpose of explaining to
him the doctrines of the Christian Faith. He
listened with pleasure and intelligence, but his
interest was purely academic. As with other Oriental
despots, nothing practical could be hoped for, on
account of the harem. Seeing that it was lost time to
remain there, Aquaviva returned to Goa, and was
then sent down to the peninsula of Salsette, as superior
of the mission established at that place. His stay
there was not a long one, for on July 15, 1583, he and
Alfonso Pacheco were attacked by the natives and
cut to pieces. Fathers Pietro Berno, Antonio Francisco
and Francisco Aranha, a lay-brother, together with
twenty of their neophytes were included in the massacre.
Hearing of the tragedy, the Great Mogul despatched
an embassy to the viceroy and to the superior of the
Jesuits to express his sympathy, and also to urge that
other missionaries might be sent to instruct his people.
In compliance with the request, Jeronimo Xavier, a
nephew of St. Francis Xavier, was sent there in 1595
and succeeded in winning the favor of Akbar. The
** Encyclopedia Britannica " informs us that Jeronimo,
at the suggestion of the monarch, translated the four
Gospels into Persian. Ranke adds in his " History of
the Popes" that "while the Jesuit was there the
insurrections of the Mahometans contributed to dispose
the emperor towards the Christians, for in the year
1599 Christmas was celebrated at Lahore with the
utmost solemnity. The manger and the leading facts
230 The Jesuits
of the Nativity were represented for twenty days
consecutively, and numerous catechumens proceeded
to the Church with pahns in their hands to receive
baptism. The emperor read, with great pleasure, a
' Life of Christ ' composed in Persian, and a picture
of the Virgin, copied from the Madonna del Popolo
in Rome, was by his orders taken to the palace that
he might show it to the women of his household. It
is true that the Christians drew more favourable
conclusions from these things than the facts justified;
still, great progress was really made. Indeed, after
the death of Akbar, three princes of the blood royal
were solemnly baptized. They rode to the church on
white elephants, and were received with the sound
of trumpets, kettle-drums and martial music. This
took place in 1610, so that Christianity seemed grad-
ually to acquire a position of a fixed character, although
suffering from certain vicissitudes and the prevalence
of fickleness in the matter of religious opinion. Pohtical
considerations, also, largely affected the pubHc mind.
In 162 1 a college was founded in Agra, and a station
estabHshed at Patna. In 1624 hopes were entertained
that the Emperor Jehanguire would himself become a
Christian."
Shortly after Jeronimo Xavier had settled down in
the court of the Great Mogul, Father Robert de Nobili,
a nephew of Cardinal Bellarmine, broke through the
caste barrier in India in a way that, for a time, gave
considerable scandal. He had gone to the mission of
Madura, a territory somewhat in the interior towards
the northeast of the Fisheries, and found there that
Father Femandes, a very pious and energetic missioner
who had been Hving for fourteen years among his
pagans, had never made a convert, as he could not
get in touch with the influential people of the country.
Two difficulties stood in the way : first, he was a Portu-
The Asiatic Continent 231
guese or a Prangui, and the Prangui were held in
abhorrence, because they ate meat and drank wine;
secondly, he mingled with the most degraded castes
of India.
De Nobili determined to get rid of these obstacles.
First, he insisted, that he was not a Prangui but a
Roman nobleman in name and in fact; secondly, with
regard to wine and meat, he would abstain from them
and live on rice; thirdly, he would become a Brahmin,
as far as their manner of life and dress was concerned,
and, morever, he would outdo them in the knowledge
of their own language, literature and religion. Indeed,
within a year, he was master of Tamil, Telugu and
Sanskrit. He was now equipped for his work, and in
1606 he bade good-bye to Fernandes, and shut himself
up in a hut which, for a long time, no one was allowed
to enter. He wanted the news to spread among the
natives that a great European Brahmin had made
his appearance. Curiosity, he said, would do the rest,
for his rigid seclusion would make them all the more
intent on seeing him. The scheme succeeded, and
when, at last, visitors were admitted to speak to him,
they found him to be even holier in appearance than
they had imagined him to be, and were amazed to
hear him converse in Tamil, and show a perfect
acquaintance with the literature of the language. He
made it a point, also, to recite and even to sing the
songs of their poets, for he was an able musician and
had a good voice.
When his reputation was established he began to
discuss some, of the truths of fundamental theology,
not as coming from himself, but which, as he showed
them, were actually set down in their own Vedas.
His knowledge of Sanskrit — perhaps he was the first
European to venture into that field — had given him
a more thorough knowledge of the sacred books than
232 The Jesuits
was possessed by any of the Brahmins themselves,
and hence it happened that, before a year had passed,
he had baptized several persons who were conspicuous
both for their nobility and learning. He permitted his
converts to continue to besmear their foreheads with
sandal-wood paste, to cultivate the tuft of hair on
the top of their heads, and to wear a string on the
left shoulder. He did this after he had thoroughly
convinced himself that there was no superstition in
such practices. Meantime he was living on milk, rice,
herbs and water, which were handed to him once a day
by the servant of a Brahmin. It was a precaution to
forestall any suspicion that other food was supplied
surreptitiously.
In the second year, his flock was so numerous that
the hut he lived in was insufficient to contain them all,
and he had to build a church. That, of course, caused
some alarm among' the Brahmins, but it was nothing
in comparison to the storm that de Nobili's life excited
in Europe. Cardinal Bellarmine, his uncle, thought he
had apostatized, and wrote him an indignant letter,
and the General of the Society added to it a very severe
reprehension. His brother Jesuit, Femandes, had
denounced him as a traitor, because of his rejection of
the name " Prangui," or Portuguese, and also of his
connivance at idolatry in allowing his neophytes to
retain their heathenish customs. This was the origin
of the famous question of the " Malabar Rites " which
created such a stir in the Church, one hundred years
later. These charges gave de Nobili a great deal of
trouble for some time, but at last everything was
satisfactorily explained, and the cardinal, the General
and the Pope told the innovating missionary to con-
tinue as he had begun. Hence in order to obviate the
apparent neglect and even contempt of the lower
castes, other priests were assigned to that work, and
The Asiatic Continent 233
de Nobili restricted himself to his pectiliar vocation
for forty- two years. He then lost his sight and was
sent to Jafanapatam in Ceylon, and afterwards to
Mylapore, where he died on January i6, 1656.
The mission had prospered. About the time de Nobili
ended his labours, it had an avefage of 5000 converts
a year, and it never dropped below 3000, even in the
times of persecution. At the end of the seventeenth
century its territory had extended beyond Madura to
Mysore, Marava, Tanjore and Gingi, and the Christians
of the entire Madura Mission, as it was called, amounted
to 150,000 souls. Besides being a field for apostolic
zeal, the mission also produced eminent scholars in
Tamil and Sanskrit, like Beschi, Coeurdoux, and others.
In 1700 it reached into the Camatic and probably took
in what Christians had been left there by the mission-
aries among the Moguls. This mission glories in its
great martyr, John de Britto, who arrived there
twelve years after the death of de Nobili. He, too,
adopted the manners of a Saniassi, and labored as
such for twenty-one years. It was a life of continual
and horrible martyrdom. He was finally put to death
as a magician, because of the multitudes of people
attracted to the Faith by his holiness and teaching.
Like his predecessor de Nobili, he did not worry his
converts about their tufts of hair or the cotton cords
on their shoulders, and it is noteworthy that long
after his death, and just while the process of his beati-
fication was going on, the theologians were hotly
discussing the liceity of the Malabar Rites. If they
were condemned, how would the decision affect de
Britto's canonization? Pope Benedict XIV decided
that it would not stand in the way, and so de Britto
was placed among the Blessed.
The companions of de Nobili and de Britto went
everywhere in Hindostan, they even reconciled to the
234 The Jesuits
Church the community of natives who called them-
selves the Christians of St. Thomas the Apostle, but
who were in reality commonplace Nestorians. They
built the first Church of Bengal, and penetrated into
the kingdoms of Arracan, Pegu, Cambogia, and Siam,
all the time busy avoiding the Dutch pirates who
were prowling along the coast.
The most dazzling of these picturesque missionaries
was undoubtedly the Italian, Constant Beschi, who
arrived in Madura in 1700, one hundred years after
de Nobili, and twenty-eight after de Britto. He
determined to surpass all the other Saniassis or Brah-
mins in the austerity of his life. He remained in his
house most of the time, and would never touch any-
thing that had life in it. On his forehead was the
pottu of Sandanam, and on his head the coulla, a sort
of cylindrical head dress made of velvet. He was
girt with the somen, was shod with the ceremonious
wooden footgear, and pearls hung from his ears. He
never went out except in a palanquin, in which tiger
sldns had to be placed for him to sit on, while a servant
stood on either side, fanning him with peacock feathers,
and a third held above his head a silken parasol sur-
mounted by a globe of gold. He was called " the
Great Viramamvuni ", and like Bonaparte, he sat
" wrapped in the solitude of his own originality."
Not even a Jesuit could come near him or speak to
him. A word of Italian never crossed his lips, but he
plunged into Sanskrit, Telugu, and Tamil, studied
the poets of Hindostan, and wrote poems that conveyed
to the Hindoos a knowledge of Christianity. For
forty years he was publicly honored as the Ismat
Saniassi, that is, the penitent without stain. The
Nabob of Trichinopoli was so enthusiastic about him
that Beschi had to accept the post of prime minister,
and thenceforth he never went abroad unless accom-
The Asiatic Continent 235
panied by thirty horsemen, twelve banner-bearers,
and a band of military music, while a long train of
camels followed in the rear. If, on his way, any Jesuit
who was looking after the Pariahs came across his path,
there was no recognition on either side, but both must
have been amused as the Jesuit in rags prostrated
himself in the dust before the silk-robed Jesuit in the
cavalcade, the outcast not daring even to look at the
great official, though, perhaps, they were intimate
friends.
Numbers of Jesuits were, meantime, besieging the
General with petitions to be made missionaries among
the Pariahs, for few coiild act the part that Beschi
was playing. To be a Pariah was easy, and attempts to
evangeHze that class continued to be made in Madura
up to the time of the Suppression. Conversions were
numerous, and Bouchet, a contemporary of Beschi,
heard as many as 100,000 confessions in a single year.
It is said that the particularly fervent converts among
the Brahmins used to cut off their hair as a sacrifice,
when they were baptized, and a great number of
locks, some of which were four and five feet long,
adorned Beschi 's church in Tiroucavalor.
But these conversions connoted persecution. Bouchet,
who was Beschi's successor among the high-class
Brahmins, was several times arrested and condemned
to death. On one occasion, when he was sentenced
to be burned alive and was being covered with oil to
make the flames more active, the executioners were
so startled by his apparent imconcem that they dropped
the work and set him free. Bouchet thought that the
Church of Madura was specially blessed by being
persecuted, and that explained for him how he was
able to baptize 20,000 Hindoos. He had the care of
thirty churches, which meant imtold labor. About the
trifles of never eating meat, fresh eggs or fish, living in
236 The Jesuits
straw -covered cabins without beds, seats or furniture,
and never having the luxury of a table or spoon or
knife or fork at meal times, — that never gave the
missionaries a thought. The consolation for these
privations was that at times they would hear the
confessions of entire villages and never have to deal
with a mortal sin. Probably Simon Carvalho, —
Marshall calls him Laynez — who had received 10,000
people into the Church, and was at one time almost
torn to pieces by a mob, and at another hunted for
five months to be put to death, would have preferred
this work, in which he had been employed for thirty
years, to that of administering the diocese of Mylapore,
of which Clement XI made him bishop later.
" They were giants," wrote the Abb6 Dubois
who was a missionary in India in modem times, " and
they triumphed in their day, because neither the
world nor the devil could resist the might that was in
them. Possessing for the most part the rarest mental
endowments, so that if they had aimed only at human
honors they would have encountered scarcely a rival
in their path, versed in all the learning of their age,
and conspicuous even in that great Society, which
attracted to itself for more than a century the noblest
minds of every country in Europe, they had acquired
in addition to their natural gifts such a measure of
Divine grace and wisdom, such perfection of evangelical
virtue, that the powers of darkness fied away from
before their face, and the Cross of Christ wherever
they lifted it up, broke in pieces the idols of the Gen-
tiles." And Perrin in his " Voyage dans ITndoustan,"
II, 166, writes: " I confess that I have criticized the
Jesuits of Hindostan with critical, perhaps with malig-
nant temper. I have changed my mind now, and if
I spoke ill of them, all India would tax me with
imposture."
The Asiatic Continent 237
The hermit kingdom of Thibet was first entered by
Father Antonio de Andrada. He was one of the mis-
sionaries in the kingdom of the Great Mogul, and started
from Agra in 1624 to cross the Himalayas and enter, if
possible, the Grand Lama's mysterious domain. He
joined a troop of idolaters who were going to present
their offerings at the celebrated pagoda of Barrinath,
whither thousands flocked from all the kingdoms of
India and even from the island of Ceylon. " That part
of the trip, " he says in his narrative, " was the easiest,
although in ascending the valley of the Ganges I had
often to creep along a narrow path cut in the face of
the rock, sometimes scarcely a palm in breadth, while
far below me were roaring torrents into which, from time
to time, some unfortunate traveller would be hurled.
Here and there we had to pass rivers with the help
of ropes strung across the stream, or perhaps on
heaps of snow which the avalanches had piled
up in the valley, but which were especially perilous,
for the mountain torrents were all the while eating
through them at the base. If there was a cave-in
the whole party would disappear in the depths. It
was dreadful work, but when I saw my companions,
many of them old men, keeping up their courage by
repeating the name of Barrinath, I was ashamed not
to do more for Jesus Christ than these poor pagans
for their idols and pagodas."
After the shrine was reached, the valiant missionary
continued his journey, and arrived at the town of
Manah, the last habitation of the mountaineers on
the India slope. " Before us was a desert of snow,
inaccessible for any living creature for ten months
of the year, and which called for a twenty days' march,
without shelter and without a bit of wood to make a
fire. With me were two natives and a guide. However,
I had put my trust in God, for whom alone I was
238 The Jesuits
attempting this dangerous task. Each step costs
incredible struggles, for every morning there was a new
layer of snow, knee-deep or up to the waist or even
to the shoulders. In some places, to get across the
drifts, we had to go through the motions of a swimmer;
and to avoid being smothered at night, we were com-
pelled to remove the snow, at least every hour." He
finally arrived at his destination and was well received
by the Lama. He was given leave to establish a
mission in the country, he then made haste to return
to Agra and in the following year he established a
base at Chaparang. But he himself was not to remain
in the country which he had so gloriously opened to
the world. He was named provincial of the Indies,
and had to set out for Goa immediately. Nine years
later, on March 19, 1634, he was poisoned by the Jews.
Meantime the Thibet mission tottered and fell.
In 1 66 1 Father Johann Gruber, one of Schall's
assistants in Pekin, reached Thibet on his way to
Europe. He could not go by sea, for the Dutch were
blockading Macao, so he made up his mind to go over-
land by way of India and Thibet. With him was
Father d'Orville, a Belgian. After reaching Sunning-fu,
on the confines of Kuantsu, they crossed Kukonor
and Kalmuk Tatary to the Holy City of Lhasa in
Thibet, but did not remain there. They then
climbed the Himalayas and from Nepal journeyed
over the Ganges plateau to Patna and Agra. At the
latter city d'Orville died, he was replaced by Father
Roth, and the two missionaries tramped across Asia
to Europe. Gruber had been two hundred and four-
teen days on the road. In 1664 he attempted to return
to China by way of Russia, but for some reason or
other failed to get through that country. He then
made for Asia but fell ill at Constantinople, finally
he died either in Italy at Florence or at Patak in Hung-
The Asiatic Continent 239
ary. Fortunately he had left his " Journal " and charts
in the hands of the great Athanasius Kircher, who
published them in his famous " China Illustrata."
Other missionaries entered Mingrelia, Paphlagonia,
and Chaldea; in the latter place they brought the
Nestorians back to the Church. Besides laboring in
nearby Greece and Thessaly, at Constantinople, they
were in Armenia and at Ephesus, Smyrna, Damascus,
Aleppo, at the ruins of Babylon, and on the shores of
the Euphrates and the Jordan, and they founded the
missions of Antourah for the Maronites of Libanus,
whom Henry IV of France took under his protection.
The origin of these Maronite missions reads like a
romance. It is found in the French " Menology "
of October 1 2 which tells us that one day, at a meeting
of his sodalists in Marseilles, Father Amien was talking
about the propagation of the Faith and incidentally
mentioned Persia, which only one missionary had as
yet entered. Among his hearers was a rich merchant
named Frangois Lambert, who, excited by the sermon,
determined to go and put himself at the disposal of
that solitary Persian apostle. He crossed the Arabian
desert, reached Bagdad, embarked on the Euphrates,
with the intention of getting to Ispahan in Persia and
when he failed in this, he turned towards Ormuz on the
straits connecting the Persian Gulf with the Arabian
Sea. That place, however, could not keep him ; it was
too luxurious and too licentious; so he went over to
upper Hindostan, where the Great Mogul was
enthroned. He passed through Surate and Golconda,
but from Mylapore, which holds the tomb of St.
Thomas, he could not tear himself away for several
weeks. Finally, he boarded a ship which was wrecked
on the shores of Bengal, and twice he came within an
inch of disappearing in the deep. After two days and
two nights on the desolate sands, he and five other
240 The Jesuits
castaways sang the Te Deum to make them forget
their sorrow. They must have struck inland after that
for we are told that later they built a raft and floated
down one of the great rivers of India, It was a journey
of thirty-five days, and several of the poor wanderers
died of hunger on the way. At last they reached a
native settlement and were led to the nearest Portu-
guese post. Unfortunately, the geography at this part
of Lambert's narrative is too vague for us to be sure
of the places he saw on his journey.
From India he made his way to Rome, where he
entered the Jesuit novitiate of San Andrea, and from
there, after his ordination, he was sent to Syria. Again
he was shipwrecked, and when picked up on the beach
he was taken for a pirate and brought in chains to the
chief of the mountaineer clan. Happily they were the
Maronites of Libanus, and there Lambert remained
till the end of his days, helping the persecuted people to
keep their faith against their furious Mussulman
neighbours. These Maronites had been represented,
by postulatory letters at the Lateran Council as early
as 1 516, and later Pope Gregory XIII built for them
in Rome a hospital and a college which produced some
very eminent scholars. In 1616 Clement VIII sent
the Jesuit, Girolamo Dandini, to preside at the Maronite
council, for the purpose of introducing certain liturgical
reforms; but it was the wanderer Lambert who was
the first to remain permanently among this heroic
people. He lived only three years after his arrival;
it was long enough, however, to prepare the way for the
five mission centres which were subsequently established
there.
Alexandre de Rhodes, who appears at this juncture,
is another of the picturesque figures in the history of
the Society. According to Fenelon, it is he who
inspired the formation of the great association of the
The Asiatic Continent 241
Missions Etrangeres, which has sent so many thousands
of glorious apostles, many of whom were martyrs, to
evangelize the countries from which he had come in
a most unexpected and extraordinary fashion. He
was bom in Avignon, the old French City of the Popes,
and was called by his contemporaries the " Francis
Xavier of Cochin-China and Tonkin." He left Rome
for the Indies when he was only twenty-six years of
age, and began his missionary work in the East by
looking after the slaves and jailbirds of Goa. On his
way from that city to Tuticorin he baptized fifty
pagans on shipboard, his eloquence being helped by
the furious tempest that threatened to send the frail
bark to the bottom. While waiting at Malacca for the
ship to get ready, he and his companion captured
another two thousand souls for the Lord, and when
he arrived at his destination, other thousands came
into the fold, among them the king and eighteen mem-
bers of the royal household, and two hundred of the
priests of the pagan temples. Nor did this rapidity de-
note instability, for twenty-five years later the Church
of Tuticorin which he founded could count at its altars
no less than 300,000 Christians.
It is said that he had even the power of making
thaumaturgists out of his catechumens. By the use
of holy water or the relic of the cross, they restored
people to health, and as many as two hundred and
seventy sufferers from various maladies were the
recipients of such favors. When he was thrown into
prison and loaded with fetters, as he often was, he
converted his jailers and others besides. When carried
off in a ship to be ejected from the country, he baptized
the captain and crew and got them to put him ashore
in a desolate place where he began a new apostolate.
Fifteen times, in his journeys to Tonkin and Cochin-
China, he crossed the Gulf of Tonkin, which had a
16
242 The Jesuits
terrible record of tempests and shipwrecks, and finally
he started on his famous overland tramp to Europe in
search of evangelical laborers. He achieved his pur-
pose, though it took him three years and a half to do it.
On that memorable journey he risked his life at
every step, for he had to travel through countries
whose language he did not understand, and where he
could expect nothing but suspicion, ill-treatment and,
if he escaped death, privations and sufferings of every
description. On his way to Rome the Dutch in Java
threw him in jail, but he converted his keepers, and
was segregated in consequence and put in solitary
confinement; he regarded that seclusion only as a
splendid chance to make his annual retreat, and when
he was let out he resumed his pilgrimage through
India and Asia. As he said himself, he was carried
on the wings of Divine Providence, through storms and
shipwrecks, and cities and deserts, and barbarians and
pagans, and heretics and Turks. He finally reached
Rome in 1648, and told the Father General and the
Pope what was needed in the far-away Orient. The
purpose of this voyage, so replete with adventure,
was of very great importance.
It was chiefly by the help of Portugal, which was
then at the most brilliant epoch of its history, that
missions had been extended for thousands of miles in
the East, beginning at Goa and Malabar, and stretching
round the Peninsula of Hindostan to Cochin-China,
Corea, and Japan, in many of which splendid
ecclesiastical establishments had been founded. They
were all begun, supported and protected by Portugal.
But unfortunately, Christianity and Portugal were so
inextricably entangled, mixed and confused with one
another that the religion taught by the missionaries
came to be considered by the people not so much
the religion of Christ as the rehgion of the Portuguese.
The Asiatic Continent 243
Another consequence was that a quarrel between any
little Portuguese official or merchant with an Oriental
potentate meant a persecution of the Church. Further-
more, as Portugal's possession of the country was so
exclusive that not even the most himible missionary
could leave Europe unless he was acceptable to the
Government, it amounted to an actual enslavement of
the Church. Finally, as every other nation was
, debarred from commercial rights in the East, it became
I the practice of rivals to represent to the natives that
the missionaries were merely Portuguese spies or
advance agents who were preparing for invasion and
conquest.
Unfortunately, in return for all that Portugal had
I done and was to do for the advancement of Christianity
in those newly discovered lands, an arrangement had
been made with the Pope that no bishop in all that
vast territory could take his see unless Portugal
|| accepted him; no new diocese could be created unless
Portugal were consulted; no papal bull was valid
unless passed upon by the Portuguese kings. To put
an end to all that, was the reason why de Rhodes
went to Europe. But he did not dare to appear
before the Pope as a Jesuit, for if it were known what
his mission was every Jesuit house in the Portuguese
possessions would have been immediately closed, as
happened later. Hence it was that he had to wait in
II Rome for three whole years until 165 1 before he could
even get his petition considered, and this explains also
' why he made the extravagant demand for " a patriarch,
three archbishops, and twelve bishops." By asking
much he thought he might at least get something.
The Pope wanted de Rhodes himself to be a bishop ;
he refused the honor, and then was told to go and find
some available candidates. For that purpose he
addressed himself to a group of ecclesiastics at Paris
I
244 The Jesuits
whom the Jesuit Father Bagot was directing in the ways
of the higher spiritual life, and who were often spoken
of as the Bagotists. Among them were Montmorency
de Laval, the future Bishop of Quebec, and M. Olier,
who was, later on, to found the Society of St. Sulpice.
His appeal had no immediate result, and he then
prepared to return to Tonkin, but he received an order
to go elsewhere. Probably no Portuguese vessel would
take him back, for the purpose of his visit to Europe
must have by that time got abroad. He was, therefore,
sent to Persia, although he was then over sixty years
old; so to Persia he went, and we find him studying
the language on his way thither, and, when travelling
through the streets of Ispahan, making a fool of
himself in trj'ing to stammer out the few words he had
learned, but always making light of the laughter and
sometimes of the kicks and cuffs and even threats of
death that he received. He was planning new missionary
posts in Georgia and Tatary when death called him
to his reward. But he had already won the admiration
of Ispahan, and the city never saw a costlier funeral
than the one which, on November 7, 1660, conveyed
to the grave the mortal remains of the glorious
Alexandre de Rhodes.
This journey of the great missionary is a classic in
its emphasis of the earnestness the Society has always
shown to have the episcopacy established in its missions.
It is idle to pretend that this project of de Rhodes
was due to his own initiative, and was not sanctioned
by his superiors. He may, indeed, have suggested it,
but no one in the Society undertakes a work from
which he may be withdrawn at any moment, except
he is assigned to it. Now de Rhodes continued at
his task for several years, and evidently with the
approval of his superiors.
The Asiatic Continent 245
Apparently unsuccessful though his effort was, it
brought about some results. Mme. d'Aiguillon, the
niece of Cardinal Richelieu, took the matter up, but
even she, with her great influence, could induce the
ecclesiastical authorities to do no more than create
one little vicariate Apostolic. It was a far cry from
the great hierarchical scheme of de Rhodes. One of
the Bagotists, Pallu, was appointed, though, for a time
there was a question of sending Laval also to the
East; but the necessity of having a bishop in Quebec
was so urgent that Pallu was sent alone to Tonkin.
Portugal, however, refused to carry him thither,
although Louis XIV asked it as a special favor. In
1658 when Pallu attempted to go out at his own risk
he reached not Cochin-China but Siam. He was back
again in France in 1665, begging protection against
the Portuguese, who were arresting his priests and
putting them in jail at Goa and Macao. In 1674 he
was shipwrecked in the Philippines and carried off
a prisoner to Spain, and was liberated only by the
united efforts of the Pope and Louis XIV. He set
sail again, but was driven ashore on the Island of
Formosa and never reached Tonkin.
Meantime the Jesuits had not forgotten Francis
Xavier's dream about China. The Dominican Caspar
de la Cruz had foimd his way through its closed gates,
four years after Xavier expired on the island opposite
Canton, but he was promptly expelled. It was only
in 1 58 1, fully thirty-six years subsequent to the attempt
of de la Cruz, that the Jesuits finally succeeded. All
that time they had been waiting at Macao, — a settle-
ment granted to the Portuguese in return for the
assistance given to China in beating off a fleet of
plundering sea-rovers. They had long since seen the
folly of attempting to enter a new country under the
246 The Jesuits
shadow of some pretentious embassy, for inevitably
a suspicion was left lurking in the minds of both the
governments and the people that there was an ulterior
political motive back of the preaching of the priests.
Hence it was that Valignani, though in general believing
in embassies to kings and rulers, after the new religion
was well understood and accepted in a country, had
become convinced that it was unwise to begin the
work in that ostentatious fashion. He, therefore,
took three clever young Italians, Michele Ruggieri,
Francesco Pasio and Matteo Ricci, and after training
them thoroughly in mathematics and in all the branches
of the natural sciences, ordered them not only to
master the Chinese language, but also to familiarize
themselves with the literature and the history of the
country. Ricci was available especially as a mathe-
matician, having been the favorite pupil of Father
Clavius, who was one of the chief constructors of the
Gregorian Calendar.
According to Hue (p. 40) they gained access to the
forbidden land by taking part in a comedy. A viceroy,
he tells us, who lived near Canton, summoned to his
tribunal on some charge or other both the bishop
and the governor of Macao. This was a grievous
insult to those dignitaries, but on the other hand if
they refused to appear, the result might be disastrous
for the whole Portuguese colony. To extricate them-
selves from the dilemma a trick was resorted to — one
which was quite in keeping with Chinese methods.
Instead of going themselves, they sent two persons
who pretended to be the bishop and governor. For
the former Father Ruggieri was chosen, for the latter,
a layman. On the face of it, the story is absurd.
It would be impossible to impersonate two such well-
known functionaries as a bishop and a governor, and
the discovery of such a fraud would inevitably entail
The Asiatic Continent 247
condign punishment. Most probably Ruggieri and his
companion went simply as representatives of the two
functionaries. They were well provided with presents,
which had the desired effect of making the viceroy
forget his grievances, if he had any. He accepted
everything very graciously and suggested a second
visit. Then Ruggieri apprised him of the longing he
had always entertained of passing his whole life in
the wonderful land of China, with its marvellously
intellectual people, and was assured that his wish
might possibly be gratified later on. But when a
hint was thrown out about a wonderful clock which
the missionary possessed and was extremely anxious
to show such an important personage as the viceroy,
every difficulty about a permanent residence
immediately disappeared.
The party was conducted back to the boat with great
ceremony; and when Ruggieri 's return was delayed
by an attack of sickness, the viceregal junk was sent
to the Island to convey him to Tchao-King; and also
to deliver into his hands a formal authorization to
establish a house in the town. Valignani, who was
then at Macao, hesitated for a time about accepting
the offer, but finally consented. On December i8
Ruggieri embarked, taking with him Father Pasio
and a scholastic, along with several Chinese. This
addition to the party somewhat surprised the viceroy,
but Ruggieri told him that being a priest, it was in
keeping with his dignity to have an attendant. The
others were only servants, but the clock did the work,
and the audacious apostles received a Buddhist temple
outside the town as their place of residence, and were
the recipients of frequent favors in the way of food
from the delighted viceroy. He even granted per-
mission to Ruggieri to call Ricci from Macao. Their
temple-residence soon became famous, and every one
248 The Jesuits
in Tchao-King, from the highest civ41 and mihtary
functionaries down to what we now call cooHes, came
out to see the occupants.
Unfortunately, the viceroy was deposed and his
successor, objecting to the presence of the foreigners,
ordered the whole party to return to Macao. They
did not obey, but made an attempt to reach Canton,
which the former official had given them authority
to enter. They succeeded by purposely getting them-
selves arrested in Hong-Kong. But in Canton no
attention \vas paid to the document they had with
them, and so they made their way back to Macao,
convinced that there was no hope of remaining in
China under the new incumbent. Yet to their great
surprise, the very man they feared sent an envoy
over to Macao to bring the three missionaries back
to Tchao-King. He welcomed them effusively and
gave them a beautiful site for their residence, quite
close to a famous porcelain tower, which had just been
erected and was considered a monument of Chinese
architecture. This was the cradle of Christianity in
China.
In 1589, however, there arrrived a new viceroy who
took a fancy to their residence, and without any cere-
mony dispossessed them. But as they had already
won such favor by their maps and globes and
astronomical instruments, when they came to Tchao-
Tcheou looking for a house, they were received with
the wildest demonstrations of joy. They grew more
popular every day, and soon the mandarins of Canton
invited Ricci to speak in their assemblies. He availed
himself of all these opportunities afforded him to inject
into his scientific discourses something about religion,
and he noted that they showed greater attention when
he broached such topics than when he restricted
himself to purely human science. Troubles occurred
The Asiatic Continent 249
from time to time, but the number of neophytes
increased daily, and Ricci, who up to that time had
worn the dress of a bonze now discarded it and assumed
the garb of a Chinese man of letters.
In 1595 the news came that the Japanese emperor,
Taicosama was preparing an expedition against Corea,
whereupon, the general-in-chief of the Chinese troops
came down to Tchao-Tcheou to consult Ricci. But
it was not so much to discuss the military situation
as to get him to restore a favorite child to health.
Ricci promised to pray for the boy, and in return
asked to accompany the general back to Pekin for he
was convinced that if he could once convert the edu-
cated classes of the capital the rest of his work would
be easy. The request was granted, and Ricci was
thus, very probably, the first white man to travel
through the interior of China and to see the people of
the cities and country at close range. At Nankin,
however, he noted the deep suspicion entertained for
foreigners, and although he went as far as Peldn
itself, he thought it wiser not to enter the city, and
consequently he returned by the Yellow River to
Tchao-Tcheou.
Taicosama's expedition from Japan proved a failure,
and the public anxiety about foreigners ceased to be
acute. This lull enabled Ricci to establish himself
at Nankin, which seemed to have struck his fancy as
he passed through it on his way to Pekin. The city
was in a fever about the study of astronomy and
astrology, and he found a hearty welcome among its
learned men. He taught them in his daily intercourse
many of the doctrines of the Faith, and got in return
from them the real meaning of their ancestor-worship
and ceremonies. Hence, he had no scruples at all
about taking part in the honors paid to Confucius,
who was the great legislator and teacher of China,
250 The Jesuits
and he never suspected that there would be lat
a hue and cry in the Church about the alleged idolatryl
of these very ceremonies.
Meantime he for\vardcd information about the
observatory of Nankin that quite astounded scientific
Europe. Nankin, however, did not satisfy him, and
he made constant but unavailing efforts to reach
the imperial city of Pekin. Finally, in 1600, after
seventeen years of patient waiting, he succeeded. His
coming produced a great sensation. He was even
admitted to the palace, but really never saw the
emperor, though the people at large fancied he had
been accorded that privilege. However, it amounted
almost to the same thing, for the effect produced and
his real missionary success dated from that moment.
The greatest mandarin of the court became a Christian
and almost a saint, though his name was Sin. Later,
Sin went about preaching Christianity. His con-
version itself was a sermon, and was the beginning
of many others. Meantime the five Jesuits at Canton
drew multitudes around them. The upper classes
flocked to hear their discourses, and began to take
pride in being considered Christians, but it was hard
for them to understand why the Gospel was not
exclusively restricted to their set. They could not
yet grasp the fact, even after baptism, that the lower
classes had the same privilege of salvation as them-
selves. To the Chinese mind it was a social revolution,
and they were right, but they were wrong in objecting
to it.
Here an interesting episode occurs. Associated
with Father Geronimo Aquaviva in the court of the
Grand Mogul at Agra was a Portuguese lay-brother
named Benedict Goes. Although engaged only in do-
mestic service, he was in great favor with the barbarian
The Asiatic Continent 251
monarch, and if the Viceroy of India was saved from
disaster, it was due to Goes, who not only persuaded
the Grand Mogul to desist from war with the Portu-
guese, but succeeded in having himself sent down to
Goa with all the children who had been captured in
the various raids of Akbar's armies into Portuguese
territory. While he was at Agra, reports had been
coming in that the Fathers had at last entered China
— the Cathay of the old Franciscans of the thirteenth
century, and it was deemed advisable to try to establish
communications with them. Goes was chosen to carry
out the project, and, in 1602, he started from Agra,
which lies in the northern part of Hindostan, about
south of Delhi and west of Lucknow. It meant a
journey from the centre of Hindostan, across the
whole of Thibet and China, among absolutely unknown
nations, savage and semi-civilized, Mohammedans and
idolaters, through trackless forests and over snow-
clad mountains, facing the dangers of starvation and
sickness and wild beasts at every step. But all that was
not thought to be beyond the powers of the courage-
ous brother. Disguised as an Armenian, he had a
hard time of it from robber chiefs and barbarian
princes. He was ill-treated by most of them, for he
openly professed that he was a Christian. When he
refused to pay respect to Mohammed, he was sentenced
to be trampled to death by elephants, but he was
finally pardoned and allowed to resume his journey.
On he plodded for five years, and just as he was nearing
the goal his strength gave out. Fortunately Father
Ricci, at Pekin, had heard of his coming, and sent
Father Femandes to meet him. When Femandes
arrived. Goes was breathing his last in the frontier
town of Su-Chou. It was then 1607, and the dying
man told his brother Jesuit: " For five years I have
252 The Jesuits
been without the sacraments, but I do not remember
any serious sin since I set out from Agra." He died
on April 7, 1607.
In 1606 there was worry in China about certain
reports originating in Macao, where the Portuguese
were stationed. The Jesuits were accused of aspiring
to nothing else than the imperial throne; to prove it,
attention was called to the fact that all their houses
were built on hills, and could be easily transformed
into citadels in time of war. It was said, too, that a
Dutch fleet in the offing was at their service, and that
arrangements had been made with the Japanese for
an invasion. The result was a general panic throughout
the empire and not a few apostacies. Threats to kill
the missionaries also began to be heard. Coincident
with this, came an unwise act on the part of the Vicar-
General of Macao, who, because of a decision against
him in a dispute he had with the Franciscans, put the
whole island under interdict. The result was that the
political situation became still more threatening, and
Father Martines was arrested at Canton, tortured in
the most horrible fashion, and finally executed. This
death, however, marked as it was by the heroic courage
of the \'ictim, his affirmations in the midst of his
sufferings of his own innocence and that of his brethren,
quelled the storm. Ricci's influence, also, contributed
to calm the excited people, and he became greater than
ever in their estimation. He was called another
Confucius, and was even empowered by the authorities
to establish a novitiate at Pekin. Ricci was well on
in years by that time, but continued valiantly at his
work, making saints as well as great litterateurs and
mathematicians out of his Jesuit associates; he wrote
treatises in Chinese on Christian ethics, while con-
tinuing his mathematical works, and all day long he
was busy with the great mandarins who came to consult
The Asiatic Continent 253
him. In 1610 he succumbed under these accumulated
labors, and his obsequies were such as had never been
accorded to any other foreigner. The funeral pro-
cession, preceded by the cross, traversed the entire
city, and by order of the emperor his remains were
laid in a temple, which was thenceforth transformed
into a Christian church.
Mr. Gutzlaff, a Protestant missionary in China of
modern times, says that " Ricci had spent only twenty-
seven years in China but when he died there were
more than three hundred churches in the different
provinces." Gutzlaff 's testimony is all the more
precious, because, according to Marshall, his own
associates describe him as "more occupied in amassing
wealth than in making Christians." Referring to the
scientific labors of Ricci and his successors, Thornton
(History of China, Preface, p. 13) says: " The geo-
graphical labors performed in China by the Jesuits and
other missionaries of the Roman Catholic Faith will
always command the gratitude and excite the wonder
of all geographers. Portable chronometers and aneroid
barometers, sextants and theodolites, sympiesometers
and micrometers, compasses and artificial horizons are,
notwithstanding all possible care, frequently found to
fail, yet one hundred and fifty years ago a few wandering
European priests traversed the enormous state of
China Proper, and laid down on their maps the positions
of cities, the direction of rivers and the height of
mountains with a correctness of detail and a general
accuracy of outline that are absolutely marvellous.
To this day all our maps are based on their obser-
vations." " Whatever is valuable in Chinese astrono-
mical science," adds Mr. Gutzlaff, " has been borrowed
from the treatises of Roman Catholic missionaries."
Ricci's death was a calamity to the Church, for in
the following year a mandarin who was in charge at
254 The Jesuits
Nankin started a genuine persecution. The mission-
aries were summoned to his tribunal, pubHcly scourged
and sent back to Macao — and all this with the
authorization of the emperor. Matters grew worse,
but at the emperor's death in 1620, there was a lull,
for the Tatars were invading China and the help of
the Portuguese had to be invoked; as that, however,
could not be done unless the Europeans were placated
by recalling the missionaries, the exiles returned to
their posts. The emperor overcame the Tatars, and
the tranquillity and good feeling that followed allowed
the Fathers, who were scattered all over the empire,
some of them 800 leagues from Pekin, to get together
and decide on uniformity of methods in treating with
their converts. In that congregation the doubts
which met them at every step as to what they were to
tolerate and what to forbid were settled. They knew
the people thoroughly by this time, their ideas, their
customs; and their scrupulous love of the Faith guided
them in their decisions.
About this time the great Adam Schall arrived.
He was a worthy successor of Ricci. His reputation
had preceded him as a mathematician, and he was
immediately employed by the emperor to reform the
Chinese calendar. His influence, in consequence of
this distinction, was unbounded in extending the
field of missionary work. The pagans themselves
built a church at his request in Sin-gan-fou, and he
obtained an edict from the emperor which empowered
the Jesuits to preach throughout the empire. The
extraordinary success of Schall was the talk of Europe;
and appHcations poured in on the General from all
sides to be sent out to share the labors and the triumphs
of the mission. Great numbers of Jesuits were sent
there, but many perished on the way out, for ship-
wrecks were very common in those unknown seas,
The Asiatic Continent 255
and the crowded and unhealthy ships as well as the
long and difficult journey claimed throngs of victims.
The work soon became too great for the laborers
and then there came a reinforcement from the Philip-
pines, largely from the other religious orders who had
been long waiting to enter China, and who now devoted
themselves to the work. Not knowing the country,
however, they were horrified to see that many of the
practices of Confucianism were still retained by the
Chinese Christians, and they denounced as idolatry
what the old Jesuits had decided, after years of close
scrutiny, to be nothing but a ceremonial which had
been thoroughly and scrupulously purified from all
taint of superstition. But the newcomers would not
look at it in that light. They immediately wrote to
the Archbishop of Manila and to the Bishop of Cebu
that the Jesuits not only concealed from their converts
the mysteries of the Cross, but permitted them to
prostrate themselves before the idol of Chin-Hoam,
to honor their ancestors with superstitious rites, and
to offer sacrifices to Confucius. Rome was then
informed of it, but some years later, namely in 1637,
both the archbishop and the bishop wrote to Urban
VIII that on examining the matter more carefully,
they had arrived at the conclusion that the Jesuits
were right. It was then too late. A series of bloody
persecutions had already begun. The first explosion
of wrath occurred when one of the new preachers,
speaking through an interpreter, told his congregation
that Confucius and all their pagan ancestors were in
hell, and that the Jesuits had not taught the Chinese
the truth. Public indignation followed on this unwise
utterance and expulsions began.
Fortunately, the persecutions were checked for a
while by fresh attempts of the Tatar element in China
to seize the imperial crown. The Jesuits kept out of
256 The Jesuits
the strife by pronouncing for neither party. Happily,
the Tatar element took a fancy to Schall, while Father
Coeffler baptized the Chinese empress, giving her the
Christian name of Helen and calling her infant son
Constantine. The Tatars finally prevailed, and Schall
was made a mandarin and president of the board of
mathematics of the empire. He was given access to
the emperor at all times, and might have made him
a Christian had not the empress induced him to resume
the pagan practices from which Schall had weaned him.
Nor did the death of the troublesome lady mend
matters; on the contrary, her disconsolate husband
lapsed into melancholia, and in 1661 died, leaving a
child of eight as his successor. In pursuance of the
emperor's command, Schall was appointed instructor
of the prince, but, as was to be expected, that arrange-
ment aroused the fury of the people and especially of
the bonzes. They maintained, rightfully from their
point of view, that if Schall were left in position during
the long minority of the prince, he would be absolute
master of the future emperor — a result that must be
prevented by crushing out Christianity. Forthwith
all the missionaries were summoned to Pekin and
thrown into prison. There was now no longer any
discussion about the worship of Confucius, for the
disputants were all in the dungeons of Pekin or else-
where waiting for death.
The Christians were without pastors, but Father
Gresson, who was in China at that time, tells us in
his " History of China under the Tatars " that, during
the persecution, the catechists baptized 2000 converts.
It is not surprising, for before the outbreak of the
persecution, the Jesuits had one hundred and fifty-one
churches and thirty-eight residences in China; the
Dominicans twenty-one churches and two residences,
and the Franciscans one establishment. The total
I
The Asiatic Continent 257
Christian population amounted to 250,000. Up to
that time the Fathers of the Society had written
one hundred and thirty-one works on reHgious subjects,
one hundred and three on mathematics, and fifty-five
on physics.
While the missionaries lay in chains expecting death
at every moment, a Dominican named Navarrete
succeeded in making his escape. It was lucky for him
in one respect, but in all probability it would mean
as soon as it was discovered the massacre of all the
other prisoners; to avert this calamity, the illustrious
Jesuit, Grimaldi, took his place in the prison. Unfor-
tunately, Navarrete had no sooner reached Europe
than he began an attack on the methods of the Jesuits
in dealing with the Chinese rites. It caused great
grief to his fellow Dominicans, and when the news of
the publication of his " Tratados historicos " reached
China in 1668, the Dominican Father Sarpetri sent
a solemn demmciation of it to Rome, declaring that the
practice of the Jesuits in permitting such rites was
not only irreproachable under every point of view,
but most necessary in propagating the Gospel. He
denied under oath that the Jesuits refused to explain
the mysteries of the Passion to the Chinese, and
affirmed that his protest against the charge was not
in answer to an appeal, but was prompted by the
(i pure love of truth. Another Dominican, Gregorio
Lopez, who was Bishop of Basilea and Vicar-Apostolic
of Nan-EIing, sent the Sacred Congregation a " memoir"
in favor of the Jesuits. Navarrete atoned for his act
Lj of mistaken judgment later; for when he was Arch-
bishop of Santo Domingo he asked leave of the king
I and viceroy to establish a Jesuit college in his residential
city, and he paid a glowing tribute to the Society.
When Schall was brought up for trial there was,
at his side, another Jesuit named Ferdinand Verbiest,
17
258 The Jesuits
a native of Pilthem near Courtrai in Belgium. He
had come out to China when he was thirty-six years
old, and was first engaged in missionary work in
Shen-si. In 1660 he was summoned to Pekin to assist
Father Schall, and in 1664 was thrown into prison
with him. In the court-room, Verbiest was the chief
spokesman, for Schall, being then seventy-four years
of age and paralyzed, was unable to utter a word.
The charges against the old missionary had been
trumped up by a Mohammedan who claimed to be
an astronomer. They were: first, that Schall had
shown pictures of the Passion of Jesus Christ to the
deceased emperor; secondly, that he had secured
the presidency of the board of mathematics for him-
self in order to promote Christianity; thirdly, that he
had incorrectly determined the day on which the
funeral of one of the princes was to take place. It
was an " unlucky " day. Verbiest had no difficulty
in proving that the accused had been ordered by the
emperor to be president of the board of mathematics,
and furthermore, that he never had anything to do
with " lucky " or " unlucky " days. The charge
about the pictures of the Passion was admitted, and
that may have been the reason why, in spite of the
eloquence of Verbiest, who was loaded with chains
while he was pleading, Father Schall was condemned
to be hacked to pieces. In this trouble, however, the
Lord came to the rescue : a meteor of an extraordinary
kind appeared in the heavens, and a fire reduced to
ashes that part of the imperial palace where the
condemnation was pronounced. The sentence was
revoked, and the missionaries were set free. Father
Schall lingered a year after recovering his freedom.
When Kang-hi came to the throne in 1669, an official
declaration was made denouncing both the trial and
the sentence as iniquitous, and although Schall had
The Asiatic Continent 259
then been three years dead, unusually solemn funeral
services were ordered in his honor. His remains were
kid beside those of Father Ricci. The emperor himself
composed the eulogistic epitaph which was inscribed
on the tomb.
.Schall had given forty-four years of his life to China,
when at the age of seventy-five, he breathed his
last in the arms of Father Rho, who, like him,
was to hold a distinguished position as mathema-
tixnan in the imperial court. Rho had preluded
his advent to China by organizing the defense of the
Island of Macao against a Dutch fleet. He had new
ramparts constructed around the city; he planted
foiu: pieces of artillery on the walls, and when the
Dutchmen landed for an assault he led the troops in
a sortie and drove the enemy back to their ships.
In his " Promenade autourdu Monde " (II, 266), Baron
de Hiibner gives an enthusiastic description of the
Jesuit Observatory at Pekin.
" Man's inhumanity to man " is cruelly exemplified
in a foul accusation urged against the venerable Schall,
a century after he was buried with imperial honors
in Pekin. In 1 7 58 a certain Marcello Angelita, secretary
of Mgr. de Toumon, the prelate who was commissioned
to pass on the question of the Malabar Rites, published
a story, which was repeated in many other books,
that Schall had spent his last years " separated from
the other missionaries, removed from obedience to
his superiors, in a house which had been given him by
the emperor, and with a woman whom he treated as his
wife, and who bore him two children. After having
led a pleasant life with his family for some years, he
ended his days in obscurity." If there was even the
shadow of truth in these accusations the Dominican
Navarrete, who knew Schall personally, and who
II wrote against him and his brethren so fiercely in 1667,
260 The Jesuits
would not have failed to mention this fact to confii
his charges about the Chinese Rites. But he does
not breathe a word about any misconduct on the part
of the great missionary. Moreover, it is inconceivable
that the \ngorous Father General Oliva, who governed
the Society at that time, would have tolerated that
state of things for a single instant.
The foundation upon which the charge was built
appears to be that the old missionary used to call a
Chinese mandarin his " adopted grandson " and had
helped to advance him to lucrative positions in the
empire. The Hbel was written forty years after
Schall's death, and was largely inspired by the infamous
ex-Capuchin Norbert.
Possibly the mental attitude of Angelita's master,
de Toumon, may also account in part for the publi-
cation of this calumny. De Toumon was known
to be a bitter enemy of the Society, and he took no
pains to conceal it when sent to the East to decide
the vexed question of the Rites. Although on his
arrival at Pondicherry in 1703, the Fathers met him
on the shore and conducted him processionally to
the city, he interpreted these marks of respect and
the lavish generosity with which they looked after all
his needs as nothing but policy. Not only did he refuse
to give them a hearing on their side of the controversy,
but he hurried off elsewhere as soon as he had formu-
lated his decree. When he arrived in Canton, the
first words he uttered were: " I come to China to
purify its Catholicity," and before taking any infor-
mation whatever, he ordered the removal of all the
symbols which he considered superstitious. The
act created an uproar, as it was only through the
influence of the Fathers that de Toumon was permitted
to go to Pekin; and although they managed to make
his entrance into the imperial city unusually splendid,
The Asiatic Continent 261
he immediately informed the emperor of a plan he
had made to reconstruct the missions but, expressed
himself in such an offensive fashion that the emperor
immediately dismissed him. He then repaired to
Canton, and on January 28, 1707, issued the famous
order forbidding the cult of the ancestors, with the
result that the emperor sent down officials to conduct
him to Macao, where he was reported to have died
in prison, on June 8, 17 10.
The Mohammedan mandarin, Yang, who had
trumped up the astronomical accusations against
Schall, had meantime succeeded to the post as head of
the mathematical board, but the young emperor was
not satisfied with the results obtained, and he ordered
a public dispute on the relative merits of Chinese and
European astronomy. Verbiest was on one side, and
Yang on the other. The test was to be first, the
determination, in advance, of the shadow given at
noon of a fixed day by a gnomon of a given height;
second, the absolute and relative position of the sun
and the planets on a date assigned; third, the time of
a lunar eclipse. The resiilt was a triimiph for Verbiest.
He was immediately installed as president, and his
brethren were allowed to return to their missions.
Verbiest 's career, at Pekin, was more brilliant than
that of either Ricci or Schall. There is no end of the
things he did. The famous bronze astronomical
instruments which figured so conspicuously in the
Boxer Uprising of 1900 were of his manufacture; he
built an aqueduct also, and cast as many as one hundred
and thirty-two cannon for the Chinese army. The
emperor followed his astronomical classes, appointed
him to the highest grade in the mandarinate, and
gave him leave to preach Christianity anywhere in the
empire. Innocent XI, to whom he dedicated his
Chinese Missal, sent him a brief in 168 1, which con-
262 The Jesuits
tained the greatest praise for " using the profane
sciences to promote Christianity," a commendation
which was more than welcome at that time, when the
book of Navarrete was doing its evil work against the
Society.
In 1677 when Verbiest was appointed vice-provincial,
he appealed for new laborers from Europe. He even
advocated the use of the native language in the liturgy
in order to facilitate the ordination of Chin'ese priests.
It was a bold petition to make when the memory of
Luther and his German liturgy was still so fresh in
the mind of Europe. The reason for the petition was
that otherwise the conversion of China was impossible.
Brucker in his history of the Society tells us that for
one hundred years no native had been ordained a
priest in China. He gives as a reason for this, the
disgust of the Portuguese government at the failure
met with in Hindostan, where the formation of a
native clergy was attempted. That alone would be
sufficient to acquit the Society of any guilt in this
matter; but he gives facts to his readers which go to
show very plainly that this failure to create a native
Chinese priesthood clearly evidences the Society's
desire to have one at any cost. It is paradoxical, but
it is true.
The great lapse of time that passed without any
ordinations need cause no alarm. There are instances
of greater delay with less excuse very near home. For
instance, there were secular priests and religious in
Canada as early as 1603, but there was no seminary
there till 1663, although the colony had all the power
of Catholic France back of it. There were Catholics
in Maryland in 1634, yet there was no theological
seminary until 1794, that is for a space of 160 years.
After a few years' struggle with only five pupils, and
in some of these years none, it was closed and was not
The Asiatic Continent 263
re-opened until 1810, which is a far cry from 1634,
New York did not attempt to found a seminary until
the time of its fourth bishop. The house at Nyack was
burned down before it was occupied; the Lafargeville
project also proved a failure and it was not until 1841
that the diocesan seminary was opened at Fordham.
Morever, in none of these seminaries was there the
remotest thought of forming a native clergy in the
sense of the word employed in the anti- Jesuit indict-
ment. The seminarians were all foreigners or sons of
foreigners. There were no native Indians in these
establishments, as that, apart from intellectual and
moral reasons, would have been a physiological impossi-
bility. Nature rebels against the transplanting of a
creature of the woods and mountains to the confine-
ment of a lecture hall. The old martyr of Colonial
times, Father Daniel, brought a number of Indi'an
boys from Huronia to Quebec to educate them, but
they fled to the forests, while the Indian girls, who were
lodged with the Ursulines, died of consumption. Even
in our own times. Archbishop Gillow of Oaxaca,
Mexico, brought a number of pure-blooded Indians to
Rome, in the hope of making them priests, but they
all died before he attained any results. In brief, we
in America have never formed a native clergy.
Morever, this century-stretch of failure in China is
cut down considerably when we recall the fact that
for a considerable time there were only two or, at most,
three Jesuits in that vast empire, and that they con-
trived to remain there only because they interested
the learned part of the populace by their knowledge
of mathematics and astronomy, never daring to
broach the subject of religion, though they succeeded
under the pretence of science in circulating everywhere
a catechism which enraptured the literati. It was only
in the year 1601 that permission was given to them
264 The Jesuits
to preach. Hence, the figure loo has to be cut down
to 83. In two years time, namely in 161 7, there were
13,000 Christians in China. How were the rest to be
reached? No help could be expected from Europe,
which was being devastated by the Thirty Years War
(16 1 8- 1 648). Independently of that, the caste system
prevailed in China, and the learned, even those who
were converted, found it difficult to understand why
the wonderful truths of Christianity should be com-
municated to the common people, yet it is from the
people that ecclesiastical vocations usually come.
Thirdly, the Chinaman has an instinctive horror of
anything foreign. Yet here was a foreign creed which,
moreover, could be thoroughly learned only by a
language which was itself foreign even to the priests
who taught it.
The audacious project was then formed to petition
the Pope to have the liturgy, even the Mass, in Chinese.
No other modem mission ever dared to make such a
request. As early as 161 7, the petition was presented,
and although Pope Paul V favored the scheme, yet
the undertaking was so stupendous and the project
so unusual that he withheld any direct or official
recognition. Whereupon the missionaries began the
work of translating into Chinese not only the Missal
and Ritual, but an entire course of moral theology
with the cases of conscience. In addition a large part
of the " Summa " of St. Thomas along with many
other books which might be useful to the future priest
were rendered into the vernacular. The work was
begun by Father Trigault in 161 5 and was continued
by others up to 1682, when the Pope while accepting
the dedication of a Chinese Missal by Verbiest, finally
concluded that it would be impolitic to grant per-
mission for a Hturgy in Chinese. This gigantic under-
taking ought of itself to be a sufficient answer to the
The Asiatic Continent 265
charge that the Jesuits were averse to the formation
of a native clergy. The scheme failed, it is true, but
the attempt is a sufficient answer to the hackneyed
charge against the Society.
It might be asked, however, why did they not
foresee the possible failure of their request and provide
otherwise for priests? In the first place, there were
Dominicans and Franciscans in China, and it might
be proper to ask them why they excluded the Chinese
from the ministry? Secondly, the Jesuits had all they
could do to defend themselves from the charge of
idolatry for sanctioning the Chinese Rites. Thirdly
when Schall arrived in 1622 there were no missionaries
to be met anywjiere — they were in prison or in exile.
Fourthly, in 1637 there was a bloody persecution.
Fifthly, in 1644 the Tatar invasion occurred with the
usual havoc, and the Manchu dynasty was inaugurated.
Sixthly, in 1664 Schall hitherto such a great man in
the empire was imprisoned and condemned to be hacked
to pieces and Verbiest was lying in chains. It is quite
comprehensible, therefore, that in such a condition of
things, quiet seminary life was impossible, and as the
Jesuits were suspected of leaning to Confucianism it
would have been quite improper to entrust to them the
formation of a secular clergy.
When Verbiest wrote home for help, numbers of
Violunteers left Europe for China. Louis XIV was
especially enthusiastic in furthering the movement,
and, among other favors he conferred the title of
" Fellows of the Academy of Science and Royal
Mathematicians " on six Jesuits of Paris, and sent
them off to Pekin. But when they arrived, Verbiest
was dead. They were in time, however, for his %neral,
which took place on March 11, 1688, with the same
honors that had been accorded to Ricci and Schall.
He was laid to rest at their side. His successors began
266 The Jesuits
their work by establishing what was called the French
Mission of China, which lasted until the suppression
of the Society. The great difficulty in sending mission-
aries thither by sea had long exercised the minds of the
superiors of the Society, especially after a startling
announcement was made by Father Couplet, who,
after passing many years in China, had returned
home, shattered in health and altogether unable to
continue his work. He said that, after a very careful
count, he had found that of the six hundred Jesuits
who had attempted to enter China from the time that
Ruggieri and Ricci had succeeded in gaining an entrance
there, as many as four hundred had either died of
sickness on the way or had been lost at sea. De
Rhodes had shown that an overland route was possible
from India to Europe; the lay-brother Goes had
succeeded in getting to China from the land of the
Great Mogul, Gruber had reversed the process, and
in 1685 an attempt was made by Father Avril, to reach
it by the way of Russia, but he failed.
Avril 's account of his journey has been shockingly
" done out of French " by a translator who prudently
withheld his name. It was " published in Lx)ndon, at
Maidenhead, over against St. Dunstan's Church, in
Fleet Street." Its date is 1693. From it we learn that
Father Avril started from Marseilles and made for
Civita Vecchia, after paying his respects in Rome to
Father General de Noyelle, he went to Leghorn, where
he took ship on a vessel that was convoyed by a man-
of-war called the " Thundering Jupiter." Passing
by Capraia, Elba, Sardinia, and nearly wrecked off
the " Coast of Candy," his ship dropped anchor in
the Lemeca roadstead after three days' voyage, but
without the " Thundering Jupiter." It was still at
sea. He touched at Cyprus and Alexandretta, then
proceeded to Aleppo, crossing the plain of Antioch in
The Asiatic Continent 267
a caravan. He was fleeced by an Armenian who
professed to be a friend of the Jesuits, then he crossed
the Tigris or Tiger, and arrived at Erzerum in time for
an earthquake. Continuing his journey through the
intervening territory to what he calls the " Caspian
Lake ", he finally reached Moscow, after being almost
burned to death on the Volga, when his ship took
fire. At Moscow he was welcomed by the German
Jesuits who had a house there, for Prince Gallichin
(Galitzin) was then prime minister. He was soon
bidden to depart, and crossed a part of Muscovy,
Lithuania and White Russia, reaching Warsaw on
March 12, 1686. It was eighteen months since he
had left Leghorn. He made effort after effort to get
back to Muscovy, but in vain. Ambassadors and
princes and even Louis XIV found the Czar obdurate,
and so, after two years of unsuccessful endeavor,
Avril arrived at Constantinople, after being imprisoned
by the Turks on his way thither. Finally, he reached
Marseilles, having proved, at least, that the road
through Russia would have to be abandoned; hence,
it was determined to make those overland journeys
in the future through the territory of the Shah of
Persia.
CHAPTER IX
BATTLE OF THE BOOKS
Aquaviva and the Spanish Opposition — Vitelleschi — The " Monita
Secreta "; Morlin — Roding — " Historia Jesuitici Ordinis " — .
" Jesuiticum Jejunium " — " Speculum Jesuiticum " — Pasquier —
Mariana —" Mysteries of the Jesuits "—" The Jesuit Cabinet"—^
" Jesuit Wolves "— " Teatro Jesuitico " — " Morale Pratique des
Jdsuites " — " Conjuratio Sulphurea " — " Lettres Provinciales " —
" Causeries de Lundi " and Bourdaloue — Prohibition of publication
by Louis XIV — Pastoral of the Bishops of Sens — Santarelli —
Escobar — Anti-Coton — " Les Descouvertes " — Norbert.
Father Claudius Aquaviva died on January 31,
161 5, after a generalship of thirty-four years. To him
are to be ascribed not only all of the great enterprises
inaugurated since 1580, but, to a very considerable
extent, the spirit by which the Society has been actuated
up to the present time and which, it is to be hoped,
it will always retain. The marvellous skill and the
serene equanimity with which he guided the Society
through the perils which it encountered from kings
and princes, from heretics and heathens, from great
ecclesiastical tribunals and powerful rehgious organi-
zations, and most of all from the machinations of
disloyal members of the Institute, entitle him to the
enthusiastic love and admiration of every Jesuit and
the unchallenged right to the title which he bears of
the " Saviour of the Society." Far from being rigid
and severe, as he is sometimes accused of being, he
was amazingly meek and magnanimously merciful.
The story about forty professed fathers having been
dismissed in consequence of their connection with
the sedition of Vasquez is a myth. The entire number
of plotters on this occasion did not exceed twenty-eight,
[2681
Battle of the Books 269
and only a few of those were expelled. In any case,
whatever penalty was meted out to them was the act
of the congregation and not of Aquaviva. Indeed,
Aquaviva's methods are in violent contrast with those
of Francis Xavier, who gave the power of expulsion
to even local Superiors, and we almost regret that
Xavier had not to deal with his fellow-countrymen at
this juncture. It must also be borne in mind that the
great exodus from the Society which occurred in
Portugal antedated Aquaviva's time, and was due
to the mistaken methods of government by Simon,
Rodriguez.
The congregation convened after his death met on
November 5, 161 5, and the majority of its members
must have been astounded to find the Spanish claim
to the generalship still advocated. Mutio Vitelleschi
an Italian, however, was most in evidence at that time;
he was forty-five years old, and had been already
rector of the English College, provincial both of Naples
and Rome, and later assistant for Italy. As in all
of those positions of trust he had displayed a marvellous
combination of sweetness and strength which had
endeared him to his subjects, the possibility of his
election, at this juncture, afforded a well-grounded
hope of a glorious future for the Society. Nevertheless
some of the Spanish delegates determined to defeat
him, and with that in view they addressed themselves
to the ambassadors of France and Spain, to enlist
their aid; but the shrewd politicians took the measure
of the plotters, and, while piously commending them
for their religious zeal and patriotism, politely refused
their co-operation. That should have sufficed as a
rebuke, but prompted by their unwise zeal they
approached the Pope himself and assured him that
Vitelleschi was altogether unfit for the position. The
Pontiff listened to them graciously and bade them be
270 The Jesuits
of good heart, for, if Vitelleschi were half what they"
said he was, there could be no possibility of his election.
The balloting took place on November 15, and Mutio
was chosen by thirty-nine out of seventy-five votes.
The margin was not a large one, and shows how nearly
the conspirators had succeeded. To-day an appeal
to laymen in such a matter would entail immediate
expulsion.
Vitelleschi 's vocation to the Society was a marked
one. When only a boy of eleven, he was dreaming of
being associated with it, and before he had finished his
studies he bound himself by a vow to ask for admittance,
and, if accepted, to distribute his inheritance to the
poor. But as the Vitelleschi formed an important
section of the Roman nobility, such aspirations did
not fit in with the father's ambition for his son, and the
boy was bidden to dismiss all thought of it. He was
a gentle and docile lad, but he possessed also a decided
strength of character, and like the Little Flower of
Jesus in our own times, he betook himself to the
Pope to lay the matter before him. The father finally
yielded, and on August 15, 1583, young Mutio, after
going to Communion with his mother at the Gesu,
hurried off to lay his request before Father Aqua viva.
His great desire was to go to England, which was just
then waging its bloody war against the Faith, but,
as with Aquaviva himself, his ignorance of the English
language deprived him of the crown of martyrdom.
Cr6tineau-Joly is of the opinion that the generalate
of Vitelleschi was monotone de bonheur. Whether that
be so or not, it certainly had its share in the monotony
of calumny which has been meted out to the Society
from its birth. Thus, the beginning of Vitelleschi's
term of office coincided with the publication of the
famous " Monita secreta " which, with the exception
of the " Lettres provinciales " is perhaps the cleverest
Battle of the Books 271
piece of literary work ever levelled against the Society.
The compliment is not a very great one, for nearly
all the other books obtained their vogue by being
extravagant distortions of the truth. But good or
bad they never failed to appear.
The first in order was the diatribe of Morlin in 1568.
This was a little before Vitelleschi's time. It was
directed against the schools, and denounces the pro-
fessors for having intercourse with the devil, practising
sorcery, initiating their pupils in the black art,
anointing them with some mysterious and diabolical
compound which gave the masters control of their
scholars after long years of separation. " God's
gospel," they said, " was powerless before those
creatures of the devil whom hell had vomited forth to
poison the whole German empire and especially to do
away with the Evangelicals who were the especial
object of Jesuitical hatred." The immediate expulsion
of the " sorcerers " was demanded, and even their
burning at the stake, for " they not only deal in
witchcraft themselves, -but teach it to others, and
impart to their pupils the methods of getting rid of
their foes by poisons, incantations and the like." It
was asserted that " those who send their boys to be
educated by them are throwing their offspring into
the jaws of wolves; or like the Hebrews of old immo-
lating them to Moloch."
In 1575 Roding, a professor of Heidelberg dedicated
a book to the elector, in which he denounces the Jesuit
schools as impious and abominable, and warns parents
" not to give aid to the Kingdom of Satan by trusting
those who were enemies of Christianity and of God."
" They are wild beasts," he said, " who ought to be
chased out of our cities. Though outwardly modest,
simple, mortified and urbane, they are in reality furies
and atheists — far worse indeed than atheists and
272 The Jesuits
idolaters. The children confided to them are con-
strained to join with their swinish instructors in
grunting at the Divine Majesty" (Janssen, VIII, 339).
" They are not only poisoners but conspirators and
assassins. Their purpose is to slay all those who have
accepted the Confession of Augsburg. They have
been seen in processions of armed men, disguised as
courtiers, dressed in silks, with gold chains around
their necks, going from one end of Germany to the
other. They caused the St. Bartholomew massacre;
they killed King Sebastian; in Peru, they plunged red
hot irons into the bodies of the Indians to make them
reveal where they hid their treasures. In thirty years
the Popes killed 900,000 people, the Jesuits 2,000,000;
the cellars of all the colleges in Germany are packed
with soldiers; and Canisius married an abbess." This
latter story went around Germany a hundred times and
was widely believed.
The chief storehouse of all these inventions in
Germany was the " Historia jesuitici ordinis," which
was published in 1593, and was attributed by the
editor. Poly carp Leiser, to an ex-novice, named Elias
Hasenmuller, who was then six years dead — a cir-
cimistance which ought to have invalidated the testi-
mony for ordinary people, but which did not prevent
the " Historia " from being an immense success.
Its publication was said to be miraculous, for it was
given out as certain that any member of the Order
who would reveal its secrets was to be tortured,
poisoned or roasted alive. It was only by a special
intervention of the Lord that Hasenmuller escaped.
The readers of the " Historia " were informed that the
Order was founded by the devil, who was the spiritual
father of St. Ignatius. Omitting the immoralities
detailed in the volume, " the Jesuits were professional
assassins, wild boars, robbers, traitors, snakes, vipers.
Battle of the Books 273
etc. In their private lives they were lecherous goats,
filthy pigs." Even Carlyle says this of St. Ignatius —
" The Pope had given them full power to commit
every excess. If we knew them better we would spit
in their faces, instead of sending them boys to be
educated. Indeed it would not be well to trust them
with hogs." There were other productions of the
same nature, such as the " Jesuiticum jejunium " and
" Speculum jesuiticum." Some of these " histories "
denounced Father Gretser as " a vile scribbler, an open
heretic and an adulterer who carried the devil around
in a bottle." Bellarmine was " an Epicurean of the
worst type, who had already killed 1642 victims; 562
of whom were married women. He used magic and
poison, and pitched the corpses of his victims into the
Tiber. He died the death of the damned, and his
ghost was seen in the air in broad daylight flying
away on a winged horse," and so on.
Etienne Pasquier was the leader of the French
pamphleteers. It was he who had acted as advocate
against the Jesuits of the College of Clermont. The
plaidoyer presented to the court on that occasion was
embodied in his " Recherches," and, in 1602, when
he was seventy-three years of age, he published " Le
Catechisme des jesuites, ou examen de leur doctrine."
He finds that the Order, besides being Calvinistic, is
also spotted with Judaism. Ignatius was worse than
Luther or Julian the Apostate; he was a sort of Don
Quixote, who laughed at the vows he made at Mont-
martre ; he was a trickster, a glutton, a demon incarnate,
an ass. The first chapter in book II is entitled
" Anabaptism of the Jesuits in their vow of blind
obedience." Chapter 2 is on the execution of the
Jesuit, Crichton, for attempting to kill the Scotch
chancellor, of which he had been accused by " Robert
de Bruce." In chapter 3, a Mr. Parry is sent by the
18
274 The Jesuits
Jesuits to assassinate Queen Elizabeth. In chapter 4,
another attempt is made by the same person, in 1597,
etc. Father Garasse wrote an answer to the book, and
though he found no difficulty in showing its absurdities,
yet his language was rough and abusive and quite out
of keeping with the dignity of his state; besides, it
centred public attention on him to such extent that
later when, three pamphlets with which he had had
nothing to do were written against Cardinal" Richelieu,
he was accused of being the author of them and had
to swear in the most solemn manner that he knew
nothing whatever about them. This charge against
Garasse came near alienating Louis XIII from 'the
Society.
Much harm had also been done by Mariana's alleged
doctrine on regicide. On the face of it, the book
could not have been seditious, for it was written as
an instruction for the heir of Philip II, and it is incon-
ceivable that an autocrat, such as he was, should not
only have put a book teaching regicide in the hands
of his son, but should have paid for its publication.
As a matter of fact, the king conjured up by Mariana
as a possible victim of assassination is a monster who
could have scarcely existed. In other circumstances
the book would have passed unnoticed, but it served
as a pretext to attack the Society by ascribing Mariana's
doctrine to the whole Society.
Now, Mariana never was and never could be a
representative of the Society, for: first sixteen years
before the objectionable book attracted notice in
France, namely in 1584, Mariana had been solemnly
condemned by the greatest assembly of the Society,
the general congregation, as an unworthy son; a
pestilential member who should be cut off from the
body, and his expulsion was ordered. He was one of
the leaders of the band of Spanish conspirators who
Battle of the Books 275
did all in their power to destroy the Society. Secondly,
his expulsion did not take place, possibly because of
outside political influence like that of Philip II and
the Inquisition. Nevertheless in 1605, that is five
years before the French flurry, he wrote another book
entitled, " De defectibus Societatis " (i. e. the Weak
Points of the Society), which was condemned as
involving the censure of the papal bull " Ascendente
Domino." Instead of destroying the MS., as he
should have done, if he had a spark of loyalty in him,
he kept it, and when in 1609, he was arrested and
imprisoned by the Spanish authorities for his book
on Finance which seemed to reflect on the govern-
ment, that MS. was seized, and subsequently served
as a strong weapon against the Society. Why should
such a man be cited as the representative of a body
from which he was ordered to be expelled and which
he had attempted to destroy?
Another harmful publication was the " Monita
secreta," which represented the Jesuit as a sweet-
voiced intriguer; a pious grabber of inheritances for
the greater glory of God; enjoying a vast influence
with conspicuous personages; working underhand in
politics, and revealing himself in every clime, invariably
the same, and always monstrously rich. The
" Monita " appeared in Poland in the year 161 2.
It was printed in a place not to be found on any map :
namely Notobirga, which suggests " Notaburgh," or
" Not a City." It purported to be based on a Spanish
manuscript, discovered in the secret archives of the
Society at Padua. It was translated into Latin, and
was then sent to Vienna, and afterwards to Cracow,
where it was given to the public. It consists of sixteen
short chapters, of which we give a few sample titles:
"I. How the Society should act to get a new foundation.
II. How to win and keep the friendship of princes
276 The Jesuits
and important personages. III. How to act with
people who wield political influence or those who, even
if not rich, may be serviceable. VI. How to win over
wealthy widows. VH. How to induce them to dispose
of their property. VIH. How to induce them to enter
religious communities, or at least to make them devout."
To achieve all this the Jesuits were to wear out-
wardly an appearance of poverty in their houses; the
sources of revenue were to be concealed; purchases of
property were always to be made by dummies; rich
widows were to be provided with adroit confessors;
their family physicians were to be the friends of the
Fathers; their daughters were to be sent to convents,
their sons to the Society, etc. The vices of prominent
personages were to be indulged; quarrels were to be
entered into, so as to get the credit of reconciliation;
the servants of the rich were to be bribed; confessors
were to be very sweet; distinguished personages were
never to be pubHcly reprehended, etc., etc. As the
phraseology of these " Monita secreta " was a clever
imitation of the official document of the Society known
as the " Monita generalia," the forgery scored a
perfect success in being accepted as genuine. It was
such a cleverly devised instrument of warfare in a
country like Poland, for instance, with its mixed
Protestant and Catholic population, that it would
be sure to strengthen the Protestants, and, at the same
time, shame the CathoHcs, by discrediting the Jesuits,
who were then in great favor. It was anonymous,
but was finally traced to Jerome Zahorowski, who had
been dismissed from the Society. When charged by
the Inquisition with being the author, he denied it,
and said he had no complaint against his former
associates. The book was put on the Index, and
Zahorowski 's declaration that he was not the author
was believed. Later, however, it was publicly declared
Battle of the Books 277
by those who had the means of knowing the facts that
he was really the guilty man. Indeed, just before he
died, he confessed the authorship and bitterly regretted
the crime he had committed. He recanted all that
he had said in the book, but it was too late; the mis-
chief had been done and the evil work has continued.
There were twenty-two editions of it, issued during
the seventeenth century, and it was translated into
many languages. Its title was changed from time to
time and it was called : ' * The Mysteries of the Jesuits ;"
"Arcana of the Society;" "Jesuit Machiavelism;"
"The Jesuit Cabinet;" "Jesuit Wolves;" "Jesuit
Intrigues," and so on. There appeared also a huge
publication of six or seven bulky volumes entitled
" Annales des soi-disants Jesuites," which is an encyclo-
pedia of all the accusations ever made against the
Society.
Another ex- Jesuit named Jarrige perpetrated the
libel known as " The Jesuits on the Scaffold, for their
Crimes in the Province of Guyenne." He, too, like
Zahorowski, when he came to his senses, repented
and tried ineffectually to make amends. The " Teatro
jesuitico " was also a source from which the assailants
of the Society drew their ammunition. It was con-
demned by the Inquisition on January 28, 1655, and
the Archbishop of Seville burned it publicly. Amauld
borrowed from it most of his material for the " Morale
pratique des Jesuites," and to give it importance, he
ascribed its authorship to the Bishop of Malaga,
Ildephonse of St. Thomas-. Whereupon the bishop
wrote to the Pope complaining that " an infamous
libel, unworthy of the hght of day, and composed
in the midst of the darkness of hell and bearing the
title: ' Morale pratique des Jesuites ' has fallen into
my hands, and I am said to be the author of it, —
a feat which would have been impossible, for it was
i
278 The Jesuits
published in 1654, when I was yet a student, and in
ill-health." Although this solemn denial was published
all through Europe, Pascal and his friends continued
to impute it to the bishop, according to Cr6tineau-
Joly; but Brou says that the mistake or the deceit
was admitted. The book, however, was not withdrawn,
and continued to do its evil work.
It was the Gunpowder Plot that inflicted on the
English language a great number of absurdities about
Jesuits. King James I of England led the way by
writing a book with the curious title: " Conjuratio
sulphurea, quibus ea rationibus et authoribus coeperit,
maturuerit, apparuerit; una cum reorum examine,"
that is " The sulphureous or hellish conjuration, for
what reasons and by what authors it was begun,
matured and brought to light; together with the
examination of the culprits." He also published a
" Defence of the Oath of Allegiance " which he had
exacted of Catholics. This elucubration was called:
" Triplici nodo triplex cuneus," which probably means
"A triple pry for the triple knot." In it he charges
the Pope with sending aid to the conspirators " his
henchmen the Jesuits who confessed that they were
its authors and designers. Their leader died con-
fessing the crime, and his accomplices admitted their
guilt by taking flight."
Such a charge formulated by a king against the
Sovereign Pontiff aroused all Europe, and Bellarmine
under the name of " Matthasus Tortus " descended
into the arena. Dr. Andrews replied with clumsy
humor by another book entitled, " Tortura Torti;"
that is " The Tortures of Tortus," for which he was
made a bishop. Then Bellarmine retorted in turn
and revealed the fact that his majesty had written
a personal letter to two cardinals, himself and Aldo-
brandini, asking them to forward a request to the
Battle of the Books 279
Pope to have a certain Scotchman, who was Bishop of
Vaison in France, made a cardinal, " so as to expedite
the transaction of business with the Holy See." The
letter was signed: " Beatitudinis vestrae obsequentissi-
mus filius J. R." (Your Holiness' most obsequious son,
James the King.) This sent James to cover and now
quite out of humor with himself, because of the storm
aroused in England by the disclosure of his duplicity,
he handed over new victims to the pursuivants, " so
that," as he said, " his subjects might make profit
of them," that is by the confiscation of estates. He
then got one of his secretaries to take upon himself
the odium- of the letter to Bellarmine, by saying that
he had signed the king's name to it. Every one, of
course, saw through the falsehood.
A most unexpected and interesting defender of
Father Garnet, who had been put to death by James,
appeared at this juncture. He was no less a personage
than Antoine Amauld, the famous Jansenist, who was
at that very moment tearing Garnet's brethren to
pieces in France. " No Catholic," he said, " no
matter how antagonistic he might be to Jesuits in
general, would ever accuse Garnet of such a crime,
and no Protestant would do so unless blinded by
rehgious hate " (Cretineau-Joly, IH, 98). James I and
Bellarmine came into collision again on another point
not, however, in such a personal fashion.
A Scotch lawyer named Barclay had written a book
on the authority of kings, in which he claimed that
their power had no limitations whatever; at least, he
went to the very limit of absolutism. Strange to say,
Barclay, who was a Catholic, had Jesuit affiliations.
He was professor of law in the Jesuit college of Pont-
a-Mousson, in France, where his uncle, Father Hay,
was rector. For some reason or another he went over
to England shortly after the accession of James I,
M
280 The Jesuits
whom he greatly admired, possibly because he was^
a Scot. There is no other reason visible to the naked
eye. He was received with extraordinary honor at
court and offered very lucrative offices if he would
declare himself an Anglican. He spumed the bribe
and returned to France where he resumed his office
of teaching. Cardinal Bellarmine -then appeared, re-
futing Barclay's ideas of kingship. The peculiarity of
Bellarmine's work was that it had nothing new in it.
It was merely a collation of old authorities, chiefly
French jurists who cut down the royal power con-
siderably. This threw the Paris parliament into a
frenzy, for they had all along been persuading their
fellow countrymen that the autocracy they claimed
for their monarchs was the immemorial tradition of
France. To hide their confusion, they ascribed to the
illustrious cardinal all sorts of doctrines, such as
regicide and the right of seizure of private property
by the 'Pope, and they demanded not only the con-
demnation but the public burning of the book.
The matter now assumed an international impor-
tance. Bellarmine was a conspicuous figure in the
Church, and his work had been approved by the
Pope, whose intimate friend he was. To condemn him
meant to condemn the Sovereign Pontiff, and would
thus necessarily be a declaration of a schism from
Rome. Probably that is what these premature
Gallicans were aiming at. Ubaldini, the papal nuncio,
immediately warned the queen regent, Mary de' Medici,
that if such an outrage were committed, he would hand
in his papers and leave Paris. Parliament fought
fiercely to have its way, and the battle raged with
fury for a long time until, finally, Mary saw the peril
of the situation and quashed the parliamentary decree
which had already been printed and was being cir-
culated.
Battle of the Books 281
In the midst of it all, the theory of Suarez on the
" Origin of Power " came into the hands of the parlia-
mentarians, and that added fuel to the flame ; Ubaldini
wrote to Rome on June 17, 16 14, that " the lawyer
Servin, who was like a demon in his hatred of Rome,
made a motion in parliament, first, that the work of
Suarez should be burned before the door of the three
Jesuit houses in Paris, in presence of two fathers of
each house; secondly, that an official condemnation
of it should be entered on the records; thirdly, that the
provincial, the superior of the Paris residence and four
other fathers should be cited before the parliament
and made to anathematize the doctrine of Suarez, and
fourthly, if they refused, that all the members of the
Society should be expelled from France." The
measure was not passed.
The book which did most harm to the Society in the
public mind was the " Lettres provinciales " by Pascal,
though the " Lettres " were not intended primarily
or exclusively as an attack on the Jesuits. Their
purpose was to make the people forget or condone the
dishonesty of the Jansenists in denying that the five
propositions, censured by the Holy See, were really
contained in the " Augustinus " of Jansenius. At the
suggestion of Amauld, Pascal undertook to show that
other supposedly orthodox writers, including the
Jesuits, had advanced doctrines which merited but had
escaped censure. The letters appeared serially and
were entitled: " Les Provinciales, ou Lettres ecrites
par Louis de Montalte a un Provincial de ses amis,
et aux RR. PP. Jesuites, sur la morale et la politique
de ces Peres." They took the world by storm, first
because they revealed a literary genius of the first
order in the youthful Pascal, who until then had been
engrossed in the study of mathematics, and who was
also, at the time of writing, in a shattered state of
282 The Jesuits
health. Secondly, because they blasted the reputation
of a great religious order, and reproduced in exquisite
language the atrocious calumnies that had been
poured out on the world by the " Monita secreta,"
the " Historia jesuitici ordinis," Pasquier's " Cate-
chism " and the rest. The doctrinal portion of the
letters was evidently not Pascal's; that was supplied
to him by Amauld and Quinet, for Pascal had neither
the time nor the training necessary even to read the
deep theological treatises which he quotes and professes
to have read.
To be accused of teaching lax morality by those
who were intimately associated with and supported
by such an indescribable prelate as the Cardinal
Archbishop of Paris, Gondi, was particularly galling
to the French Jesuits, and unfortunately it had the
effect of provoking them to answer the charges. " In
doing so," says Cretineau-Joly, " the Jesuits killed
themselves;" and Brou, in " Les Jesuites et la legende,"
is of the opinion that " more harm was done to the
Society by these injudicious and incompetent defenders
than by Pascal himself. It would have been better
to have said nothing." On the other hand. Petit de
Julleville, in his " Histoire de la langue et de la
litterature frangaise," tells us that one of these Jesuit
champions induced Pascal to discontinue his attacks,
just at the moment that the world was rubbing its
hands with glee and expecting the fiercest kind of an
onslaught. " I wish," said Morel, addressing
himself to Pascal, " that after a sincere reconciliation
with the Jesuits, you would turn your pen against the
heretics, the unbelievers, the libertines, and the
corruptors of morals." The fact is that although
Pascal did not seek a reconciliation with the Jesuits,
he suddenly and unaccountably stopped writing against
them; and in 1657 he actually turned his pen against
Battle of the Books 283
the Kbertines of France, as he had been asked (IV, 604).
Mere Ang61ique, Amauld's sister, is also credited
with having had something to do with this cessation
of hostiHties, when she wrote: "Silence would be
better and more agreeable to God who would be more
quickly appeased by tears and by penance than by
eloquence which amuses more people than it converts."
Perhaps the entrance of the great Boiurdaloue on
the scene contributed something to this change of
attitude on the part of the Jansenist. As court preacher,
he had it in his power to refute the calumnies of Amauld
and Pascal, and he availed himself of the opportimity
with marvellous power and effect. In the " Causeries
du Lundi " Sainte-Beuve, who favored the Jansenists,
writes: " In saying that the Jesuits made no direct
and categorical denial to the Provinciales, until forty
years later, when Daniel took up his pen, we forget
that long and continual refutation by Bourdaloue
in his public sermons in which there is nothing .lacking
except the proper names; but his hearers and his
contemporaries in general, who were familiar with the
controversies and were partisans of either side, easily
supplied these. Thus in his Sermon on ' Lying ' he
paints that vice with most exquisite skill, adding
touch after touch, till it stands out in all its hideousness.
As he speaks, you see it before you with its subtle
sinuosities from the moment it begins the attack,
under the preitence of .an amicable censorship, up to
the moment when the complete calumny is reiterated
under the guise of friendship and religion." The
following extract is an example of this method. >
" One of the abuses of the age," says Bourdaloue,'
" is the consecration of falsehood and its transformation
into virtue; yea, even into one of the greatest of
virtues : zeal for the glory of God. * We must humiliate
those people;' they say, ' it will be helpful to the Church
284 The Jesuits
to blast their reputation and diminish their credit.*
On this principle they form their conscience, and there
is nothing they will not allow themselves when actuated
by such a charming motive. So, they exaggerate;
they poison; they distort ; .they relate things by halves;
they utter a thousand untruths; they confound the
general with the particular; what one has said badly,
they ascribe to all; and what all have said well they
attribute to none. And they do all this — for the
glory of God. This forming of their intention justifies
everything ; and though it would not suffice to excuse an
equivocation, it is more than sufficient in their eyes
to justify a calumny when they are persuaded that
it is all for the service of God."
"If Bourdaloue," continues Sainte-Beuve, "while
detailing, in this exquisite fashion, the vice of lying,
had not before his mind Pascal and his Provinciates,
and if he was not painting, feature by feature, certain
personalities whom his hearers recognized; and if
while he was doing it, they were not shocked, even
though they could not help admiring the artist, then
there are no portraits in Saint-Simon and La Bruy^re
It would not be hard to prove that the preaching
of Bourdaloue for thirty years was a long and powerful
refutation of the Provinciates, an eloquent and daily
drive at Pascal."
It must have been an immense consolation for the
Jesuits of those days, wounded as they were to the quick
by the misrepresentation and calumnies of writers like
Arnauld, Pascal, Nicole and others, to have the
saintly Bourdaloue, the ideal Jesuit, occupying the
the first place in the pubHc eye, thus defending them.
Bourdaloue had entered the Society at fifteen, and
hence was absolutely its product. He was a man of
prayer and study, and when not in the pulpit he was
in the confessional or at the bedside of the sick and
Battle of the Books 285
dying poor. He was naturally quick and impulsive,
but he had been trained to absolute self-control; he
was even gay and merry in conversation, and his eyes
sparkled with pleasure as he spoke. The story that
he closed them while preaching is, of course, nonsense,
and the picture that represents him thus was taken from
a death masque. He labored uninterruptedly till he
was seventy-two and died on May 13, 1704. Very
fittingly his last Mass was on Pentecost Sunday.
An excellent modem discussion of the Letters
appeared in the Irish quarterly "Studies" of Septem-
ber, 1920. The writer, the noted author Hilaire Belloc,
reminds his readers of certain important facts.
First, casuistry is not chicanery nor is it restricted
to ecclesiastics ; it is employed by lawyers, physicians,
scientific, and even business men, in considering condi-
tions which are without a precedent and have not yet
reached the ultimate tribunal which is to settle the
matter. Secondly, as in the discussion of ecclesiastical
" cases," the terms employed are technical, just as
are those of law, medicine, science ; and as the lan-
guage is Latin, no one is competent to interpret
the verdict arrived at, unless he is conversant both
with theology and the Latin language. " I doubt,"
he says, " if there is any man living in England to-
day — of all those glibly quoting the name of Pascal
against the Church — who could tell you what the
Mohatra Contract was " — one of the subjects dragged
into these " Lettres." Thirdly, the " Lettres " are
not so much an assault on the Society of Jesus, as on
the whole system of moral theology of the Catholic
Church. There are eighteen letters in all, and it is not
until the fifth that the Jesuits are assailed. The attack
is kept up until the tenth and then dropped. From the
thousands of decisions advanced by a vast number of
t professors ' regular and secular ' Pascal brings forward
i
286 The Jesuits
only those of the Jesuits; and of the many thousands
of " cases " discussed he selects only one hundred and
thirty-two, which, if the repetitions be eliminated,
must be reduced to eighty-nine.
Of these eighty-nine cases three are clearly misquo-
tations — for Pascal was badly briefed. Many others
are put so as to suggest v.'hat the casuist never said,
that is a special case is made a general rule of morals.
Many more are frivolous, and others are purely
domestic controversy upon points of Catholic practice
which cannot concern the opponents of the Jesuits,
and in which they cannot pretend an active interest
on Pascal's or the Society's side. When the whole list
has been gone through there remain fourteen cases of
importance. In eight of these, relating to duelling
and the risk of homicide, the opinions of some casuists
were subsequently, at one time or another, condemned
by the Church (seven of the decisions had declared
the liceity of duelling under very exceptional circum-
stances, when no other means were available to
protect one's honor or fortune). Pascal was right in
condemning the opinions, but was quite wrong in
presenting them as normal decisions, given under
ordinary circumstances by Jesuits generally. Three
of the remaining six decisions have never been censured ;
but Pascal by his tricky method of presenting them
out of their context has caused the solutions to be
confused with certain condemned propositions.
A just analysis leaves of the one hundred and
thirty-two decisions exactly three — one on simony,
one on the action of a judge in receiving presents,
and the third on usury — all three of which are doubtful
and matters for discussion. There is besides these,
the doctrine of equivocation, which is a favorite shaft
against the Society. Of this Belloc says: "This
specifically condemned form of equivocation (that is.
Battle of the Books 287
equivocation involving a private reservation of
meaning), moreover, was not particularly Jesuit. It
had been debated at length, and favorably, long before
the Jesuit Order came into existence, and within the
great casuist authorities of that Order there were wide
differences of opinion upon it. Azor, for instance,
condemns instances which Sanchez allows. Of all
this conflict Pascal allows you to hear nothing."
Finally, it may be noted that the " Provincial Letters "
were not a plea for truth, but a device to distract the
public mind from the chicanery of the Jansenists, who,
when the famous " five propositions " were condemned,
pretended that they were not in the " Augustinus "
written by Jansenius.
Perhaps the commonest libel formulated against
the Society is the accusation that it is the teacher, if
not the author, of the immoral maxim: "the end
justifies the means ", which signifies that an action,
bad in itself, becomes good if performed for a good
purpose. If the Society ever taught this doctrine, at
least it cannot be charged with having the monopoly
of it. Thus, for instance, the great Protestant empire
which is the legitimate progeny of Martin Luther's
teaching, proclaimed to the world that the diabolical
" f rightfulness " which it employed in the late war
was prompted solely by its desire for peace. On the
other side of the Channel, an Anglican prelate informed
his contemporaries that " the British Empire could
not be carried on for a week, on the principles of the
' Sermon on the Mount ' " (The Month, Vol. io6, p.
255). The same might be predicated of numberless
other powers and principalities past and present. The
ruthless measures resorted to in business and politics
for the suppression of rivalry are a matter of common
knowledge. Finally, every unbiased mind will concede
that the persistent use of poisonous gas by the foes
288 The Jesuits
of the Society is nothing else than a carrying out of
the maxim of " the end justifies the means."
It has been proved times innumerable that this
odious doctrine was never taught by the Society, and
the average Jesuit regards each recrudescence of the
charge as an insufferable annoyance, and usually
takes no notice of it; but, in our own times, the bogey
has presented itself in such an unusual guise, that the
event has to be set down as one more item of domestic
history. It obtruded itself on the public in Germany
in 1903, when a secular priest, Canon Dasbach, an
ardent friend of the Society, offered a prize of 2000
florins to any one who would find a defense of the
doctrine in any Jesuit publication. The challenge
was accepted by Count von Hoensbroech, who after
failing in his controversy with the canon, availed
himself of a side issue to bring the question before the
civil courts of Treves and Cologne.
Apparently von Hoensbroech was well qualified for
his task. He was an ex-Jesuit and had hved for years
in closest intimacy with some of the most distinguished
moralists and theologians of the Order: Lehmkuhl,
Cathrein, Pesch and others, in the house of studies,
at Exaeten in Holland; so that the world rubbed its
hands in glee, and waited for revelations. He was,
however, seriously hampered by some of his own
earlier utterances. Thus, when he left the Society
in 1893, he wrote in " Mein Austritt aus dem Jesuit-
enorden," as follows: " The moral teachings, under
which members of the Society are trained, are beyond
reproach, and the charges so constantly brought
against Jesuit moralists are devoid of any foundation."
Over and above this, he was somewhat disqualified as
a witness, inasmuch as he not only had left the Society
but had apostatized from the Faith, and, though a
priest, had married a wife; he was, moreover, notorious
Battle of the Books 289
as a rancorous Lutheran (Civiltii Cattolica, an. 56,
p. 8.) But the lure of the florins led him on, only to
have the case thrown out by one court, as beyond its
jurisdiction, and decided against him in the other;
the verdict was also heartily endorsed by conspicuous
Protestants and Freethinkers. Hoensbroech is dead,
but the spectre of " the end justifying the means "
still stalks the earth, and may be heard from at any
moment.
Pascal's " Provincial Letters " were not the only
source of worry for the Jesuits in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. Many other calumnious pub-
lications appeared, such as "La morale des jesuites,"
"Disquisitions," "NuUites" etc., all of which had
the single purpose of poisoning the public mind. The
battle continued until an enforced peace was obtained
by a joint order of the Pope and king prohibiting any
further issues of that character from the press. That,
however, did not check the determination of the Jan-
senists to crush the Society in other ways. Thus, as
early as 1650, the Archbishop of Sens, who was strongly
Jansenistic, forbade the Jesuits to hear confessions
in his diocese at Easter-time, and three years later,
he declared from the pulpit that the theology of the
Jesuits was taken from the Koran rather than from
the Gospels, and that their philosophy was more
pagan than Christian. He called for their ex-
pulsion as schismatics, heretics and worse, and de-
clared that all confessions made to them were invalid
and sacrilegious. Finally, he proceeded to excommuni-
cate them with bell, book and candle. They withdrew
from his diocese but were brought back by the next
bishop a quarter of a century later.
Another enemy of the Society was Cardinal Le
Camus of Grenoble, who forbade them to teach or
preach ; and when Saint-Just, who had been fifteen years
19
290 The Jesuits
rector of the college, complained of it to some friends,
he was suspended and accused of a grievous crime of
which he was absolutely innocent. "WTien he brought
the matter to court, Father General Oliva censured
him for doing so and removed him from office. San-
tarelli, an Italian Jesuit, launched a book on the
public which produced a great excitement. He pro-
posed to prove that the Pope had the power of deposing
kings who were guilty of certain crimes, and of absolving
subjects from their allegiance. In Paris it was inter-
preted as advocating regicide, and was immediately
ascribed to the whole Society; and it was condemned
by the Sorbonne. Richelieu was especially wrought
up about it. Poor Father Coton, the king's confessor,
who was grievously ill at the time, almost collapsed
at the news of its publication. The author had not
perceived that the politics of the world were no longer
those of the Middle Ages.
The " Manual of Cases of Conscience " of Antonio
Escobar y Mendoza, the Spanish theologian, furnished
infinite material for the Jansenists of France to blacken
the name of the Society. Necessarily, every enormity
that human nature can be guilty of is discussed in
such treatises, but it would be just as absurd to charge
their authors with writing them for the purpose of
inculcating vice, as it would be to accuse medical
practitioners of propagating disease by their clinics
and dissecting rooms. The purpose of both is to heal
and prevent, not to communicate disease, whether it
be of the soul or body. In both cases, the books that
treat of such matters are absolutely restricted to the
use of the profession, and as an additional precaution,
in the matter of moral theology, the treatises are
written in Latin, so that they cannot be understood
by people who have nothing to do with such disagreeable
and sometimes disgusting topics. To accuse the men
Battle of the Books 291
who condemned themselves to the study of such
subjects solely that they might lift depraved human-
ity out of the depths into which it descends, is
an outrage. ""
This literary war crossed the ocean to the French
•possessions of Canada, and much of the religious
trouble that disturbed the colony from the beginning
may be traced to the editorial activity of the Jansenists
of France. Thus, when Brebeuf, Charles Lalemant
and Masse came up the St. Lawrence, after a terrible
voyage across the Atlantic, they were actually forbidden
to land. The pamphlet known as " Anti-Coton "
had been distributed and read by the few colonists
who were then on the Rock of Quebec, and they would
have nothing to do with the associates of a man who
like Coton, was represented as rejoicing in the assassi-
nation of Henry IV. It did not matter that Father
Coton and the king were not only intimate but most
affectionate friends, and that assassination in such
circumstances would be inconceivable; that it was
asserted in print was enough to cause these three
glorious men, who were coming to die for the Catholic
Faith and for France, to be forbidden to land at Quebec.
This anti-Coton manifestation in the early days of the
colony was only a prelude to the antagonism that runs
all through early Canadian history. It was kept up
by a clique of writers in France, chief of whom were
the Jansenist Abbes Bemou and Renaudot. Their
contributions may be found in the voluminous collection
known as Margry's " Decouvertes," which Parkman
induced the United States government to print in
the language in which they were written. They teem
with the worst kind of libels against the Society.
Some of them pretend to have been written in America,
but are so grotesque that the forgery is palpable.
Indeed, among them is a letter from Bemou to Renau-
292 The Jesuits
dot which says: " Get La Salle to give me some points
and I will write the Relation."
The missionary labors of de Nobili, de Britto, Beschij
and others in Madura, a dependency of the ecclesiastical!
province of Tvlalabar, had been so successful thatj
they evoked considerable literary fury, both inside and'
outside the Church, chiefly with regard to the Hceity
of certain rites or customs which the natives had been
allowed to retain after baptism. In 1623 Gregory XV
had decided that they could be permitted provisionally,
and the practice was, therefore, continued by Beschi,
Bouchet and others who had extended their apostolic
work into Pondicherry and the Camatic. But about
the year 1700 the question was again mooted, in
consequence of the transfer of the Pondicherry territory
to the exclusive care of the Jesuits. The Capuchins
who were affected by the arrangement appealed to
Rome, adding also a protest against the Rites. The
first part of the charge was not admitted, but the latter
was handed over for examination to de Toumon,
who was titular Patriarch of Antioch.
As soon as he arrived at Pondicherry, without going
into the interior of the country, he took the testimony
of the Capuchins, questioned the Jesuits only cursorily,
and also a few natives through interpreters. He then
condemned the Rites and forbade the missionaries
under heavy penalties to allow them. His decree was
made known to the Jesuit superior only three days
before he left the place, and hence there was no possi-
bility of enhghtening him. The Pope then ordered
de Toumon's verdict to be carried out, quahfying it,
however, by adding " in so far as the Divine glory and
the salvation of souls would permit." The mission-
aries protested without avail, and the question was
discussed by two successive pontiffs. Finally, Innocent
XIII insisted on de Toumon's decree being obeyed in
Battle of the Books 293
all its details, but it is doubtful if the document ever
reached the missions. Benedict XIII reopened the
question later, and ruled upon each article of de
Toumon's decision, and a Brief was issued to that
effect in 1734.
Into this question the Jansenists of France injected
themselves so vigorously that even the bibliography
for and against the Rites is bewildering in its extent.
One contribution consists of eight volumes in French
and seven in Italian. In his history of Jansenism in
" The Catholic Encyclopedia " Dr. Forget of the Uni-
versity of Louvain says: " The sectaries [in the middle
of the eighteenth century] began to detach themselves
from the primitive heresy, but they retained unabated
the spirit of insubordination and schism, the spirit of
opposition to Rome, and above aU a mortal hatred
of the Jesuits. They had vowed the ruin of that
order, which they always found blocking their way,
and in order to attain their end they successively
induced Catholic princes and ministers in Portugal,
France, Spain, Naples, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies,
the Duchy of Parma, and elsewhere to join hands
with the worst leaders of impiety and philosophism."
Besides the Jansenists, " every Protestant writer of
distinction with two or three exceptions," says Marshall
(Christian Missions, I, 226), " has ascribed the success
of the mission of Madura and its wonderful results to
a guilty connivance with pagan superstition. La
Croze, Geddes, Hough and other writers of their class
in a long succession luxuriate in language of which we
need not offer a specimen, and direct against de Nobili
and his successors charges of forgery, imposture,
superstition, idolatry, and various other crimes."
" There is one name," continues the same writer,
"which invariably occurs in the writings referred to;
one witness whom they aU quote and to whom the
294 The Jesuits
whole history is to be traced. That witness is Father
Norbert, ex-Capuchin and ex-missionary of India."
In a work pubhshed by this person in 1744, all the
fables which have since been repeated as grave historical
facts are found. He is quoted, apparently without
suspicion, by Dr. Grant in his " Bampton Lectures,"
yet a very little inquiry and even a reference to so
common a book, as the " Biographic universelle "
would have revealed to him the real character of the
witness by whose help he has not feared to defame
some of the most heroic and evangelical men who
ever devoted their lives to the service of God, and the
salvation of their fellow creatures.
" Norbert," says Marshall, " was one of those
ordinary missionaries who had utterly failed to convert
the Hindoo by the usual methods, and who was as
incapable of imitating the terrible austerities by which
the Jesuits prepared their success, as he was of re-
joicing in triumphs of which he had no share. Stung
with mortal jealousy and yielding to the suggestions
of a malice which amounted almost to frenzy, he
attacked the Jesuits with fury even from the pulpit.
The civil power was forced to interfere, and Dupleix,
the Governor of Pondicherry, though he had been his
friend, put him on board ship and sent him to America.
There he spent two years less occupied in the work of
the missions than in planning schemes to revenge
himself on the Jesuits. The publication of the
mendacious work in which he treated the Society of
Jesus as a band of malefactors was prohibited by the
authorities ; but he quitted Rome and printed it secretly.
" Condemned by his Order, though he affected to
vindicate it from the injuries of the Jesuits, he fled
to Holland and thence to England, in both of which
countries he found congenial spirits. In the latter, he
established first a candle and afterwards a carpet
Battle of the Books 295
factory, under the patronage of the Duke of Cumber-
land. Thence he wandered into Germany, and sub-
sequently, having obtained his secularization and put
off the religious habit which he had defiled, he went to
Portugal. Here remorse seems to have overtaken him
and he was permitted by an excess of charity to assume
once more the habit of a Capuchin, which he a second
time laid aside. Finally, after having attempted to
deceive the Sovereign Pontiff, he died in a wretched
condition in an obscure village of France." The
" Biographic universelle " gives some more details
which are useful as a matter of history. After Benedict
XIV had forbidden Norbert to print his book, he
brought it out either at Lucca or Avignon ; in England
he assumed his old name of Peter Parisot; when he
landed in Germany he was kno-^Ti as Curel, and when
in France his pen-name was Abbe Platel. According
to the " Biographic," " Norbert was dull and heavy,
without talent or style and would have been incapable
of writing a single page if he were not actuated by hate.
All of his works have passed into oblivion."
Americans have not been troubled to any extent by
such publications, except, perhaps in one instance,
when a certain R.W. Thompson, who had been Secretary
of the Navy, though he lived looo miles from the sea,
warned his fellow-countrymen in 1894 that the one
danger for the Constitution of the United States was
the teaching of the Jesuits. Even the Church is in
peril, because " their system of moral theology is
irreconcilable with the Roman Catholic religion."
" I refrain from discussing it," he says, " because that
has been sufficiently done by Pascal and Paul Bert."
No one was excessively alarmed by the " Footprints
of the Jesuits."
CHAPTER X
THE TWO AMERICAS
I 567-1 673
Chile and Peru — Valdivia — Peruvian Bark — Paragtiay Reduc-
tions — Father Fields — Emigration from Brazil — Social and religious
prosperity of the Reductions — Martyrdom of twenty-nine mission-
aries — Reductions in Colombia — Peter Claver — French West
Indies — St. Kitts — Irish Exiles — Father Bath or Destriches —
Montserrat — Emigration to Guadeloupe — Other Islands — Guiana
— Mexico — Lower California — The Pious Fund — The Philippines
— Canada Missions — Br^beuf, Jogues, Le Moyne, Marquette —
Maryland — White — Lewger.
In 1567 Philip II asked for twenty Jesuits to evangelize
Peru. The request was granted, and in the Lent
of 1568 the first band arrived at Callao and made its
way to Lima. They were so cordially welcomed, says
Astrain, that the provincial found it necessary to warn
his men that much would have to be done to live up
to the public expectation. Means were immediately
put at their disposal, and they set to work at the
erection of a college. While the college was being
built they heard confessions, visited the jails and
hospitals, gave lectures on canon law to the priests
of the cathedral, and started their great training school
on Lake Titicaca, to which we have already referred.
There the novices were set to learn the native languages
to prepare them for their future work. For the moment
the population of the city also gave them plenty to
do. It was made up of three classes of people: negroes,
half-breeds, and wealthy Spaniards. Father Lopez
looked after the negroes, and by degrees succeeded in
putting a stop to their orgies and indecent dances.
Others were, meantime, taking care of the whites and
[2%1
The Two Americas 297
mestizos. The usual Jesuit sodalities were put in
working order, and soon it was a common thing to see
the young fashionables of the city laying aside their
cloaks and swords, and helping the sick in the hospitals,
going around to the huts of the poor or visiting criminals
in the jails.
A new detachment of missionaries arrived in the
following year with the Viceroy Toledo, who evidently
took to them too kindly on the way over, for besides
their normal duties, he wanted them to assume the
office of parish priests, and he immediately wrote to
Philip II to that effect. They refused, of course,
with the consequence of an unpleasant state of feeling
in their regard on the part of the authorities. Indeed,
the pressure became so great that the superior finally
yielded to a certain extent, and even assigned some
of his professed to the work, but he was promptly
summoned to Europe for his weakness. Meantime
novices came swarming in, among them Bemardin
d'Acosta, whose virtues merited for him, later on,
a place in the " Menology." There was also little
Oviando, called the Stanislaus of Peru. He was an
abandoned child whose parents had come out to America
and had lost him or had died, and he was begging his
bread in the streets of Lima when the Fathers picked
him up. They sent him to the college and helped him
to become a saint.
The great man of Peru and, subsequently, of
Chile, was Father Luis de Valdivia, who was hailed
by both Indians and whites as " the apostle, pacificator
and liberator of Peru . ' ' The Indians had fascinated him ,
and he learned their language in a month or so. When
he saw that the only difficulty in making them
Christians was the slavery to which they were sub-
jected, coupled with the immorality of their Spanish
masters, he got himself named as the representative
298 The Jesuits
of the colonial authorities, and started to Spain to
lay before Philip III the degraded condition of his
overseas possessions. The king received him cordially,
enacted the most stringent laws against the abuses,
and appointed him royal visitor and administrator of
Chile, where similar disorders were complained of.
He also wanted to make him a bishop, but Valdivia
refused. Returning to Peru from Spain, he gave
10,000 Indians their freedom. When that got abroad
among the savages, all the tribes that were then in
rebellion immediately came to terms, and on December
8, 161 2, the grand chief Utablame, with sixty caciques
and a half-a-score of pagan priests, all of them wearing
wreaths of sea-weed on their heads, and holding green
branches in their hands, descended from their fast-
nesses and the grand chief, their spokesman, addressed
Valdivia as follows: " It is not fear that makes me
accept the peace. Since my boyhood I have not
ceased to defy the Spaniards, and I have withstood
sixteen governors one after another. I yield now only
to you, good and great Father, and to the King of Spain,
because of the benefits you have bestowed upon me
and my people."
In spite of the difficulties and dangers of the work,
as well as the calumnies of the slave-hunters and even
the wrong impressions of some of his brethren,
Valdivia succeeded in establishing four great central
Indian missions, which evoked the commendation of
successive kings of Spain. Before Valdivia went to
Chile, Viga, who had been there since 1593, had already
compiled a dictionary and grammar in Araucanian,
and Valdivia followed his example by writing other
books to facilitate the work of the missionaries. The
colleges founded at Arauco and also at Valdivia —
a town named not after the missionary, but to honor
his namesake, the governor of the province — furnished
The Two Americas 299
a base of operations among the Araucanian savages,
a fierce and, for a long time, indomitable people, who
were united against the Spaniards in a league com-
posed of forty different tribes. The work among them
was slow and hard, and three of the priests were killed
by them in the wilderness. Their success also aroused
the colonists to fury, and a war of extermination of the
Indians was resolved upon, but Valdivia opposed it,
and not only succeeded in getting the Araucanians to
agree to terms of peace, but brought in the Guagas,
and persuaded them to lay down their arms. The
great missionary was eighty-two years of age when
called to his reward.
The famous Peruvian bark was brought to Europe
about this time, but it was regarded with extreme
suspicion because of its sponsors, and the wildest
stories were told of it. Medical treatises teemed with
discussions about its properties, some condemning,
others commending it. Von Humboldt says: " It
almost goes without saying that, among Protestant
physicians, hatred of the Jesuits and religious intoler-
ance were at the bottom of the long conflict over the
good or evil effected by the drug." The illustrious
physician, Bado, gave as his opinion that " it was
more precious than all the gold and silver which the
Spaniards obtained in South America."
It was in 1586, eighteen years after their arrival
in Peru, that the work of the Jesuits in Paraguay was
inaugurated. Francisco de Victoria, Dominican Bishop
of Tucuman had invited them to his diocese, which
lay east of the Andes, and his brother in religion,
Alonso Guerra, Bishop of Asuncion, which was on the
Rio de la Plata or Parana River, also summoned them to
his aid, both for the whites and Indians of his flock.
They obeyed, and without delay colleges, residences,
and retreats for the Spiritual Exercises were instituted
300 The Jesuits
in Santiago del Estero, Asuncion, C6rdoba, Buenos
Aires, Corrientes, Tarija, Salta, Tucuman, Santa Fe and
elsewhere. These were for the civilized portion of the
community, while a new system was devised to save
the Indians from their white oppressors. These poor
wretches knew the colonists only as slave-dealers and
butchers; hence, every attempt to teach them a re-
ligion which the whites were alleged to follow was futile.
On the other hand, when it was represented to
the authorities that Indian slavery had to cease
before the natives could be pacified, angry protests
were heard on all sides, even from some of the resident
priests who maintained that the proper thing for a
savage was to be a Spaniard's slave. The missionaries
took the matter in their own hands, as they had done
in Peru. They went to Spain and applied for royal
protection. They obtained what they wanted, so
without waiting for the edict to arrive, began their
work by plunging into the woods, where cougars,
pumas, serpents and savages met them at every step.
But this vigorous act only enraged the colonists the
more, and the inhuman method of cutting off the
missionaries' food-supplies was resorted to in order to
force them into submission.
In this group of heroic apostles there was, curiously
enough, an Irish Jesuit whom Cretineau-Joly calls
Tom Filds, which is probably a Spanish or French
attempt at phonetics for Tom Fields, or O'Fihily, or
O'Fealy, a Limerick exile. Paraguay was the second
field of his missionary labors, for he had previously
been associated with the Venerable Jos6 Anchieta in the
forests of Brazil. He had left Ireland when very
yoimg, and after studying at Paris, Douay and Louvain,
had gone to Rome to begin his novitiate. Six months
of trial were sufficient to prove the solidity of his virtue,
and he then walked all the way from Rome to Lisbon,
The Two Americas 301
to take ship for America. He reached the Bay of All
Saints in 1577, and spent ten years in the wilderness,
with sufferings, privations and danger of death at every
step. From thence he was sent to Paraguay, but was
captured by pirates at the mouth of the Rio Plata,
and then, loaded with chains, he and his companion,
Manuel de Ortega were cast adrift in a battered hulk
which drifted ashore at Buenos Aires, where their help
as missionaries was gladly welcomed. He was at
Asuncion when the plague broke out, and the way
in which he faced his duty won " Father Tom " as
great a reputation among the white men as he had
already acquired among his copper-colored brethren.
When the plague was over, he again became a forest
ranger, and in 1602 found himself all alone among the
Indians, his companion, Father de Ortega, having been
cited before the Inquisition on some ridiculous charge
or other. O'Fealy finally died at Asuncion on May 8,
1624, at the good old age of seventy-eight, after fifty
hard years as a South American missionary — ten in
Brazil and fort}'' in Paraguay.
These journeys among the wandering tribes in the
wilderness gave occasion, it is true, for extraordinary
heroism, and saved many a soul, but the results were
far from being in proportion to the energy expended.
Hence, at the suggestion of Father Aquaviva, the
missionaries all met at Saca, far out under the Andes,
and determined to gather the Indians together in
separate colonies which no white man, except the
government officials, would be allowed to enter. Such
was the origin of the " Paraguay Reductions," which
have won such enthusiastic admiration from writers
like Chateaubriand, Buffon, de Maistre, Haller,
Montesquieu, Robertson, Mackintosh, Howitt, Mar-
shall, Muratori, Charlevoix, Schirmbeck, Grasset,
Kobler, du Graty, Gothain, and even Voltaire. The
302 The Jesuits
most recent eulogist of all is Cunninghame-Graham in
his " Vanished Arcadia." The villages in which these
converted Indians lived were called " reductions,"
because the natives had been brought back
(re, diicir) from the wilds and forests by the preaching
of the missionaries to live there in organized com-
munities under Christian laws.
The first reduction was tyggun in 1609, in the province
of Guayara, approximately the present Brazilian
territory of Parana. In 16 10 another was inaugurated
on the Rio Paranapanema ; in 161 1 the Reduction of
San Ignacio-mini, and, between that year and 1630,
eleven others with a total population of about 10,000
Indians. The savages flocked to them from all
quarters, for these reservations afTorded the only
protection from the organized bands of man-hunters
who scoured the country — the Mamelukes, as they
were called because of their relentless ferocity. They
were also described as " Paulistas," probably because
they generally foregathered in the district of lower
Brazil, known as St. Paul. These wTCtches, half-
breeds or the offscourings of every race, made light of
royal decrees or the angry fulminations of helpless
governors, and when they could find no victims in the
forests, did not hesitate to attack the Reductions
themselves. Theseraidsbeganin 1618. In 1630 alone,
according to Huonder (in the Catholic Encyclopedia)
no less than 30,000 Indians were either murdered or
carried off into slavery in what is now the Brazilian
state of Rio Grande do Sul.
This led to the great exodus. Father Simon Maceta
abandoned the northern or Guayara mission altogether,
and taking the survivors of the massacres, along with
the Indians who were every day hurrying in from the
forests, led them to the stations on the Parana and
Uruguay. It was a difficult journey, and only 12,000
The Two Americas 303
reached their destination, but they served to reinforce
the population already there, and in 1648 the Governor
of Buenos Aires reported that in nineteen Reductions
there was a population of 30,548; by 1677 it had risen
to 58,118. He found also that they had determined
to live no longer as sheep, waiting to be devoured by
the first human wolves that might descend on them,
but were fully armed and disciplined by their Jesuit
preceptors. Indeed, in 1640 ten years after the
Guarani massacre, they could put a well-trained army
in the field, not only against the Mamelukes, but against
the Portuguese, who, from time to time, attempted an
invasion of Spanish territory from Brazil. This
military formation was not only permitted but en-
couraged by the king. He repeatedly sent the Indians
muskets and ammunition, and later they built an
armory themselves, and made their own powder.
They had their regular drills and sham battles, with
both infantry and cavalry, which did splendid service
year after year in repelling invasions and suppressing
rebellions. Nor did they ever cost the crown a penny
for such services. Loyalty to the king was inculcated,
and Philip V declared in a famous decree that he had
no more faithful subjects than the Indians of Paraguay.
The Indians of the Reductions were taught all the
trades, and became carpenters, joiners, painters,
sculptors, masons, goldsmiths, tailors, weavers, dyers,
bakers, butchers, tanners etc., and their artistic ability
is still seen in the ruins of the missions. They were
also cultivators and herdsmen, and some of the stations
could count .as many as 30,000 sheep and 100,000
head of cattle. They built fine roads leading to the
other Reductions, and, on the great waterways of the
Parana alone, as many as 2000 boats were employed
transporting the merchandise of the various centres.
They were, above all, taught their religion, and their
304 The Jesuits
morals were so pure that the Bishop of Buenos Aires
wrote to the king that he thought no mortal sin was
ever committed in the Reductions. The churches
occupied the central place in the villages, and their
ruins show what architectural works these men of the
forest were capable of accomplishing. The streets were
laid out in parallel line's, and the principal ones were
paved. In course of time the primitive huts were
replaced by solid stone houses with tiled roofs, and
were so constructed that connecting verandas enabled
the people to walk from house to house, under shelter,
from one end to the other of the settlement.
The Reductions extended as far as Bolivia on one
side, and to northern Patagonia on the other, and from
the Atlantic to the Andes. Altogether there were
about a hundred of them, and as their formation
required the subduing and transforming of the wildest
type of savage into a civilized man, it is not surprising
that in effecting this stupendous result as many as
twenty-nine Jesuits suffered death by martyrdom.
In 1598 the Jesuits Medrano and Figuero were in
Nueva Granada or what is now called The United
States of Colombia. They also buried themselves in
the forests, after having done their best to reform the
morals of the colonists at Bogota. Not that they had
abandoned the city; on the contrary, they established
a college there in 1604, and others later in Pamplona,
Merida and Honda. At first the natives fled from them
in terror, but little by little, the presents which these
strange white men pressed on them won their con-
fidence, and helped to persuade them to settle in
Reductions. Three of the Fathers lost their lives in
that work, devoured by cougars or stung by venomous
serpents. Unfortunately, the bishop was persuaded
that the Indian settlements were merely mercantile
establishments gotten up by the Jesuits for money-
The Two Americas 305
making, and all the fruit of many years of dangers
and hardships was taken out of their hands and given
to others.
There was no one, however, to covet the place of
Peter Claver, who was devoting himself to the care
of the filth3^ diseased, and brutalized negroes who were
being literally dumped by tens of thousands in Carta-
gena, to be sold into slavery to the colonists. He had
come out from Spain in 1610, after the old lay-brother,
Alfonso Rodriguez, had led him to the heights of
sanctity and determined his vocation in the New
World. His work was revolting, but Claver loved it,
and as soon as a vessel arrived he was on hand with
his interpreters. They hurried down into the fetid
holds with food, clothing and cordials, which had
been begged from the people in the town. It did not
worry Claver that the poor wretches were sick with
small pox or malignant fevers; he would carry them
out on his back, nurse them into health, and even
bury them with his own hands when they died. The
unfortunate blacks had never seen anything like that
before, and they eagerly listened to all he had to say
about God, and made no difficulty about being baptized,
striving as well as they could to shape their lives
along the lines of conduct he traced out for them.
He was on his feet night and day, going from bed
to bed in the rude hospitals, with supplies of fruit
and wine for the sick. He even brought bands of
music to play for them, and showed them pictures
of holy scenes in the life of Christ to help their dull
intellects to grasp the meaning of his word^. No
wonder that often when he was among the lepers,
who were his especial pets, people saw a bright light
shine round him. His biographers tell us that he did
not find these ordinary sufferings enough for him, and
though he wore a hair-shirt and an iron cross with
20
306 The Jesuits
sharp points all day long, he was scourging himself to
blood at night and praying for hours for his negroes.
He died on September 8, 1654, and is now ranked among
the saints, like his old master, Brother Alfonso.
To the long line of islands, alternately French and
English, which form, as it were, the eastern wall of the
Caribbean Sea, and are known as the Lesser Antilles,
the French Jesuits were sent in 1638. They are
respectively Trinidad, Grenada, Saint-Vincent,
Martinique, Guadeloupe, and near the northern ex-
tremity of the line, one that is of peculiarly pathetic
interest, Saint Christopher, or, as it is sometimes
popularly called. Saint Kitts. When the French
expedition under d'Esnambuc landed at Saint Kitts
in 1625, they found the finghsh already in possession,
but like sensible men, instead of cutting each other's
throats, the two nationalities divided the island
between them and settled down quietly, each one
attending to 'its own affairs. In 1635 the French
annexed Guadeloupe and Martinique, and, Jiater still,
Saint-Croix, Saint-Martin and a few others.
The population of these islands consisted of white
settlers and their negro and Indian slaves. They
were cared for spiritually by two Dominicans, one of
whom, Tertre, has written a history of the islands.
But these priests had no intercourse with the savages,
whose languages they did not understand, and hence
to fill the gap, three Jesuits, one of them a lay-brother,
were sent to Martinique, arriving there on Good
Friday, 1638. They began in the usual way, namely
by martyrdom. Two of them were promptly killed
by the savages. Others hurried to carry on their work
but many succumbed to the climate, and others to the
hardships inseparable from that kind of apostolate.
An interesting arrival, though as late as 1674, was
that of Father Joseph-Antoine Poncet, one of the
The Two Americas 307
apostles of Canada, who is remembered for having
brought the great Ursuline, Marie de 1' Incarnation, to
Quebec, and also for having been tortured by New York
Mohawks at the very place where Isaac Jogues had
suffered martyrdom a few years before. Poncet was
old when he went to Martinique and he died there the
following year. The names of de la Barre, Martiniere,
de Tracy and Iberville, all of them familiar to students
of Canadian history, occur in the chronicles of the
Antilles.
For people of Irish blood these islands, especially
Saint Kitts and Montserrat, are of a thrilling interest.
On both of them were found numbers of exiled Irish
Catholics held as slaves. As early as 1632 Father
White on his way to Maryland saw them at Saint
Kitts. He tells us in his " Narrative " that he
" stopped there ten days, being invited to do so in a
friendly way by the English Governor and two Catholic
captains. The Governor of the French colony on the
same island treated me with the most marked kind-
ness." He does not inform us whether or not he did
any ministerial work with them but in all likelihood
he did. He is equally reticent about Montserrat, and
contents himself with saying that "it is inhabited by
Irishmen who were expelled from Virginia, on account
of their Catholic Faith." He remained at Saint Kitts
only a day, and on this point his " Relation " is very
disappointing. In 1638 the Bishop of Tuam sent out
a priest to the island, but he died soon after. He was
probably a secular priest, for in the following year the
bishop was authorized by Propaganda to send out some
reHgious. But there is no information available about
what was done until 1652, when an Irish Jesuit was
secured for them. In the " Documents inedits " of
Carayon he is called Destriches, which may have been
Stritch, but there is no mention of either name in any
308 The Jesuits
of the menologies; Hughes, in his " History of the
Society of Jesus in North America " (I, 470), calls
him Christopher Bathe. He was not, however, the
first choice. A Father Henry Malajon had been
proposed, but the General did not allow him to go.
A Welshman named Buckley was then suggested, but
though his application was ratified he never left Europe.
Next a Father Maloney offered himself, but was kept
in Belgium; finally, however, Father Christopher
Bathe or Stritch arrived.
The missionary found there a very great multitude
of enslaved Irish exiles, for on April i, 1653, the London
Council gave " license to Sir John Clotworthie to
transport to America 500 natural Irishmen." On
September 6, 1653, he asked leave to transport 400
Irish children. Ten days later liberty was granted to
Richard Netherway of Bristol to transport from
Ireland one hundred Irish tories. W^en Jamaica was
captured by the English in 1655, one thousand Irish
girls and a like number of Irish boys were sent there.
The earlier throngs had been sent first to Virginia, but
had been driven over to the islands, as we learn from
White's " Narrative." The English authorities in
Ireland wrote to Lord Thurlow: " Although we must
use force in taking them up, yet it being so much for
their own good and likely to be of great advantage to
the public, it is not the least doubted but that you may
have as many as you wish." He offers to send 1500
or 2000 boys. " They will thus," he said, " be made
good Christians." The first of these " good
Christians " were found by Father Bathe when he
arrived in Saint Kitts in 1652 and they eagerly came
to the little chapel which he built on the dividing line
between the English and French settlements. For
three months he was busy from dawn tiU nightfall
saying Mass, hearing confessions, baptizing babies and
The Two Americas 309
preaching. After that he started for Montserrat
which was entirely under English control and hence
he was compelled to go there disguised as a lumber
merchant who was looking for timber. As soon as he
landed he passed the word to the first Irishman he met
and the news spread like wildfire. A place of meeting
was chosen in the woods where every day Mass was
said and the people went to confession and communion.
That took up the whole morning, and in the afternoon
they began chopping down the trees so as to carry out
the deception. Unfortunately, the Caribs found them
one day, and killed some of them, but we have no more
details of the extent of the disaster.
By the time Father Bathe got back to Saint Kitts,
the English had taken alarm and had forbidden their
Irish slaves ever to set foot on the French territory.
But there must have been disobedience to the order,
for one night, after they had returned home, a descent
was made upon their houses, and one hundred and
twenty-five of the most notable among them were
flung into a ship and cast on Crab Island, two hundred
leagues away, where they were left to starve, while
those who remained behind at Saint Kitts were treated
with the most frightful inhumanity. One instance is
cited of a young girl who, for having refused to go to
the Protestant church, was dragged by the hair of her
head along the road, and treated with such brutality
that some of the more timid of the victims were terrified
and obeyed the order about keeping away from the
chapel. The greater number, however, came to Mass
secretly, walking all night through dense forests and
at the edge of precipices, so as to escape the sentries
posted along the ordinary road. Two very old men
were conspicuous in this display of faith.
The castaways on Crab Island kept life in their
bodies for a few days by eating what grass or roots
310 The Jesuits
they could find or by gathering the shell-fish on the
beach. At last to their great delight a ship was
sighted in the distance and when they hailed it, came to
take them off. Unfortunately, however, it was too
small for such a crowd, and only as many as it was
safe to receive were allowed on board. The rest had
to be abandoned to their fate. "What became of them
nobody ever knew. It is supposed that they made
a raft and were lost somewhere out on the ocean.
Even those who sailed away came to grief. When they
reached Santo Domingo, they were not permitted to
land, because they came from Saint Christopher, which
made the Spaniards in the fort suspect a trick. Then
they were caught by a tornado and carried four hundred
leagues away. At one time hunger had brought them
so low that they were on the point of casting lots to
see who should be killed and eaten, but fortunately
they caught some fish and that sustained them till
they reached the land. What land it was we do not
know.
A characteristic example of Irish feminine virtue
is recorded in this very interesting account, which is
worth repeating here. A young girl, for her better
protection, had been disguised as a boy by her father
when both were exiled. After he died, she obtained
work in the household of a respectable family where her
efficiency so charmed the mistress of the household
that the husband grew jealous of the friendship of his
wife for this estimable man-servant. To avert a
domestic disaster, the good girl had to make known
her identity and she was then more esteemed than
ever. What became of her ultimately is not recorded.
Meantime, Father Bathe had gathered what was left
of his poor people and carried them off to Guadeloupe,
where there were no English. God spared him for five
years more, and he went from island to island under
The Two Americas 311
all sorts of disguises, if there was danger of meeting
the English. He even succeeded in converting not a
few of the persecutors.
Hughes informs us further that in 1667 an Irish
priest named John Grace returned to Europe from
the islands, and reported on the deplorable condition
of his compatriots in the Caribbean. Passing through
Martinique, Guadeloupe and Antigua he heard the
confessions of more than three hundred of them.
He related, also, that fifty of the three hundred had
died while he was there. In Barbadoes there were
many thousands who had no priests and were con-
forming to Protestantism. In St. Bartholomew, there
were four hundred Irish Catholics who had never
seen a priest. At Montserrat, however, Governor
Stapleton was an Irishman and a Catholic, and con-
sequently there was no difficulty in having a priest
go there. There were as many as four hundred
Catholics at that place and they formed six to one
of the population. These islands of the Caribbean
were the favorite hiding places of the " filibusteros, "
a set of abandoned men of various nationalities,
French, Dutch and English, who were lying in wait
for the rich galleons of Spain, on their way from the
silver mines of Peru to the palaces of Madrid. Their
life was a continued series of daring adventures,
robberies, massacres and wild debauchery. They were
ready for any expedition and against any foe. With
them nothing could be done, but with the great num-
bers of negro slaves who were sold at Martinique and
elsewhere there was ample opportunity for apostolic
work. It was a most revolting task; the whites,
regarded them as devils, but the Fathers took care
of them and sent many of them to heaven .
It was from the Antilles that the French Jesuits
went to Guiana, Its conversion had been attempted
312 The Jesuits
in 1560 by two Dominicans, but they were both
martyred almost on their arrival. No other effort
was made until late in the following century, when in
1643 two Capuchins essayed it, only to be killed.
Four years before that, however, the Jesuits Meland
and Pelliprat entered the country at another point
and succeeded in subduing the savage Galibis, who
were particularly noted for ferocity. In 1653 Pelliprat
published a grammar and a dictionary of their language;
in the following year Aubergeon and Gueimu were
killed; then the Dutch took possession of the country,
expelled the Jesuits and obliterated every vestige of
Catholicity. Nevertheless, the missionaries returned
later and renewed their work with the intractable
natives. In 1674 Grillet and Bechamel started for the
interior, and were followed later by Lombard, who,
after fifteen years of heroic toil, erected a church at
the mouth of the River Kourou to the northwest of
Cayenne. There he labored for twenty-three y«ars,
and in 1733 was able to report to his fellow missionary,
de la Neuville: "Acquainted as you are with the
fickleness of our Indians, you will no doubt be surprised
to hear that their inconstancy has been overcome.
The horror with which they now regard their former
superstitions, their regularity in frequently approach-
ing the sacraments, their assiduity in assisting at the
Divine service, the profound sentiments of piety which
they manifest at the hour of death, are effectual proofs
of a sincere and lasting conversion."
Father Grillet's story of the capture of the French
fort in Guiana makes interesting reading. He went
out with the garrison to meet the English who were
landing from their ships, but the French commander
was killed and his men fled. Grillet, with some others,
made his way to the forests and swamps of the interior,
but was finally captured at the point of the pistol.
The Two Americas 313
He was ordered to hand over his money, but as he had
none, he would probably have been killed had not
a party of English officers recognized him as the priest
who had rendered them some service over in the
Antilles some time before. They led him to Lord
Willoughby the governor, who showed hun every
attention. It will be of interest to know that these
gentlemen carried on their conversation with the priest,
in French and Latin. When the ship arrived at
Barbadoes, Grillet was lodged with a Scotch gentleman
whose son-in-law was a Protestant minister; " a clever
man, a good philosopher and well up in his theology,"
says Grillet. They discussed religious questions
amicably, and on Sunday the priest had the satisfaction
to hear that the parson told his congregation how he
"wished they had the same sorrow for their sins as
Catholics have when they go to confession."
Grillet remained a month with his Protestant
friends. Lord Willoughby coming occasionally to visit
him. From Barbadoes he was conducted to Mont-
serrat, where " Milord, after celebrating Christmas ten
days later than we do," notes Grillet, " for the EngHsh
did not accept the Gregorian Calendar," then handed
him over to a Catholic colonel of a Yorkshire regiment,
who finally delivered him safe and sound to the French
Governor de la Barre. This was the de la Barre who
was afterwards to figure in Canadian history. Grillet
then returned to his old mission work at Cayenne,
for the English had abandoned it, and with Father
Bechamel set out to explore the interior, with a view to
future missionary establishments. With no other
provision than a little cassava bread, and no other
escort than a negro and a few Indians, they began
a journey of 1920 miles, through forests and swamps
and across mountains and down rivers which were
continually broken by cataracts merely to find where
314 The Jesuits
the Indians were living, so as to send them missionaries
later. They had started from Cayenne on January 25,
1674, and returned there on June 27. Both died
shortly after.
Along both banks of the Oyapoch, throughout its
whole course, missions were established by other valiant
apostles who, as a French historian relates, had formed
the gigantic project of uniting by a chain of stations
both extremities of Guiana. Indeed, the church on
the Kourou was only an incident in this work. Eleven
years before that, Amaud d'Ayma had fought his way
to the Pirioux, the remotest of all the known tribes.
There he lived like the savages in a miserable hut,
spending every moment among them in studying
their language and teaching them in turn the truths of
salvation. He then founded a mission on the Oyapoch
where he collected the entire tribe of the Caranes.
Meantime, D'Ausillac looked after the Toeoyenes,
the Maowrioux, and the Maraxones on the Ouanari.
Up to the time when de Choiseul, minister of Louis
XV, drove the Jesuits out of Guiana, one hundred
and eleven of them had devoted their lives to the
evangelization of that country.
Bandelier, writing in " The Catholic Encyclopedia "
(IV- 1 23), tells us that in the district in which Cartagena
was situated, " the religious of the Society of Jesus
were the first during the Colonial period to found
colleges for secondary instruction ; eight or ten colleges
were opened in which the youth of the country and
the sons of Spaniards were educated. In the Jesuit
College of Bogota the first instruction in physics and
mathematics was given. In the expulsion of the
Jesuits by Charles III the Church in New Granada
lost her principal and ^most_ efficacious aid to the
civilization of the country To this day the
traveller may see the effects of this arbitrary act, in
The Two Americas 315
the immense plains of the regions of Casanare, con-
verted in the space of one century into pasture lands
for cattle, but which were once a source of great
wealth, and which would have been even more so.
It is only within the last ten years that the Catholic
Church, owing to the peace and liberty which she
now enjoys, has turned her eyes once more to Casanare ;
a vicariate Apostolic has been erected there, governed
by a bishop of the Order of St. Augustine, who with the
members of his order labours among the savages and
semi-savages of these plains."
The first Jesuits, as we have already said, arrived in
Mexico in September, 1572. They were sent out at
the expense of the king, but as he did nothing more,
a wealthy benefactor immediately put his money at
their disposal and gave them a site for a college and
church. The latter was erected with amazing expedi-
tion at a trifling expense, for three thousand Indians
who had heard that the Fathers were going to take
care of their spiritual welfare worked at it for three
months. The structure was declared to be muy
hermoso por dentro, but as much could not be said of
the exterior. It was simply a thatched structure
and was long known by the name of Japalteopan.
Their college, which took more time, was called St.
Ildefonso. Guadalajara, Zacatecas and Oaxaca also
became Jesuit centres, while Chihuahua, Sinaloa,
Sonora, and, later Lower California were their fields
of labor among the savages. It may be noted here
that Father Sanchez was one of the presiding engineers
in the work of the Nochistongo tunnel on which
471,154 men were employed. The purpose of the
work was to drain the valley of Mexico.
Among the very early missionaries of Mexico was
an Irish Jesuit named Michael Wadding, though he
was known among the Spaniards as Miguel Godinez.
316
The Jesuits
He was bom at Waterford in 1591, but his mother
was a Frenchwoman, named Marie Valois. He made
his studies in Salamanca and entering the Society-
April 15, 1609 was sent to Mexico in the following
year. He labored for a long time in the rude missions
of Sinaloa and won to the Faith the whole tribe of the
Basirvas, and then taught for several years in the
colleges. He was famous as a director of souls, and
wrote a " Teologia mistica " which, was not published
until forty years after his death; however, it made
up for the delay by going through ten editions. His
editor, Manuel La Reguera, S. J., says that he also
wrote a " Life of Sister Mary of Jesus," a holy rehgious
whom he was directing in the way of perfection.
The Jesuit mission work in Mexico which has
attracted most attention is that of Fathers Kino,
Salvatierra, Ugarte and their associates. They were
engaged mostly in the evangelization of the Peninsula
of Lower California and the vast northern district of
Mexico, known as the Pimeria, or land of the Pima
Indians, which extended into what is now the State of
Arizona. The success achieved there and the resources
of the " Pious Fund " which Salvatierra had gathered
made the work of Junipero Serra and the Franciscans
in Upper California possible in later days.
Gilmary Shea (Colonial Days, p. 527) maintains
that Eusebio Kino is one of the greatest of American
missionaries. Many historians claim that he was a
German and say that his name " Kino " was an
adaptation of Kiihn. That such is not the case is
shown by Alegre in his history of the Jesuits in Mexico;
by Sommervogel in his " BibUoth^que des ecrivains "
and by Bolton, who has just published Kino's long
lost " Autobiography." Hubert Bancroft pronounces
for Kiihn, but he publishes an autograph map which
is signed " carta autoptica a Patre Eusebio Chino;"
The Two Americas 317
Huonder, in " The Catholic Encyclopedia," declares
him to be a German of Welch Tyrol, but the " Welch "
Tyrol is precisely that part of the country where there
are no Germans. The Chino family still exists, near
Trent and has never spoken anything but Italian.
The change from Ch to K had to be made to prevent
the Spaniards from thinking he was a Chinaman;
furthermore the ch in Spanish being always soft would
not represent the Italian letters when they are pro-
nounced k.
Kino was born on August lo, 1644, and entered the
Society of Jesus in Bavaria on November 20, 1665.
He subsequently taught mathematics at Ingolstadt,
and while occupying that post applied for the foreign
missions. He left the university in 1678, but did not
reach Mexico until late in 1681. The reason of the
delay was his assignment as an observer of the famous
comet of 1680 and 1681. During that time, he lived in
Cadiz, but he did not publish the result of his obser-
vations until after his arrival in Mexico. The book
has a very portentous title and is listed in Sommervogel
as: " Exposicion Astronomica de el Cometa, que el
ano de 1680, por los meses de Noviembre y Diziembre,
y este afio de 1681 por los meses de Enero y Febrero,
se ha visto en todo el mondo, y le ha observado en
Ciudad de Cadiz el P. Eusebio Francisco Kino, de la
Compani de Jesus, con licencia en Mexico por Fran-
cisco Rodriguez Lupercio, 1681." Possibly this pomp-
ous announcement was intended as an apology for
Kino's audacity in questioning the findings of a famous
astronomer of the period who rejoiced in the name
and title Don Carlos de Sigiienza y Gongora, Cos-
mografo y Mathematico Regio en la Academia
Mexicana.
The settlement of Lower California had been
attempted as early as 1535 by a Franciscan who
318 The Jesuits
landed with Cortes at Santa Cruz Bay near the present
La Paz. " After a year of privations", says Engel-
hardt, " which had cost the famous conqueror $300,-
000, the project had to be abandoned. Another effort
was made in 1596, but the mission did not last a single
year. Almost a century later, namely in 1683, the
Jesuit Fathers Kino and Goni, along with Fray Jos6
Guijosa of the Order of St. John of God, accompanied
Admiral Otondo on an expedition to that unhappy
country." They embarked on the "Limpia Concepcion"
and the " San Jose y San Francisco Javier " and set sail
on January 18. A sloop with provisions was to accom-
pany them, but it never left port. The voyage lasted
until March 30, and on that day they entered the
harbor of La Paz, but not until April 5 did the admiral
set foot on shore to take solemn possession of the land.
The mission, however, lasted only a short time; and
thus Spain failed for the third time to establish a post
in desolate Lower Calfornia. Kino then applied for
work among the Pima Indians. His offer was wel-
comed by the provincial, who would have sent him
thither immediately, if a government permission as
well as a royal assignment of funds had not been
prerequisites. Neither difficulty dismayed Kino; he
immediately interviewed the viceroy and was so
eloquent in his plea that he received not only permissicm
and financial aid to work in the new field, but authoriza-
tion for whatever post he might choose among the
Sens of Sonora. "WTien that much was accomplished,
he set off for Guadalajara, where the royal audiencia
was in session, to address it on another matter which
was very close to his heart, namely the abrogation of
the stupid policy of imposing labor on the convert
Indians in the mines and haciendas, while the others
who refused to be Christians were allowed to go scot
free. It was putting a premium on paganism. All
The Two Americas 319
that he could get, however, from the audiencia was
a five-year exemption, in spite of the fact that as far
back as 1607 Philip III had ruled that for ten years after
baptism every convert should be exempt from com-
pulsory labor. The same royal order had been renewed
m 1618, and was most faithfully observed where there
were no mines or haciendas to put the converts at work.
In 1764 the Pimeria was the northern limit of Spain's
possessions, about 400 leagues from the city of Mexico
and about 130 from Sinaloa. On the east a mountain
range separated it from Taurumara, and on the west
the Gulf of California bathed its shores from the Yaqui
River to the Colorado. Its northern boundary was
the Hila, Gila, or Xila River, and its southern, the
Yaqui. According to Alegre " the soil is rich, there is
no end of game, such as lions, tigers, bears, deer, boars,
rabbits and squirrels. The woods are full of serpents,
poisonous or otherwise, but there are herbs and plants
innumerable," which possessed most wonderful healing
powers. The birds were numerous and " two-headed
eagles," the reader is assured, " were not rare." Kino,
as far as we can find, makes no mention of " two
headed eagles."
The people were robust and lived to an extreme old
age, except where the fogs of the lowland prevailed.
There all sorts of ailments occur. The Pimas were
composed of a number of tribes such as the Opas,
Cocomaricopas, Hudcoacanes, and the Yumas. They
lived on both sides of the Gila River in rancherias,
which the missionaries united into pueblos. They
numbered in all about 30,000. The Seris who were
found along the Gulf coast were mostly identified with
the Giuamas. To the north were the savage Apaches.
None of these people had any means of recording the
doings of the past, such as the hieroglyphics of the
Mexicans, but they made much of certain traditions
320 The Jesuits
which they refused to impart to strangers. As far as
(X)uld be ascertained, they had no sacrifice or idols,
no kind of worship and no priests except the wizards,
whom they regarded with abject terror. Tatooing
around the eyes was universal, even for children. At
birth a sort of sponsor for the child was summoned,
and he was given more authority than the parent. At
death all the trappings and household belongings of
the departed were buried with him. They believed in
divinations like the ancient Greeks and Romans,
with the difference that the creature inspected was
not a bird but a lobster. Statues and emblems were
placed on the roadsides, before which every passer-by
had to leave an offering. Alegre gives a long list of
their superstitions, some of which Bancroft denounces
as hideously obscene. The initiation of the warrior
resembled the horrible ritual common among the
northern Mandans, and the torture of captives, even
of little children, by old squaws, was as fiendish as
similar practices among the Iroquois.
The Jesuit missions among these people were
inaugurated as early as 1637 or 1638, by Father
Castano, who had been trained in the Sonora district
by Mendez, but the Pima section to which Kino
betook himself was a new field. He called his first
post Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, and it may be
found on the map just north of Cucurpe at the source
of the river called Horcasitas or San Miguel. From
there he developed dependent stations, and before
1 69 1, he had three at San Ignacio, Remedios, and
San Jos6, in each of which he built a fine church.
" The work which Father Kino did as a ranchman
or stockman," says Bolton, "would alone stamp him as
an unusual business man and make him worthy of
remembrance. He was easily the cattle king of his
day and region. The stock raising industry of nearly
The Two Americas 321
20 places on the modern map owes its beginnings to
this indefatigable man. And it must not be supposed
that he did this for private gain for he did not own a
single animal. It was to furnish a food supply for the
Indians of the missions established and to be established
and to give these missions a basis of economic prosperity
and independence. Thus we find Saeta thanking him
for the gift of 115 head of cattle, and as many sheep
to begin a ranch at Caborca. In 1700 when San
Xavier was founded, Kino rounded up 1400 head of
cattle on the ranch of his own mission at Dolores,
and dividing them into droves, sent one of them under
his Indian overseer to San Xavier. In the same year
he took 700 cattle from his own ranch, and sent them
to Salvatierra, across the Gulf at Loreto — a trans-
action which was several times repeated."
Kino had often spoken to Salvatierra about the
failure of the attempt to evangelize Lower California,
to which his heart still clung, and he suggested to his
companion that in his capacity of official visitor he
might make another effort to redeem the unfortunate
people who lived there. It was true, he admitted, that
the country was so barren that it could not be self-
sustaining, but he was convinced that it would be an
easy matter to convey provisions from fertile Pimeria
to the stvarving Californians if a ship could be con-
structed to transport to the other side of the Gulf
whatever the future missionaries and people might
need. Salvatierra took fire at the idea, and, before
they parted, ordered Kino to build the barque at any
point he might select along the west coast of Mexico
and assured him that he himself would further the
project with all the power at his disposal.
It was not until 1694 that Kino attempted to build
the ship. He was then among the Sobas on the Gulf,
and with him were Father Campo and Captain Manje,
21
322 The Jesuits
the latter of whom has left a diary of that journey.
He began to cut his timber on March i6, 1694, but he
was informed that Lower California was not an island,
but a peninsula, and he then inaugurated a series
of amazing overland journeys to reach the head of
the Gulf. His companion Captain Manje had told
him of the wonderful structures on the Gila River
and thither he directed his steps. He is said to have
celebrated Mass in the largest of those ruined buildings,
the famous Casa Grande. It was quadrilateral in
form and four stories high. The rafters were of cedar
and the walls of solid cement and masonry. It was
divided into various compartments, some of them
spacious enough for a considerable assembly. The
tradition among the people was that Montezuma's
predecessors built it on the way from the north to the
southern countries where they ultimately settled.
At a distance of three leagues from this Casa and
on the other side of the river are the ruins of another
edifice, which appears to have been still more sumptu-
ous. Indeed the ruins at that place would indicate
that at one time there had been not merely a palace
but a whole city, and the natives assured the mission-
aries that there were other buildings further north
which were marvelous for their symmetry and arrange-
ments. Among them was a labyrinth which appears
to have been a pleasure house of some great king.
Excavators have discovered in various places, some-
times leagues away from these great buildings, shapely
and variously colored slabs, and two leagues from the
Casa Grande there was found the basin of a reservoir
large enough to supply a populous city and to irrigate
the fertile plains around for great distances; while to
the west was a lagoon which was emptied by a narrow
sluice. The regularity of the circular form of this
lagoon and its rather contracted dimensions would
The Two Americas 323
suggest that it was the work of men were it not for
its extraordinary depth. Holes had been cut into
the solid rock which subsequently were found large
enough to be used as storehouses for provisions for
troops.
These ruins, however, do not appear to have
interested Kino to any great extent. There were other
ruins that worried him about that time. His own
missions seemed to be facing universal destruction.
He himself was being denounced in Mexico as conveying
false infoi^mation to the government about his Indians;
they were accused of being in secret alliance with the
Apaches, who were destroying the country and defying
the Spaniards. Kino again and again had denied the
truth of these charges, but he was not only not believed
but was held up as a deliberate liar.
On March 29, 1695, the Pimas of Tubutama burned
the priest's house and church, profaned the sacred
vessels and then, starting down the river to Caborca,
had, after murdering Father Saeta and desecrating
the church, killed four servants of the mission. An
armed force was quickly sent after them and succeeded
in killing a certain number in the battle that ensued.
Fifty of them then gave themselves up on a promise
of immunity, but on arriving in camp they were brutally
murdered. The troops then hastened to Cocospera,
fancying that they had restored peace, but they were
no sooner out of sight than the Pimas laid waste the
whole Tubutama Valley and destroyed every town on
the San Ignacio River. Where was Kino all this time?
Quietly waiting to be killed at Dolores. He had
concealed the sacred vessels in a cave and was kneeling
in prayer, expecting the tomahawk or a poisoned
arrow. But no one came. He was too much beloved
by all the Indians to be injured in the least, even in
their wildest excess of fury.
324 The Jesuits
Of course the Spaniards ultimately won. They
ravaged the whole country and slaughtered the savages
until the entire tribe was terror-stricken and forced
by hunger or fear of annihilation to sue for peace.
Through the influence of the missionaries, a general
pardon was granted, and then the work of reconciling
the red men to the terrible whites had to be begun all
over again. When Kino returned to Dolores, he was
received with the utmost enthusiasm by his people.
Not only the Pimas, but the Sobas and Sobaipuris
came out to welcome him. They loaded him with
gifts and made all sorts of promises of future good
behavior, and he then set himself to the task of re-
building the devastated rancherias. Notwithstanding
this return, however, to normal conditions and the great
increase of his influence over the Indians, Kino still
longed to devote himself to the regeneration of the
degraded Californians, and he asked to be associated
with Salvatierra, who had gone thither in 1697, but
owing to the protest of the Pimas, the Mexican govern-
ment positively refused to permit him to leave the
district where his presence was so essential for peace.
After endless journeys up and down the countr>%
providing for the material and spiritual wants of his
own flock, but ever keeping in his mind the great
project of reaching Lower California by land, Kino
at last climbed the mountain of Santa Brigida and
saw quite near to him the Gulf of California with a
port or bay which, because it was in latitude about
31° 36' must have been what the old cosmographers
called the Santa Clara range. " From its summit," says
Kino himself, " I clearly descried the beach at the mouth
of the Colorado, but as there was a fog on the sea I could
not make out the California coast." On another
occasion, however, namely in 1694, he and Juan Mates
had seen the other side from Mt. Nazarene de Caborca,
The Two Americas 325
lower down the coast. A point of identification left
by Kino was that the mountain on which he stood in
1698, had been once a volcano. The marks of it were
all around him.
Kino could not then pursue his exploration to the
mouth of the river. His guides and companions refused
to go any farther, so he had to turn homeward. On
the way back, however, he was consoled by discovering
more than " 4,000 souls," to use Alegre's expression,
" in rancherias which were until then unknown to
him. He baptized about four hundred babies and sent
little presents to his Indian friends along the Colorado
and Gila," or, as Kino spells it, Hila. After making
arrangements for future explorations he set out for
Dolores, which he reached on October i8 after a
journey of three hundred leagues. In 1699 he was
joined by his friend Captain Manje, and they resolved
to reach the Colorado itself and go down the stream
to the mouth. But they failed to find guides, for it
was an unfriendly country, and so the disappointed
men again returned to Dolores. Kino was seriously
iU on his arrival, but was on his feet again in October
when the visitor. Father Leal, wanted to inspect the
country. The official got no farther than Bac, while
Kino and Manje started west, but they did not succeed
in going far, and were at the mission again in November.
On September 24, 1700, Kino attempted a new
route. Striking the Gila east of the bend, he followed
its course down to the Yuma country. After settling
a quarrel between the Yumas and their neighbors,
he climbed a high hill to explore, but saw only land.
He then crossed to the north bank of the Gila with
some Yumas and journeyed on to their principal ran-
cheria, which he called San Dionisio, because he
arrived there on the feast of that saint, October 9.
There he ascended another mountain and this time
326 The Jesuits
he was rewarded. The sun was setting as he reached
the summit, but he clearly saw the river running ten
leagues west of San Dionisio and, after a course of
twenty leagues south, emptying into the Gulf. From
another hill to the south he saw before his eyes the
sandy stretches of Lower California. The wonderful
old man, however, was not yet satisfied. He would
make one more attempt and with Father Gonzales,
a new arrival in the missions, he set his face to the west,
reaching San Dionisio by the way of Sonoito and
from there went down to Santa Isabel. " From this
point," says Bancroft (XV, p. 500), " they were in
new territory. Going down the river they reached
tide-water on March 5, 1702, and on the 7th, the very
mouth of the river. Nothing but land could be seen
on the south, west and north. Surely, they thought
there can be no estrecho, and California is a part of
America."
According to Clavigero these journeys totalled about
twenty thousand miles. It is almost incredible, but
Bolton tells us that " Kino's endurance in the saddle
was worthy of a seasoned cowboy." Thus when he
went to the City of Mexico in 1695, he travelled on
that single journey no less than 1500 miles; and he
accomplished it in fifty-three days. Two years later,
when he reached the Gila on the north, he did seven
or eight hundred miles in thirty days. In 1699, on
his trip to and from the Gila he made seven hundred
and twenty miles in thirty nine days; in 1700, a thou-
sand miles in twenty-six days; and in 1701, eleven
hundred miles in thirty-five days. Pie was then
nearly sixty years of age.
Meantime, Salvatierra had been painfully establish-
ing missions all along the barren peninsula, but was so
woefully discouraged that he was on the point of return-
ing to Mexico. At this juncture Father Juan Ugarte
The Two Americas 327
arrived on the scene. He had been Salvatierra's
agent in Mexico for collecting funds, but when he
heard of the threatening condition of things in California
he had himself relieved of his rectorship in San Gregorio
and became a missionary. It was really he who saved
the whole enterprise from destruction. He was bom
in Honduras about the year 1660, and entered the
Society at Tapozotclan. As soon as he set foot on the
Peninsula, he began a reorganization of the whole
economic system of the missions. With St. Paul,
he believed that a man who did not work should not
eat, and consequently that Salvatierra's benignant
method of feeding every savage who would come to
the " doctrina," or catechism, was psychologically,
religiously and economically wrong. Hence, when he
found himself fixed at San Javier, he taught the
natives how to cultivate the land, to dig ditches for
irrigation, to plant trees, to trim vines and to raise
live stock.
Of course, the savages were surprised at the new
system, but although Ugarte was very kind, he was
very positive and his bodily strength astounded and
appalled his neophytes. The result was that while
other missions were starving, San Javier had fields of
com, rich pastures and great herds of cattle. It
took a long time to make this system acceptable
everywhere on the Peninsula; when it was adopted it
was difficult to make it a success — even Ugarte 's
own fields were devastated and his cattle stolen. Indeed,
conditions grew so desperate in 1701, that Salvatierra
at last determined to abandon California and go back
to Mexico. Ugarte stood out against it and protested
that he would never give up until his superiors called
hini back. To show that he meant what he said, he
went to the church and laid a vow to that effect on the
altar.
328 The Jesuits
Just when the sky was darkest, information came
that Philip V had ordered 6000 pesos a year to be
allotted to the missions. The first payment however,
was made with extreme reluctance by the viceroy.
But the royal example stimulated the piety of others,
with the result that the Marquis of Villapuente gave
an estate of 30,000 pesos for three missions; Ortega
and his wife came forward with 10,000; and other
friends hastened with their contributions. In 1704
Salvatierra went over to Mexico to collect the usual
subsidy. He was rejoiced at being told on his arrival
that not only would he receive the stipend, but that
his majesty had ordered that the churches should be
supplied with whatever was necessary for Divine
services, that a seminary was to be founded in Cali-
fornia, that a presidial force of thirty men was to be
stationed on the coast to protect a galleon, a sort of
mission ship for provisions and exploration, and
that 7000 pesos a year were to be added to the former
allowance. It was a splendid example of royal
munificence; however, not only were none of these
royal orders carried out, but even the original grant of
6000 pesos could not be collected. " It may be fairly
stated," says Bancroft (XV, 432) " that the missions of
California were from the first to the last founded and
supported by private persons whose combined gifts
formed what is known as the Pious Fund."
Salvatierra was absent from California for a little
over two years while filling the office of provincial,
" a flattering honor," says Bancroft, " that would be
gladly accepted by most Jesuits." Before the end of
his term, however, he hastened back to labor in the
land of desolation to which he had consecrated his
life. He lasted only a short time, and died in 17 17 in
Guadalajara. " His memory," says Bancroft, " needs
no panegyric; his deeds speak for themselves, and in
The Two Americas 329
the light of these, the bitterest enemies of his religion or
of his Order cannot deny the beauty of his character
and the disinterestedness of his devotion to CaHfomia.
The whole city assembled at his funeral and his remains
were deposited amidst ceremonies rarely seen at the
burial of a Jesuit,"
Meantime, Ugarte's methods were being followed
elsewhere than in San Javier, and a new impetus was
given to them when he succeeded Salvatierra as
general superior. It must have been hard to keep
the pace that he set; thus, for instance, he used 40,000
loads to make a road from San Javier to one of the
out-lying missions; he built a reservoir there and
carted to it 160,000 loads of earth to make a garden
and executed many similar works. He was also very
eager to carry out Salvatierra's purpose of exploring
the coast, but he was not satisfied with the antiquated
ships which had been in use up to that time — " worn
out and rotten old hulks," he said, " only fit to drown
Jesuits in." He determined to have a ship of his
own built in California and after his own ideas. For
that purpose he hired shipwrights from the other
side of the Gulf, where also he proposed to get his
timber. But hearing of some large trees thirty leagues
above Mulege he went thither in 17 18 to look them
over. He found the trees, but they were in such
inaccessible ravines that the shipbuilder declared it
was impossible to get them.
Ugarte was not swayed from his purpose by this
difficulty; he went down to Loretto and returned
with three mechanics and all the Indians he could
induce to follow him. After four months of hard work
he not only had all the trees felled and shaped, but
he had opened a road for thirty leagues over the
mountains and with oxen and mules hauled his material
to the coast. He built his " Triumph of the Cross,"
330 The Jesuits
as he called it, in four months. The provincial was
told meanwhile, that it was going to be used for pearl
fishing, and sent the supposed culprit a very sharp
letter in consequence. No doubt he made amends for
this when he was disabused. The " Triumph of the
Cross " was not to carry a cargo of pearls but was
intended to explore the upper Gulf, so as to realize
the dream of Kino and Salvatierra.
The good ship left Loretto on May 15, 1721, with
twenty men, six of whom were Europeans, the
captain being a William Stafford. It was followed by
the " Santa Barbara," a large open boat carrying
five Califomians, two Chinese and a Yaqui. They
made their first landing at Concepcion Bay, and then,
after creeping along the shore northward, crossed the
Gulf to Santa Sabina and San Juan Bautista on the
Seri coast. The sight of the cross on the bow-sprit
delighted the natives and assured the travellers of a
hearty welcome. Tiburon was the next stop, and
while there Ugarte felt his strength giving out; but
despite his sixty-one years he continued his voyage, and
headed the " Triumph "for the mouth of the Colorado,
while the "Santa Barbara" hugged the shore. Mean-
time, a few men were landed and made for the nearest
mission. They found the trail to Caborca and soon
the Jesuits of that place and of San Ignacio hurried
down with provisions for the travellers.
While the "Santa Barbara" was being loaded, the
" Triumph " was nearly stranded at the mouth of the
river, so it was decided to cross to the other side, which
they reached only after a hard three days' sail. There
the "Santa Barbara" met them and both ships pointed
north, crossing and recrossing the gulf until finally
they anchored at the mouth of the river on the Pimeria
side. There was some talk of going up the stream,
but the ship's position in the strong current was danger-
The Two Americas 331
ous, the weather was threatening, and besides, Ugarte
had achieved his purpose; he had seen the river from
the Gulf and had added a convincing proof to Kino's
assertion that California was a peninsula. On July
1 6 they started south; the storm they had feared
broke over them and the sloop nearly went to the
bottom. The sailors, who were nearly all sick of the
scurvy, got confused in the Salsipuedes channel, and
it was only on August 1 8 that they cleared that passage
so aptly called "Get out if you can." But a triple
rainbow in the sky that day comforted them, just as
they had been cheered when the St. Elmo's fire played
around the mast head during the gale. But they were
not free yet. Another storm overtook them and they
had great difficulty in dodging a waterspout, but they
finally reached Loretto in the month of September.
Besides its orginal purpose, this voyage resulted in
furnishing much valuable information about the shores,
ports, islands and currents of the Upper Gulf. The
original account of the journey with maps and a
journal kept by Stafford was sent to the viceroy for
the king, but Bancroft says they have not been traced.
Ugarte lived only eight years after this eventful
journey. Picolo, Salvatierra's first companion had
preceded him to the grave, dying on February 22,
1729, at the age of 79, whereas Ugarte's life-work
did not cease till the following December 29. Perhaps
Lower California owes more to him than to the great
Salvatierra.
A classic example of the influence of ignorance in
the creation of many of the false statements of history
is furnished by a publication about these missions in
the " Montreal Gazette" of 1847, under the title of
" Memories of Mgr. Blanchet." " The failure of the
Jesuits in Lower California," he says," must be attrib-
uted to their unwillingness to establish a hierarchy
332 The Jesuits
in that country. Had they been so disposed, they
might have had a metropoHtan and several suffragans
on the Peninsula. They failed to do so, until at last,
in 1767, word came from generous Spain to hand over
their work to some one else." In the first place,
" generous Spain " had not the slightest desire to
establish a hierarchy on that barren neck of land
when it expelled the Jesuits in 1767. Again as " gener-
ous Spain " appointed even the sacristans in its
remotest colonies, the Society must be acquitted of all
blame in not giving an entire hierarchy to Lower
California. Finally, one hundred and fifty-one years
have elapsed since the last Jesuits left both Mexico
and Lower California and there is nothing there yet,
but the little Vicariate Apostolic of La Paz down at
the lower end of the Peninsula.
In describing the work of the Jesuits in Mexico,
Bancroft (XI, 436) writes as follows: "Without
discussing the merits of the charges preferred against
them, it must be confessed that the service of God in
their churches was reverent and dignified. They
spread education among all classes, their Hbraries
were open to all, and they incessantly taught the
natives religion in its true spirit, as well as the mode
of earning an honest living. Among the most notable
in the support of this last assertion are those of Nayarit,
Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua and lower California,
where their efforts in the conversion of the natives
were marked by perserverance and disinterestedness,
tmited with love for humanity and prayer. Had the
Jesuits been left alone, it is doubtful whether the Span-
ish-American province would have revolted so soon, for
they were devoted servants of the crown and had great
influence with all classes — too great to suit royalty,
but such as after all might have saved royalty in these
parts." Indeed, when the Society was re-established
The Two Americas 333
in 1 8 14, Spain had already lost nearly all of its Amer-
ican colonies. The punishment had rapidly followed
the crime.
Although Mexico and the Philippines are geograph-
ically far apart, yet ecclesiastically one depended on
the other. Legaspi, who took possession of the islands
in 1 57 1, built his fleet in Mexico, and also drafted his
sailors there. Andres de Urdaneta, the first apostle
of the Philippines, was an Augustinian friar in Mexico
who accompanied Legaspi as his chaplain. Twenty
years after that expedition, the Jesuits built their
first house in Manila, and Father Sanchez, who was,
as we have said, one of the supervisors of the great
tunnel, was sent as superior from Mexico to Manila.
One of his companions, Sedeiio, had been a missionary
in Florida, and it was he who opened the first school
in the Philippines and founded colleges at Manila and
Cebu. He taught the Filipinos to cut stone and mix
mortar, to weave cloth and make garments. He
brought artists from China to teach them to draw
and paint, and he erected the first stone building in
the Philippines, nam^ely the cathedral, dedicated in
honor of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed
Virgin. His religious superior, Father Sanchez had
meanwhile acquired such influence in Manila as to be
chosen in 1585, by a unanimous vote of all the colonists,
to go to arrange the affairs of the colony with Philip II
and the Pope. He brought with him to Europe a Fili-
pino boy who, on his return to his native land, entered
the Society, and became thus the first Filipino Jesuit.
The college and seminary of San Jose was established
in Manila in 1595. It still exists, though it is no longer
in the hands of the Society; being the oldest of the
colleges of the Archipelago, it was given by royal
decree precedence over all other educational institu-
tions. During the first hundred years of its educational
334
The Jesuits
life, it counted among its alumni, eight bishops and
thirty-nine Jesuits, of whom four became provincials.
There were also on the benches eleven future Augustin-
ians, eighteen Franciscans, three Dominicans, and
thirty-nine of the secular clergy. The University of
St. Ignatius, which opened its first classes in 1587,
was confirmed as a pontifical university in 1621 and
as a royal university in 1653. Besides these institu-
tions, the Society had a residence at Mecato and a
college at Cavite, and also the famous sanctuary of
Antipole. They likewise established the parishes of
Santa Cruz and San Miguel in Manila.
France began its colonization in North America by
the settlement of Acadia in 1603. De Monts, who
was in charge of it, was a Huguenot and, strange to
say, had been commissioned to advance the interests of
Catholicity in the colony. Half of the settlers were
Calvinists, and the other half Catholics more or less
infected with heresy. A priest named Josu6 Flesch6
was assigned to them; he baptized the Indians indis-
criminately, letting them remain as fervent polygamists
as they were before. The two Jesuit missionaries,
Pierre Biard and Enemond Masse, who were finally
forced on the colonists, had to withdraw, and they then
betook themselves, in 16 13, to what is now kno\Mi as
Mount Desert, in the state of Maine, but that settle-
ment was almost immediately destroyed by an English
pirate from Virginia. Two of the Jesuits were sentenced
to be hanged in the English colony there, but thanks to
a storm which drove them across the Atlantic, they
were able, after a series of romantic adventures, to reach
France, where they were accused of having prompted
the English to destroy the French settlement of Acadia.
Meantime, Champlain, who had established himself
at Quebec in 1608, brought over some Recollect
Friars in 161 5. It was not until 1625 that Father
The Two Americas 335
Mass6, who had been in Acadia, came to Canada proper
with Fathers de Brebeuf, Charles Lalemant, and two
lay-brothers. With the exception of Brebeuf, they
all remained in Quebec, while he with the Recollect
La Roche d'Aillon went to the Huron country, in the
region bordering on what is now Georgian Bay, north
of the present city of Toronto. The Recollect re-
turned home after a short stay, and Brebeuf remained
there alone until the fall of Quebec in 1629. As the
English were now in possession, all hope of pursuing
their missionary work was abandoned, and the priests
and brother returned to France. Canada, however,
was restored to its original owners in 1632, and Le
Jeune and Daniel, soon to be followed by Brebeuf
and many others, made their way to the Huron country
to evangelize the savages. The Hurons were chosen
because they lived in villages and could be more
easily evangelized, whereas the nomad Algonquins
would be almost hopeless for the time being.
The Huron missions lasted for sixteen years. In
1649 the tribe was completely annihilated by their
implacable foes, the Iroquois, a disaster which would
have inevitably occurred, even if no missionary had
ever visited them. The coming of the Jesuits at that
particular time seemed to be for nothing else than to
assist at the death agonies of the tribe. The terrible
sufferings of those early missionaries have often been
told by Protestant as well as Catholic writers. At
one time, when expecting a general massacre, they sat
in their cabin at night and wrote a farewell letter to
their brethren; but, for some reason or other, the
savages changed their minds, and the work of evangel-
ization continued for a little space. Meantime, Brebeuf
and Chaumonot had gone do\\Ti as far as Lake Erie in
mid- winter and, travelling all the distance from Niagara
Falls to the Detroit River, had mapped out sites for
336 The Jesuits
future missions. Jogues and Raymbault, setting out
in the other direction, had gone to Lake Superior to
meet some thousands of Ojibways who had assembled
there to hear about "the prayer."
The first great disaster occurred on August 3, 1642.
Jogues was captured near Three Rivers, when on his
way up from Quebec with suppHes for the starving
missionaries. He was horribly mutilated, and carried
down to the Iroquois country, where he remained a
prisoner for thirteen months, undergoing at every
moment the most terrible spiritual and bodily suffering.
His companion, Goupil was murdered, but Jogues
finally made his escape by the help of the Dutch at
Albany, and on reaching New York was sent across
the ocean in mid-winter, and finally made his way to
France. He returned, however, to Canada, and in
1644 was sent back as a commissioner of peace to his
old place of captivity. It was on this journey that he
gave the name of Lake of the Blessed Sacrament to
what is called Lake George. In 1646 he returned again
to the same place as a missionary, but he and his com-
panion Lalande were slain; the reason of the murder
being that Jogues was a manitou who brought dis-
aster on the Mohawks. Two other Jesuits, Bressani
and Poncet, were cruelly tortured at the very place
where Jogues had been slain, but were released.
In 1649 the Iroquois came in great numbers to
Georgian Bay to make an end of the Hurons. Daniel,
Gamier and Chabanel were slain,, and Brebeuf and
Lalemant were led to the stake and slowly burned to
death. During the torture, the Indians cut slices of
flesh from the bodies of their victims, poured scalding
water on their heads in mockery of baptism, cut the
sign of the cross on their flesh, thrust red-hot rods into
their throats, placed live coals in their eyes, tore out
their hearts, and ate them, and then danced in glee
The Two Americas 337
around the charred remains. This double tragedy of
Brebeuf and Lalemant occurred on the i6th and 17th
of March, 1649. After that the Hurons were scattered
everywhere through the country, and disappeared
from history as a distinct tribe.
As early as 1650 there was question of a bishop for
Quebec. The queen regent, Anne of Austria, the
council of ecclesiastical affairs, and the Company of
New France all wrote to the Vicar-General of the
Society asking for the appointment of a Jesuit. The
three Fathers most in evidence were Ragueneau,
Charles Lalemant and Le Jeune. All three had
refused the honor and Father Nickel wrote to the
petitioners that it was contrary to the rules of the
Order to accept such ecclesiastical dignities. The
hackneyed accusation of the supposed Jesuit opposition
to the establishment of an episcopacy was to the fore
even then in America. The refutation is handled in a
masterly fashion by Rochemonteix (Les Jesuites et
la Nouvelle France, I, 191). Incidentally the pre-
vailing suspicion that Jesuits are continually extolling
each other will be dispelled by reading the author's
text and notes upon the characteristics of the three
nominees which unfitted them for the post. "Le Jeune, "
he says, " would be unfit because h^ was a converted
Protestant who had never rid himself of the defects of
his early education." It was not until 1658 that
Laval was named.
Meantime in 1654, through the efforts of Father
Le Moyne to whom a monument has been erected in
the city of Syracuse, a line of missions was established
in the very country of the Iroquois. It extended all
along the Mohawk from the Hudson to Lake Erie.
Many of the Iroquois were converted such as Gara-
gontia. Hot Ashes and others, the most notable of
whom was the Indian girl, Tegakwitha, who fled from
22
338 The Jesuits
the Mohawk to Caughnawaga, a settlement on the
St. Lawrence opposite Lachine which the Fathers had
established for the Iroquois converts. The record of
her life gives evidence that she was the recipient of
wonderful supernatural graces. These New York
missions were finally ruined by the stupidity and
treachery of two governors of Quebec, de la Barre
and de Denonville, and also by the Protestant English
who disputed the ownership of that territory with the
French. By the year 1710 there were no longer any
missionaries in New York, except an occasional one
who stole in, disguised as an Indian, to visit his scattered
flock. There were three Jesuits with Dongan, the
English governor of New York during his short tenure
of office, but they never left Manhattan Island in
search of the Indians.
Attention was then turned to the Algonquins, and
there are wonderful records of heroic missionary en-
deavor all along the St. Lawrence from the Gulf to Mon-
treal, and up into the regions of the North. Albanel
reached Hudson Bay, and Buteux was murdered at the
head-waters of the St. Maurice above Three Rivers.
The Ottawas in the West were also looked after, and
Garreau was shot to death back of Montreal on his
way to their country, v/hich lay along the Ottawa and
around Mackinac Island and in the region of Green
Bay. The heroic old Menard perished in the distant
swamps of Wisconsin; Allouez and Dablon travelled
everywhere along the shores of Lake Superior; a great
mission station was established at Sault Ste. Marie,
and Marquette with his companion Joliet went down
the Mississippi to the Arkansas, and assured the
world that the Great River emptied its waters in the
Gulf of Mexico. A statue in the Capitol of Wash-
ington commemorates this achievement and has been
dupHcated elsewhere.
The Two Americas 339
The beatification of Jogues, Brebeuf, Lalemant,
Daniel, Gamier, Chabanel and the two domies, Goupil
and Lalande, is now under consideration at Rome.
Their heroic Hves as well as those of their -associates
have given rise to an extensive literature, even among
Protestant writers, but the most elaborate tribute to
them is furnished by the monumental work consisting
of the letters sent by these apostles of the Faith to
their superior at Quebec and known the world over
as " The Jesuit Relations." It comprises seventy-
three octavo volumes, the publication of which was
undertaken by a Protestant company in Cleveland.
(See Campbell, Pioneer Priests of North America.)
On March 25, 1634, the Jesuit Fathers White and
Altham landed with Leonard Calvert, the brother of
Lord Baltimore, on St. Clement's Island in Maryland.
With them were twenty " gentlemen adventurers," all
of whom, with possibly one exception, were Catholics.
They brought with them two hundred and fifty
mechanics, artisans and laborers who were in great
part Protestants. It took them four months to
come from Southampton and, on the way over, all
religious discussions were prohibited. They were
kindly received by the Indians, and the wigwam of
the chief was assigned to the priests. A catechism
in Patuxent was immediately begun by Father White,
and many of the tribe were converted to the Faith
in course of time, as were a number of the Protestant
colonists. Beyond that, very little missionary work
was accomplished, as aU efforts in that direction were
nullified by a certain Lewger, a former Protestant
minister who was Calvert's chief adviser. The ad-
joining colony of Virginia, which was intensely bitter
in its Protestantism, immediately began to cause
trouble. In 1644 Ingle and Claiborne made a descent
on the colony in a vessel, appropriately called the
J
340 The Jesuits
" Reformation." They captured and burned St.
Mary's, plundered and destroyed the houses and
chapels of the missionaries, and sent Father White
in chains to England, where he was to be put to death,
on the charge of being " a returned priest." As he
was able to fehow that he had " returned " in spite of
himself, he was discharged.
Calvert recovered his possessions later, and then
dissensions began between him and the missionaries
because of some land given to them by the Indians.
In 1645 it was estimated that the colonists numbered
between four and five thousand, three-fourths of
whom were Catholics. They were cared for by four
Jesuits. In 1649 the famous General Toleration Act
was passed, ordaining that " no one believing in Jesus
Christ should be molested in his or her religion."
As the reverse of this obtained in Virginia, at that
time, a number of Puritan recalcitrants from that
colony availed themselves of the hospitality of Mary-
land, and almost immediately, namely in 1650, they
repealed the Act and ordered that " no one who pro-
fessed and exercised the Papistic, commonly known
as the Roman Catholic religion, could be protected in
the Province." Three of the Jesuits were, in con-
sequence, compelled to flee to Virginia, where they
kept in hiding for two or three years. In 1658 Lord
Baltimore was again in control, and the Toleration
Act was re-enacted. In 167 1 the population had
increased to 20,000, but in 1676 there was another
Protestant uprising and the English penal laws were
enforced against the Catholic population. In 1715
Charles, Lord Baltimore, died. Previous to that, his
son Benedict had apostatized and was disinherited.
He died a few months after his father. Benedict's
son Charles, who was also a turncoat, was named lord
proprietor by Queen Ann, and made the situation so
The Two Americas 341
intolerable for Catholics that they were seriously
considering the advisability of abandoning Maryland
and migrating in a body to the French colony of
Louisiana. As a matter of fact many went West
and established themselves in Kentucky.
Of the Jesuits and their flock in Maryland, Bancroft
writes : "A convention of the associates for the defence
of the Protestant religion assumed the government,
and in an address to King William denounced the
influence of the Jesuits, the prevalence of papist
idolatry, the connivances of the previous government
at murders of Protestants and the danger from plots
with the French and Indians. The Roman Catholics
in the land which they had chosen with Catholic
liberality, not as their own asylum only, but as the
asylum of every persecuted sect, long before Locke had
pleaded for toleration, or Penn for religious freedom,
were the sole victims of Protestant intolerance. Mass
might not be said publicly. No Catholic priest or
bishop might utter his faith in a voice of persuasion.
No Catholic might teach the young. If the wayward
child of a Catholic would become an apostate the law
wrested for him from his parents a share of their
property. The disfranchisement of the Proprietary
related to his creed, not to his family. Such were the
methods adopted to prevent the growth of Popery.
Who shall say that the faith of the cultivated individual
is firmer than the faith of the common people? Who
shall say that the many are fickle; that the chief is
firm? To recover the inheritance of authority Bene-
dict, the son of the Proprietary, renounced the Catholic
Church for that of England, but the persecution never
crushed the faith of the humble colonists."
The extent of the Jesuit missions in what is now
Canada and the United States may be appreciated by
a glance at the remarkable map recently published
342
The Jesuits
by Frank F. Seaman of Cleveland, Ohio. On it is
indicated every mission site beginning with the Spanish
posts in Florida, Georgia and Virginia, as far back as
1566. The missions of the French Fathers are more
numerous, and extend from the Gulf of Mexico to
Hudson Bay, and west to the Great Lakes and the
Mississippi. Not only are the mission sites indicated,
but the habitats of the various tribes, the portages
and the farthest advances of the tomahawk are there
also. Lines starting from Quebec show the source of
all this stupendous labor.
CHAPTER XI
CULTURE
Colleges — Their Popularity — Revenues — Character of education :
Classics; Science; Philosophy; Art — Distinguished Pupils — Poets:
Southwell; Balde; Sarbievius; Strada; Von Spee; Cresset; Beschi.
— Orators: Vieira; Segneri; Bourdaloue. — Writers: Isla; Ribaden-
eira; Skarga; Bouhours etc. — Historians — Publications — Scientists
and Explorers — Philosophers — Theologians — Saints.
To obviate the suspicion of any desire of self-glori-
fication in the account of what the Society has achieved
in several fields of endeavor especially in that of
science, literature and education it will be safer to
quote from outside and especially from unfriendly
sources. Fortunately plenty of material is at hand
for that purpose. Bohmer-Monod, for instance, in
" Les Jesuites " are surprisingly generous in enumerating
the educational establishments possessed by the Society
at one time all over Europe, though their explanation
of the phenomenon leaves much to be desired. In
1540, they tell us, " the Order counted only ten regular
members, and had no fixed residence. In 1556 it had
already twelve provinces, 79 houses, and about 1,000
members. In 1574 the figures went up to seventeen
provinces, 125 colleges, 11 novitiates, 35 other estab-
lishments of various kinds, and 4,000 members. In
1608 there were tKirty-one provinces, 306 colleges,
40 novitiates, 21 professed houses, 65 residences and
missions, and 10,640 members. Eight years after-
wards, that is a year after the death of its illustrious
General Aquaviva, the Society had thirty-two
provinces, 372 colleges, 41 novitiates, 123 residences,
13,112 members. Ten years later, namely in 1626,
[343]
344 The Jesuits
there were thirty-six provinces, 2 vice-provinces, 446
colleges, 37 seminaries, 40 novitiates, 24 professed
houses, about 230 missions, and 16,060 members.
Finally in 1640 the statistics showed thirty-five
provinces, 3 \ace-provinces, 521 colleges, 49 semi-
naries, 54 novitiates, 24 professed houses, about 280
residences and missions and more than 16,000 mem-
bers."
Before giving these " cold statistics," as they are
described, the authors had conducted their readers
through the various countries of Europe, where this
educational influence was at work. " Italy," we are
informed, " was the place in which the Society received
its programme and its constitution, and from which it
extended its influence abroad. Its success in that
country was striking, and if the educated Italians
returned to the practices and the Faith of the Church,
if it was inspired with zeal for asceticism and the
missions, if it set itself to compose devotional poetry
and hymns of the Church, and to consecrate to the
religious ideal, as if to repair the past, the brushes
of its painters and the chisels of its sculptors, is it not
the fruit of the education which the cultivated classes
received from the Jesuits in the schools and the con-
fessionals ? Portugal was the second fatherland of
the Society. There it was rapidly acclimated. Indeed,
the country fell, at one stroke, into the hands of the
Order; whereas Spain had to be won step by step.
It met with the opposition of Spanish royalty, the
higher clergy, the Dominicans. Charles V distrusted
them; Philip II tried to make them a political machine,
and some of the principal bishops were dangerous
foes, but in the seventeenth century the Society had
won over the upper classes and the court, and soon
Spain had ninety-eight colleges and seminaries richly
endowed, three professed houses, five novitiates, and
Culture 345
four residences, although the population of the country
at that time was scarcely 5,000,000.
" In France a few Jesuit scholars presented them-
selves at the university in the year 1540. They were
frowned upon by the courts, the clergy, the parliament,
and nearly all the learned societies. It was only in
1561, after the famous Colloque de Poissy, that the
Society obtained legal recognition and was allowed to
teach, and in 1564 it had already ten establishments,
among them several colleges. One of the colleges,
that of Clermont, became the rival of the University
of Paris, and Maldonatus, who taught there, had a
thousand pupils following his lectures. In 16 10 there
were five French provinces Vv^ith a total of thirty-six
colleges, five novitiates, one professed house, one
mission, and 1400 members. La Fleche, founded by
Henry IV, had 1,200 pupils. In 1640 the Society in
France had sixty-five colleges, two academies, two
seminaries, nine boarding-schools, seven novitiates,
four professed houses, sixteen residences and 2050
members.
" In Germany Canisius founded a boarding school
in Vienna, with free board for poor scholars, as early
as 1554. In 1555 he opened a great college in Prague;
in 1556, two others at Ingolstadt and Cologne respec-
tively, and another at Munich in 1559. They were
all founded by laymen, for, with the exception of
Cardinal Truchsess of Augsburg, the whole episcopacy
was at first antagonistic to the Order. In 1560 they
found the Jesuits their best stand-by, and in 1567 the
Fathers had thirteen richly endowed schools, seven of
which were in university cities. The German College
founded by Ignatius in Rome was meantime filling
Germany with devoted and learned priests and bishops,
and between 1580 and 1590 Protestantism disappeared
from Treves, Mayence, Augsburg, Cologne, Pader-
346 The Jesuits
bom, Munster and Hildesheim. Switzerland gave
them Fribourg in 1580, while Louvain had its college
twenty years earlier.
"In 1556 eight Fathers and twelve scholastics made
their appearance at Ingolstadt in Bavaria. The
poison of heresy was immediately ejected, and the
old Church took on a new life. The transformation was
so prodigious that it would seem rash to attribute it
to these few strangers ; but their strength was in inverse
proportion to their number. They captured the heart
and the head of the country, from the court and the
local university down to the people; and for centuries
they held that position. After Ingolstadt came Dil-
lingen and Wurzburg. Munich was founded in 1559,
and in 1602 it had 900 pupils. The Jesuits succeeded
in converting the court into a convent, and Munich
into a German Rome. In 1597 they were entrusted
with the superintendence of all the primary schools
of the country, and they established new colleges at
Altoetting and Mindelheim. In 162 1 fifty of them
went into the Upper Palatinate, which was entirely
Protestant, and in ten years they had established four
new colleges.
" In Styria, Carinthia, and Camiola there was
scarcely a vestige of the old Church in 157 1. In 1573
the Jesuits established a college at Gratz, and the
number of communicants in that city rose immediately
from 20 to 500. The college was transformed into a
university twelve years later, and in 1602 and 16 13
new colleges were opened at Klagenfurth and Leoben.
In Bohemia and Moravia they had not all the secondary
schools, but the twenty colleges and eleven seminaries
which they controlled in 1679 proved that at least the
higher education and the formation of ecclesiastics was
altogether in their hands, and the seven establishments
and colleges on the northern frontier, overlooking
Culture 347
Lutheran Saxony made it evident that they were
determined to guard Bohemia against the poison of
heresy." The writer complains that they even dared
to dislodge " Saint John Huss " from his niche and
put in his place St. John Nepomucene, " who was at
most a poor victim, and by no means a saint."
Bohmer's translator, Monod, adds a note here to
inform his readers that the Jesuits invented the legend
about St. John Nepomucene, and induced Benedict
XIII to canonize him.
Finally, we reach Poland where, we are informed
that " the Jesuits enjoyed an incredible popularity.
In 1600 the college of Polotsk had 400 students, all
of whom were nobles; Vilna had 800, mostly belonging
to the Lithuanian nobility, and Kalisch had 500.
Fifty years later, all the higher education was in the
hands of the Order, and Ignatius became, literally, the
preceptor Polonice, and Poland the classic land of the
royal scholarship of the north, as Portugal was in the
south.
"In India, there were nineteen colleges and two semi-
naries ; in Mexico, fourteen colleges and two seminaries ;
in Brazil, thirteen colleges and two seminaries; in
Paraguay, seven colleges," and the authors might have
added, there was a college in Quebec, which antedated
the famous Puritan establishment of Harvard in New
England, and which was erected not " out of the profits
of the fur trade," as Renaudot says in the Margry
Collection, but out of the inheritance of a Jesuit
scholastic.
After furnishing their readers with this splendid list
of houses of education, the question is asked: " How
can we explain this incredible success of the Order as a
teaching body? If we are to believe the sworn
enemies of the Jesuits, it is because they taught
gratuitously, and thus starved out the legitimate
348 The Jesuits
successors of the Humanists. That might explain it
somewhat, they say, especially in southern Italy,
where the nobleman is always next door to the laz-
zarone, but it will by no means explain how so many
princes and municipalities made such enormous out-
lays to support those schools; for there were other
orders in Catholic countries as rigidly orthodox as the
Jesuits. No; the great reason of their success must be
attributed to the superiority of their methods. Read
the pedagogical directions of Ignatius, the great
scholastic ordinances of Aquaviva, and the testimony
of contemporaries, and you will recognize the glory of
Loyola as an educator. The expansion is truly
amazing; from a modest association of students to a
world-wide power which ended by becoming as uni-
versal as the Church for which it fought ; but superior
to it in cohesion and rapidity of action — a world
power whose influence made itself felt not only through-
out Europe, but in the New World, in India, China,
Japan; a world power on whose service one sees at
work, actuated by the same spirit, representatives of
all races and all nations: Italians, Spaniards, Portu-
guese, French, Germans, English, Poles and Greeks,
Arabians, Chinamen and Japanese and even red
Indians; a world power which is something such as
the world has never seen."
Another explanation is found in the vast wealth
which " from the beginning was the most important
means employed by the Order." We are assured that
the Jesuits have observed on this point such an absolute
reserve that it is still impossible to write a history or
draw up an inventory of their possessions. But,
perhaps it might be answered that if an attempt were
also made to penetrate " the absolute reserve " of those
who have robbed the Jesuits of all their splendid
colleges and libraries and churches and residences
I
Culture 349
which may be seen in every city of Europe and Spanish
Ameiica, with the I.H.S. of the Society still on their
portals, some progress might be made in at least
drawing up an inventory of their possessions.
As a matter of fact the Jesuits have laid before the
public the inventories of their possessions and those
plain and undisguised statements could easily be found
if there was any sincere desire to get at the truth.
Thus Foley has published in his " Records of the
English Province " (Introd., 139) an exact statement
of the annual revenues of the various houses for one
hundred and twenty years. Duhr in the " Jesuit-
en-fabeln " (606 sqq.) gives many figures of the same
kind for Germany. Indeed the Society has been
busy from the beginning trying to lay this financial
ghost. Thus a demand for the books was made as
early as 1594 by Antoine Arnauld who maintained that
the French Jesuits enjoyed an annual revenue of
1,200,000 livres, which in our day would amount to
$1,800,000. Possibly some of the reverend Fathers
nourished the hope that he might be half right, but an
official scrutiny of the accounts revealed the sad fact
that their twenty-five colleges and churches with a
staff of from 400 to 500 persons could only draw on
60,000 livres; which meant at our values $90,000 a
year — a lamentably inadequate capital for the gigan-
tic work which had been undertaken. Amaulds under
different names have been appearing ever since.
How this " vast wealth " is accumulated, might also
possibly be learned by a visit to the dwelling-quarters
of any Jesuit establishment, so as to see at close range
the method of its domestic economy. Every member
of the Society, no matter how distinguished he is or
may have been, occupies a very small, uncarpeted
room whose only furniture is a desk, a bed, a wash-
stand, a clothes-press, a prie-dieu, and a couple of
350 The Jesuits
chairs. On the whitewashed wall there is probably a
cheap print of a pious picture which suggests rather
than inspires devotion. This roo.m has to be swept
and cared for by the occupant, even when he is
advanced in age or has been conspicuous in the Society,
" unless for health's sake or for reasons of greater
moment he may need help." The clothing each one
wears is cheap and sometimes does service for years;
there is a common table ; no one has any money of his
own, and he has to ask even for carfare if he needs
it. If he falls sick he is generally sent to an hospital
where, according to present arrangements, the sisters
nurse him for charity, and he is buried in the cheapest
of coffins, and an inexpensive slab is placed over his
remains.
Now it happens that this method of living admits of
an enormous saving, and it explains how the 17,000
Jesuits who are at present in the Society are able not
only to build splendid establishments for outside
students, but to support a vast number of young men
of the Order who are pursuing their studies of literature,
science, philosophy, and theology, and who are conse-
quently bringing in nothing whatever to the Society
for a period of eleven years, during which time they are
clothed, fed, cared for when sick, given the use of
magnificent libraries, scientific apparatus, the help of
distinguished professors, travel, and even the luxuries
of villas in the mountains or by the sea during the
heats of summer. It will, perhaps, be a cause of
astonishment to many people to hear that this particular
section of the Order, thanks to common life and
economic arrangements, could be maintained year
after year when conditions were normal at the amazingly
small outlay of $300 or $400 a man. Of course, some
of the Jesuit houses have been founded, and devoted
friends have frequently come to their rescue by gen-
Culture 351
erous donations, but it is on record that in the famous
royal foundation of La Fleche, established by Henry IV,
where one would have expected to find plenty of money,
the Fathers who were making a reputation in France
by their ability as professors and preachers and scien-
tific men were often compelled to borrow each other's
coats to go out in public. Such is the source of Jesuit
wealth. " They coin their blood for drachmas."
Failing to explain the Jesuits' pedagogical success
by their wealth, it has been suggested that their pop-
ularity in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
arose from the fact that it was considered to be " good
form " to send one's boys to schools which were fre-
quented by princes and nobles; but that would not
explain how they were, relatively, just as much favored
in India and Peru as in Germany or France. Indeed
there was an intense opposition to them in France,
particularly on the part of the great educational
centres of the country, the universities: first, because
the Jesuits gave their services for nothing, and secondly
because the teaching was better, but chiefly, according
to Boissier, who cites the authority of three dis-
tinguished German pedagogues of the sixteenth century
— Baduel, Sturm, and Cordier — " because to the dis-
order of the university they opposed the discipline
of their colleges, and at the end of three or four years
of higher studies, regulai;ly graduated classes of up-
right, well-trained men." (Revue des Deux Mondes,
Dec, 1882, pp. 596, 610).
Compayre, who once figured extensively in the
field of pedagogical literature, finds this moral con-
trol an objection. He says it was making education
subsidiary to a " religious propaganda." If this
implies that the Society considers that the supreme
object of education is to make good Christian men out
of their pupils, it accepts the reproach with pleasure;
352 The Jesuits
and, there is not a Jesuit in the world who would not
walk out of his class to-morrow, if he were told that he
had nothing to do with the spiritual formation of those
committed to his charge. Assuredly, to ask a young
man in all the ardor of his youth to sacrifice every
worldly ambition and happiness to devote himself to
teaching boys grammar and mathematics, to be with
them in their sports, to watch over them in their
sleep, to be annoyed by their thoughtlessness and
imwillingness to learn; to be, in a word, their servant
at every hour of the day and night, for years, is not
calculated to inflame the heart with enthusiasm. The
Society knows human nature better, and from the
beginning, its only object has been to develop a strong
Christian spirit in its pupils and to fit them for their
various positions in life. It is precisely because of
this motive that it has incurred so much hatred, and
there can be no doubt that if it relinquished this
object in its schools, it would immediately enjoy a
perfect peace in every part of the world.
Nor can their educational method be charged with
being an insinuating despotism, as Compayre insists,
which robs the student of the most precious thing in
life, personal liberty; nor, as Herr describes it, "a
sweet enthrallment and a deformation of character by
an unfelt and continuous pressure " (Revue universi-
taire, I, 312). "The Jesuit," he says, "teaches his
pupils only one thing, namely to obey," which we are
told, "is, as M. Aulard profoundly remarks, the same
thing as to please " (Enquete sur I'enseignement
secondaire, I, 460). In the hands of the Jesuit,
Gabriel Hanotaux tells us, the child soon becomes a
mechanism, an automaton, apt for many things, well-
informed, polite, self -restrained, brilliant, a doctor
at fifteen, and a fool ever after. They become excellent
children, delightful children, who think well, obey well,
Culture 353
recite well, and dance well, but they remain children
all their lives. Two centuries of scholars were taught
by the Jesuits, and learned the lessons of Jesuits, the
moraHty of the Jesuits, and that explains the decadence
of character after the great sixteenth century. If there
had not been something in our human nature, a
singular resource and things that can not be killed,
it was all up with France, where the Order was especi-
ally prosperous.
As an offset to this ridiculous charge, the names of
a few of " this army of incompetents," these men
marked by " decadence of character," might be cited.
On the registers of Jesuit schools are the names of
Popes, Cardinals, bishops, soldiers, magistrates, states-
men, jurists, philosophers, theologians, poets and
saints. Thus we have Popes Gregory XIII, Benedict
XIV, Pius VII, Leo XIII, St. Francis of Sales, Cardinal
de BeruUe, Bossuet, Belzunce, Cardinal de Fleury,
Cardinal Frederico Borromeo, Flechier, Cassini, Sequier,
Montesquieu, Malesherbes, Tasso, Galileo, Comeille,
Descartes, Moliere, J. B. Rousseau, Goldoni, Toume-
fort, Fontenelle, Muratori, Buffon, Cresset, Canova,
Tilly, Wallenstein, Conde, the Emperors Ferdinand and
Maximilian, and many of the princes of Savoy, Nemours
and Bavaria. Even the American Revolutionary hero,
Baron Steuben, was a pupil of theirs in Prussia, and
omitting many others, nearly all the great men of
the golden age of French literature received their
early training in the schools of the Jesuits.
It is usual when these illustrious names are referred
to, for someone to say: "Yes, but you educated
Voltaire." The implied reproach is quite unwarranted,
for although Frangois Arouet, later known as Voltaire,
was a pupil at Louis-le-Grand, his teachers were not
at all responsible for the attitude of mind which
afterwards made him so famous or infamous. That
23
354 The Jesuits
was the result of his home training from his earliest
infancy. In the first place, his mother was the inti-
mate friend of the shameless and scoffing courtesan of
the period, Ninon de I'Enclos, and his god-father was
Chateauneuf, one of the dissolute abbes of those days,
whose only claim to their ecclesiastical title was that,
thanks to their family connections, they were able to
live on the revenues of some ecclesiastical establish-
ment. This disreputable god-father had the addi-
tional distinction of being one of Ninofi's numerous
lovers. It was he who had his fileul named in her will,
and he deliberately and systematically taught him to
scoff at religion, long before the unfortunate child
entered the portals of Louis-le-Grand. Indeed, Vol-
taire's mockery of the miracles of the Bible was nothing
but a reminiscence of the poem known as the "Moisade"
which had been put in his hands by Chateauneuf and
which he knew by heart. The wonder is that the
Jesuits kept the poor boy decent at all while he was
under their tutelage. Immorality and unbelief were
in his home training and blood.
Another objection frequently urged is that the
Jesuits were really incapable of teaching Latin, Greek,
mathematics or philosophy, and that in the last
mentioned study they remorselessly crushed all
originality.
To prove the charge about Latin, Gazier, a doctor of
the Sorbonne, exhibited a " Conversation latine, par
Mathurin Codier, Jesuite." Unfortunately for the
accuser, however, it was found out that Codier not
only was not a Jesuit, but was one of the first Calvinists
of France. Greek was taught in the lowest classes;
and in the earliest days the Society had eminent
Hellenists who attracted the attention of the learned
world, such as: Gretser, Viger, Jouvancy, Rapin,
Brumoy, Grou, Fronton du Due, Petau, Sirmond,
Culture 355
Gamier and Labbe. The last mentioned was the
author of eighty works and his " Tirocinium linguae
graecae " went through thirteen or fourteen editions.
At Louis-le-Grand there were verses and discourses in
Greek at the closing of the academic year. Bemis
says he used to dream in Greek, There were thirty-
two editions of Gretser's " Rudimenta linguae gr«C£e,"
and seventy-five of his " Institutiones." Huot, when
very young, began a work on Origen, and Bossuet,
when still at college, became an excellent Greek scholar.
They were both Jesuit students.
" The Jesuits were also responsible for the collapse
of scientific studies," says Compayre (193, 197)-
The answer to this calumny is easily found in the
" Monumenta pedagogica Societatis Jesu " (71-78),
which insists that " First of all, teachers of mathematics
should be chosen who are beyond the ordinary, and who
are known for their erudition and authority." This
whole passage in the "Monumenta," was written by
the celebrated Clavius. Surely it would be difficult
to get a man who knew more about mathematics
than Clavius. It will be sufficient to quote the words
of Lalande, one of the greatest astronomers of France,
who, it may be noted incidentally, was a pupil of the
Jesuits. In 1800 he wrote as follows: "Among the
most absurd calumnies which the rage of Protestants
and Jansenists exhale against the Jesuits, I found that
of La Chalotais, who carried his ignorance and blindness
to such a point as to say that the Jesuits had never
produced any mathematicians. I happened to be
just then writing my book on ' Astronomy,' and I had
concluded my article on * Jesuit Astronomers,' whose
numbers astonished me. I took occasion to see
La Chalotais, at Saintes, on July 20, 1773, and
reproached him with his injustice, and he admitted
it."
356 The Jesuits
" As for history," says Compayre, " it was expressly
enjoined by the * Ratio ' that its teaching should be
superficial." And his assertion, because of his assumed
authority, is generally accepted as true, especially as
he adduces the very text of the injunction which says:
" Historicus celerius excurrendus," namely " let his-
torians be run through more rapidly." Unfortunately,
however, the direction did not apply to the study
of history at all, but to the study of Latin, and meant
that authors like Livy, Tacitus, and Caesar were to be
gone through more expeditiously than the works of
Cicero, for example, who was to be studied chiefly for
his exquisite style. In brief, the charge has no other
basis than a misreading, intentional or otherwise, of
a school regulation.
The same kind of tactics are employed to prove that
no philosophy was taught in those colleges, in spite of the
fact that it was a common thing for princes and nobles
and statesmen to come not only to listen to philosoph-
ical disputations in the colleges, in which they them-
selves had been trained, but to take part in them.
That was one of Conde's pleasures; and the Intendant
of Canada, the illustrious Talon, was fond of urging his
syllogisms against the defenders in the philosophical
tournaments of the little college of Quebec. Nor were
those pupils merely made to commit to memory the
farrago of nonsense which every foolish philosopher of
every age and country had uttered, as is now the method
followed in non-Catholic colleges. The Jesuit student
is compelled not only to state but to prove his thesis, to
refute objections against it, to retort on his opponents,
to uncover sophisms and so on. In brief, philosophy for
him is not a matter of memory but of intelligence. As
for independence of thought, a glance at their history
will show that perhaps no religious teachers have been
so frequently cited before the Inquisition on that score,
Culture ■ 357
and none to whom so many theological and philosoph-
ical errors have been imputed by their enemies, but
whose orthodoxy is their glory and consolation.
Their failure to produce anything in the way of
painting or sculpture has also afforded infinite amuse-
ment to the critics, although it is like a charge against
an Academy of Medicine for not having produced any
eminent lawyers, or vice versa. It is true that Brother
Seghers had something to do with his friend Rubens,
and that a Spanish coadjutor was a sculptor of dis-
tinction, and that a third knew something about
decorating churches, and that two were painters in
ordinary for the Emperor of China, but whose master-
pieces however have happily not been preserved.
Hiiber, an unfriendly author, writing about the Jesuits,
names Courtois, known as Borgognone, by the Italians,
who was a friend of Guido Reni; Dandini, Latri,
Valeriani d'Aquila and Castiglione, none of whom,
however, has ever been heard of by the average Jesuit.
An eminent scholar once suggested that possibly the
elaborate churches of the Compania, which are found
everywhere in the Spanish- American possessions, may
have been the work of the lay-brothers of the Society.
But a careful search in the menologies of the Spanish
assistancy has failed to reveal that such was the case.
That, however, may be a piece of good fortune, for
otherwise the Society might have to bear the responsi-
bility of those overwrought constructions, in addition
to the burden which is on it already of having perpe-
trated what is known as the " Jesuit Style " of
architecture.' From the latter accusation, however,
a distinguished curator of the great New York Metro-
politan Museum of Art, Sir Caspar Purdon Clarke,
in an address to an assembly of artists and architects,
completely exonerated the Society. " The Jesuit
Style," he said, " was in existence before their time.
358 The Jesuits
and," he was good enough to add, " being gentlemen,
they did not debase it, but on the contrary elevated
and ennobled it and made it worthy of artistic con-
sideration."
So, too, the Order has not been conspicuous for
its poets. One of them, however, Robert Southwell,
was a martyr, and wore a crown that was prized far
more by his brethren than the laurels of a bard.
He was bom at Norfolk on February 21, 1561, and
entered the Society at Rome in 1578. Singularly
enough, the first verses that bubbled up from his heart,
at least of those that are known, were evoked by his
grief at not being admitted to the novitiate. He was
too young to be received, for he was only seventeen,
and conditions in England did not allow it; but his
merit as a poet may be inferred from an expression
of Ben Jonson that he would have given many of his
works to have written Southwell's " Burning Babe,"
and, according to the " Cambridge History of Litera-
ture " (IV, 129), " though Southwell may never have
read Shakespeare, it is certain that Shakespeare read
Southwell." Of course, his poems are not numerous,
for though he may have meditated on the Muse while
he was hiding in out of the way places during the per-
secutions, he was scarcely in a mood to do so when
he was flung into a filthy dungeon, or when he was
stretched on the rack thirteen different times as a
prelude to being hanged, drawn and quartered at
Tyburn.
Eleven years after that tragedy, Jacob Balde was
bom in the imperial free town of Ensisheim in Alsace.
He studied the classics and rhetoric in the Jesuit
college of that place, and philosophy and law at
Ingolstadt, where he became a Jesuit on July i, 1624.
To amuse himself, when professor of rhetoric, he wrote
his mock-heroic of the battle of the frogs and mice,
Culture 359
*' Batrachomyomachia." His mastery of classical
Latin and the consummate ease with which he handled
the ancient verse made him the wonder of the day.
" His patriotic accents," says Herder, " made him
a German poet for all time." The tragedies of the
Thirty Years War urged him to strive to awaken the
old national spirit in the hearts of the people. He was
chiefly a lyrist, and was hailed as the German Horace,
but he was at home in epic, drama, elegy, pastoral
poetry and satire. Of course, he wrote in Latin, which
was the language of the cultured classes, for German
was then too crude and unwieldy to be employed
as a vehicle for poetry. His works fill eight volumes.
No less a personage than Isaac Watts, the English
hymnologist, makes Mathias Sarbiewski (Sarbievius) ,
the Pole, another Horace, though his poetry was mostly
Pindaric. Grotius puts him above Horace (Brucker,
505). He was a court preacher, a companion of the
king in his travels, a musician and an artist. He
wrote four books of lyrics, a volume of epodes, another
of epigrams, and there is a posthumous work of his
called " Silviludia." His muse was both religious and
patriotic, and because of the former, he was called
by the Pope to help in the revision of the hymns of
the Breviary; and for that work he was crowned by
King Wladislaw. His prose works run into eight
volumes. There are twenty-two translations of his
poems in Polish, and there are others in German,
Italian, Flemish, Bohemian, English and French.
Gosse in his " Seventeenth Century Studies " says
that Famian Strada who wrote " The Nightingale "
was not professedly a poet but a lecturer on rhetoric.
** The Nightingale " was first published in Rome in
16 1 7 in a volume of " Prolusiones " on rhetoric and
poetry, and occurs in the sixth lecture of the second
course. " This Jesuit Rhetorician," Gosse informs us.
360 The Jesuits
" had been trying to familiarize his pupils with the
style of the great Classic poets, by reciting to them
passages in imitation of Ovid, Lucretius, Lucian and
others. * This,' he told them ' is an imitation of
the style of Claudian,' and so he gives us the lines
which have become so famous. That a single fragment
in a schoolbook should so suddenly take root and
blossom in European literature, when all else that its
voluminous author wrote and said was promptly
forgotten, is very curious but not unprecedented."
In England, the first to adopt the poem was John
Ford in his play of " The Lover's Melancholy " in
1629; Crashaw came next with his " Music's Duel,"
Ambrose Philips essayed it a century later; and in our
own days, Frangois Coppee introduced it with charming
effect in his " Luthier de Cremone."
The French Jesuit Sautel was a contemporary of
Strada and Balde. He was considered the Ovid of
his time, and was as remarkable for the holiness of his
life as for his unusual poetical ability.
About this time, there was a German Jesuit, named
Jacob Masen or Masenius, who was a professor of
rhetoric in Cologne, and died in 1681. Among his
manuscripts found after his death were three volumes,
the first of which was a treatise on general literature,
the second a collection of lyrics, epics, elegies etc.,
and the third a number of dramas. In the second
manuscript was an epic entitled " Sarcotis." The
world would never have known anything about
" Sarcotis " had not a Scotchman, named Lauder,
succeeded in finding it, somewhere, about 1753, i. e.
seventy-two years after Masen's death. He ran it
through the press immediately, to prove that Milton
had copied it in his " Paradise Lost." Whereupon
all England rose in its wrath to defend its idol.
Lauder was convicted of having intercalated in the
Culture 361
" Sarcotis," a Latin translation of some of the lines
of " Paradise Lost," and had to hide himself in some
foreign land to expiate his crime against the national
infatuation. Four years later (1757), Abbe Denouart
published a translation of the genuine text of " Sarcotis."
The poem was found to be an excellent piece of work,
and like " Paradise Lost," its theme was the dis-
obedience of Adam and Eve, their expulsion from
Paradise, the disasters consequent upon this sin of
pride. Whether Milton ever read " Sarcotis " is not
stated.
Frederick von Spec is another Jesuit poet. He
was bom at Kaiserwerth on the Rhine on February
25, 1 591, entered the Society in 16 10, and studied,
taught and preached for many years like the rest of
his brethren. An attempt to assassinate him was made
in 1629. He was in Treves, when it was stormed by
the imperial forces in 1635, witnessed all its horrors,
and died from an infection which he caught while
nursing the sick and wounded soldiers in the hospital.
It was only in the stormy period of his life that he
wrote in verse. Two of his works, the " Goldenes
Tugendbuch," and the " Trutznachtigal " were pub-
lished after his death. The former was highly prized
by Leibniz as a book of devotion. The latter, which
has in recent times been repeatedly reprinted and
revised, occupies a conspicuous place among the lyrical
collection of the seventeenth century. His principal
work, however, the one, in fact, which gave him a world-
wide reputation, (a result he was not aiming at, for the
book was probably published without his consent), is
the " Cautio Criminalis," which virtually ended the
witchcraft trials. It is written in exquisite Latin,
and describes with thrilling vividness and cutting
sarcasm the horrible abuses in the prevailing legal
proceedings, particularly the use of the rack. The
362 The Jesuits
moral impression produced by the work soon put a
stop to the atrocities in many places, though many
a generation had to pass before witch-burning ceased
in Germany.
Perhaps it may be worth while to mention the won-
derful Beschi, a missionary in Madura, whose Tamil
poetry ordinary mortals will never have the pleasure
of enjoying. Besides writing Tamil grammars and
dictionaries, as well as doctrinal works for his converts,
not to speak of his books of controversy against the
Danish Lutherans who attempted to invade the
missions, he wrote a poem of eleven hundred stanzas in
honor of St. Quiteria, and another known as the
" Unfading Garland," which is said to be a Tamil
classic. It is divided into thirty-six cantos, containing
in all 3615 stanzas. Baumgartner calls it an epic
which for richness and beauty of language, for easy
elegance of metre, true poetical conception and execu-
tion, is the peer of the native classics, while in nobility
of thought and subject matter it is superior to them
as the harmonious civilization of Christianity is above
the confused philosophical dreams and ridiculous fables
of idolatry. It is in honor of St. Joseph. His satire
known as " The Adventures of Guru Paramarta " is
the most entertaining book of Tamil literature.
Beschi himself translated it into Latin; it has also
appeared in English, French, German and Italian.
These are about the only poets of very great prom-
inence the Society can boast of ; but though she rejoices
in the honor they won, she regards their song only as an
accidental attraction in the lives of those distinguished
children of hers. What she cherishes most is the
piety of Sarbiewski and Balde, the martyrdom of
charity gladly accepted by von Spec, the missionary
ardor of Beschi, and the blood offering made by South-
well to restore the Faith to his unhappy country.
Culture 363
Apart from these, Gresset also may be claimed as a
Jesuit poet, but unfortunately it was his poetry that
blasted his career as an apostle, for the epicureanism
of one of his effusions compelled his dismissal from
the Society, His brilliant talents counted for nothing
in such a juncture. He left the Order with bitter
regret on his part, but never lost his affection for it,
and never failed to defend it against its calumniators.
His " Adieux aux Jesuites " is a classic. In vain
Voltaire and Frederick the Great invited him to Pots-
dam. He loathed them both, and withdrew to Amiens,
where he spent the last eighteen years of his life in
seclusion, prayer and penance, never leaving the
place except twice in all that time. On both occasions
it was to go to the French Academy, of which his
great literary ability had made him a member. In
1750 he founded at Amiens the Academy of Sciences,
Arts and Letters which still exists. It is said that
before he died he burned all his manuscripts, and one
cannot help regretting that instead of publishing he
had not committed to the flames the poem that caused
his withdrawal from the Society. For Gresset the
Jesuits have always had a great tenderness, and
it might be added here that he is a fair sample
of most of those who, for one reason or another,
have severed their connection with the Society.
There have been only a few instances to the con-
trary, and even they repented before they died.
In the matter of oratory, the Society has had some
respectable representatives as for example, that
extraordinary genius, Vieira, the man whose stormy
eloquence put an end to the slavery of the Indians in
Brazil, and whose " Discourse for the success of the
Portuguese arms," pronounced when the Dutch were
besieging Bahia in 1640, was described by the sceptical
Raynal to be " the most extraordinary outburst of
364
The Jesuits
Christian eloquence." He is considered to have been
one of the worid's masters of oratory of his time,
and to have been equally great in the cathedrals of
Europe and the rude shrines of the MaranhSo. He was
popular, practical, profoundly original and frequently
sublime. He has left fifteen volumes of sermons alone.
Though brought up in Brazil he is regarded as a
Portuguese classic.
Paolo Segneri, who died in 1694, is credited with
being, after St. Bemardine of Siena and Savonarola,
Italy's greatest orator. For twenty-seven years he
preached all through the Peninsula. His eloquence was
surpassed only by his holiness, and to the ardor of an
apostle he added the austerities of a penitent. He has
been translated into many languages, even into Arabic.
Omitting many others, for we are mentioning only
the supereminently great, there is a Bourdaloue, who is
entitled by even the enemies of the Society the
pr^dicateur des rois et le roi des pr^dicateurs
(the preacher of kings and the king of preachers.)
For thirty-four years he preached to the most exacting
audience in the world, the brilliant throngs that gathered
around Louis XIV, and till the end, it was almost
impossible to approach the church when he was to
occupy the pulpit. Lackeys were on guard days
before the sermon. The " Edinburgh Review " of
December, 1826, says of him: " Between Massillon
and Bossuet, at a great distance certainly above the
latter, stands Bourdaloue, and in the vigor and energy
of his reasoning he was undeniably, after the ancients,
Massillon's model. If he is more harsh, and addressed
himself less to the feelings and passions, it is certain
that he displays a fertility of resources and an exuber-
ance of topics, either for observation or argument,
which are not equalled by any orator, sacred or profane.
It is this fertility, this birthmark of genius, that makes
Culture 365
us certain of finding in every subject handled by
him, something new, something which neither his
predecessors have anticipated nor his followers have
imitated."
To this Protestant testimony may be added that of
the Jansenist Sainte-Beuve in his " Causeries du Lundi."
His estimate of Bourdaloue is as follows: "I know
all that can be said and that is said about Bossuet.
But let us not exaggerate. Bossuet was sublime in
his ' Funeral Orations ', but he had not the same excel-
lence in his sermons. He was uneven and unfinished.
In that respect, even while Bossuet was still living,
Bourdaloue was his master. That was the opinion of
their contemporaries, and doubtless of Bossuet himself.
Unlike Bossuet, Bourdaloue did not hold the thunders
in his hand, nor did the lightnings flash around his
pulpit, nor, like Massillon, did he pour out perfimies
from his urn. But he was the orator, such as he
alone could have been, who for thirty-four years in
succession could preach and be useful. He did not
spend himself all at once, did not gain lustre by a
few achievements, nor startle by some of those splendid
utterances which carry men away and evoke their
plaudits; but he lasted; he built up with perfect
surety ; he kept on incessantly, and his power was like
an army whose work is not merely to gain one or two
battles, but to establish itself in the heart of the
enemy's country and stay there. That is the wonder-
ful achievement of the man whom his contemporaries
called ' The Great Bourdaloue ', and whom people
obstinately persist in describing as * the judicious and
estimable Bourdaloue.'
" He had what was called the imperatoria virtus,
that sovereign quality of a general who rules every
alignment and every step of his soldiers, so that nothing
moves them but his command. Such is the impres-
366 The Jesuits
sion conveyed by the structure of his discourses; by their
dialectical fomi, by their solid demonstrations, which
move forward from the start, first by pushing ahead
the advance corps, then dividing his battalions into
two or three groups, and finally establishing a hne of
battle facing the consciences of his hearers. On one
occasion, when he was about to preach at St. Sulpice
there was a noise in the church because of the crowd,
when above the tumult the voice of Cond6 was heard,
shouting, as Bourdaloue entered the pulpit: ' Silence!
Behold the enemy!' "
We may subjoin to these two appreciations the
judgment of the Abbe Maury, himself a great orator.
He is cited by Sainte-Beuve : "Bourdaloue is more
equal and restrained than Bossuet in the beauty and
incomparable richness of his designs and plans, which
seem like unique conceptions in the art and control of
a discourse wherein he is without a rival ; in his dialectic
power, in his didactic and steady progress, in his ever
increasing strength, in his exact and serried logic,
and in the sustained eloquence of his ratiocination,
in the solidity and opulence of his doctrinal preaching
he is inexhaustible and unapproachable." Sainte-
Beuve adds to this eulogy: " Bourdaloue's life and
example proclaim with a still louder emphasis,
that to be eloquent to the end, to be so, both far and
near, to wield authority and to compel attention,
whether on great or startling, simple or useful themes,
you must have what is the principle and source of it
all, the virtue of Bourdaloue."
With the exception of Padre Isla, the satirist, and
Baltasar Gracian, author of " Worldly Wisdom " and
of "El Criticon," which seems to have suggested Robin-
son Crusoe to Defoe, the Society has not produced any
very remarkable prose writer in the lighter kind of
literature, and perhaps even their style in other kinds
Culture 367
of writing may have suffered because of the intensity
and rapidity with which they were compelled to work.
Nevertheless some of them are said to be classics in
their respective languages as, for instance, Vieira in
Portuguese, Ribadeneira in Spanish, and Skarga in
Polish. The Frenchman, Dominique Bouhours, is per-
haps the one who is most remarkable in this respect.
Petit de JuUeville in his " Histoire de la langue et
de la Htterature frangaise " says that " Bouhours was
incontestably the master of correct writing in his
generation. The statutes of the Jesuits prevented
him from being an Academician, but he * was something
better,' as someone said when the Father was striving
to evade him : ' Academiam tu mihi solus f acis —
For me you constitute the Academy.' Not only in
his Order was he considered the official censor, under
whose eyes all sorts of writings had to pass, even those
of Maimbourg and Bourdaloue, but people came
from all parts of the literary world to consult him.
Saint-Evremond and Bossuet were only too glad
to be guided by him. The President Lamoigno sub-
mitted to him his official pronouncements, and Racine
sent his poems with the request to ' mark the faults
that might have been made in the language of which
you are one of the most excellent judges.' In the
history of the French language Bouhours left no date —
he made an epoch."
The Jesuits were also literary arbiters in countries
and surroundings where there was no Bouhours.
Thus the Society had four or five hundred grammarians
and lexicographers of the languages of almost every
race under the sun. Wherever the missionaries went,
their first care was to compile a dictionary and make
a grammar of the speech of the natives among whom
they were laboring, and if the learned world at present
knows anything at all of the language of vast numbers
368 The Jesuits
of aboriginal tribes who have now vanished from the
earth, it is due to the labors of the Jesuit missionaries.
But this was only an infinitesimal part of their
literary output. In his " Biblioth^que des ^crivains
de la compagnie de Jesus," which is itself a stupendous
literary achievement, Sommervogel has already drawn
up a list of 120,000 Jesuit authors and he has restricted
himself to those who have ceased from their labors on
earth and are now only busy in reading the book of
life. Nor do these 120,000 authors merely connote
120,000 books; for some of these writers were most
prolific in their publications. The illustrious Gretser,
for instance, " the Hammer of Heretics," as he was
called, is credited with two hundred and twenty-nine
titles of printed works and thirty-nine MSS. which
range over the whole field of erudition open to his
times: archaeology, numismatics, theology, philology,
polemics, liturgy, and so on. Kircher, who died in
1680, wrote about everything. During the time he
sojourned in Rome, he issued forty-four folio volumes
on subjects that are bewildering in their diversity and
originality : hieroglyphics, astronomy, astrology, medico-
physics, linguistics, ethnology, horoscopy, and what
not else besides. We owe to him the earliest counting-
machine, and it was he who perfected the Aeolian
harp, the speaking tube, and the microscope.
We have chosen these great men merely as examples
of the literary activity of the Society during the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Indeed, this
inundation of books grew so alarming in its proportions
that the enemies of the Church complained that it was
a plot of the Jesuits who, being unable to suppress
other books, had determined to deluge the world with
their own publications.
In the domain of church history they have, it is true,
nothing to compare, in size, with the thirty volumes
Culture 369
of the Dominican Natalis Alexander; the thirty-six
of Fleury ; or the twenty-eight of the "Espaiia Sagrada"
of the Augustinian Florez, which, under his con-
tinuator, Risco, reached forty volumes. Berault-
Bercastel, indeed, wrote twenty-eight, but it was after
the Society was suppressed. Perhaps they refrained
from entering that field because they regarded it to be
sufficiently covered, or because, in order to devote
one's self to historical work, one needs leisure, great
libraries, and security of possession. Their absorbing
pedagogical and missionary work left leisure to but
a few Jesuits in those stirring times, and they were
besides being continually despoiled of the great libraries
they had gathered, and never sure of having a roof
over their heads the day after a work might be begun.
Seizures and expulsions form a continual series in the
Society's history. On the other hand, they were
making history by their explorations, and the letters
they sent from all parts of the world which according
to rule they were compelled to write, furnish to-day
and for all time, the most invaluable historical data
for every part of the globe. As a matter of fact, they
had not even time to write an account of their own
Order. Cordara, Orlandini, Jouvancy, and Sacchini
cover only limited periods, and as has been remarked
above, it was not until Father Martin ordered a com-
plete series of histories of the various sections of the
Society that the. work was undertaken. This is
planned on a much vaster scale than the older writers
ever dreamt of, and some of the volumes have already
been published.
In profane history, however, the versatile Famian
Strada distinguished himself in 1632 by his " Wars of
Flanders," and the work was continued by two of his
religious brethren, Dondini and Gallucio. Clavigero's
" Ancient History of Mexico," in three quarto volumes,
24
370 The Jesuits
published after the Suppression, is a notable work,
as are also his " History of California," and a third
on the " Spanish Conquest." Alegre's three volumes,
" Plistory of the Society of Jesus in New Spain" is of
great value. Mariana's complete " History of Spain,"
in twenty-five books, is still recognized as an authority,
and it will be of interest to know that as late as
1888 a statue was erected at Talavera, in honor of
the same tumultuous writer, who was incarcerated for
his book on " Finance." Charlevoix's voluminous
histories of New France, of Japan, of Paraguay, and
of Santo Domingo are also worthy of consideration.
Bancroft frequently refers to him as a valuable his-
torian, and John Gilmary Shea insists that he is too
generally esteemed to need commendation.
There is, however, an historical work of the Society
which has no peer in literature: the great hagiological
collection known as the " Acta Sanctorum " of the
Bollandists, which was begun in the first years of
the seventeenth century, and is still being elaborated.
It consists at present of sixty-four folio volumes.
This vast enterprise was conceived by the Belgian
Father Rosweydc, but is known as the work of the
Bollandists, from the name of Rosweyde's immediate
successor, Bollandus. When the first volume, which
was very diminutive when compared with the present
massive tomes, was sent to Cardinal Bellarmine, he
exclaimed: " this man wants to live three hundred
years." He regarded the plan as chimerical, but it has
been realized by a self-perpetuating association of
Jesuits Hving at Brussels. When one member is worn
out or dies, someone else is appointed to fill the gap,
and so the work goes on uninterruptedly. The two
first volumes, containing pages, which appeared in
1643, aroused the enthusiasm of the scientific world,
and Pope Alexander VH pubUcly testified that " there
Culture 371
had never been undertaken a work more glorious or
more useful to the Church."
In other fields of work the Society has not been idle.
Even the acrid " Realencyclopadie fur protestantische
Theologie und Kirche " says (VIII, 758), "the
Order has not lacked scholars. It can point to a long
series of brilliant names among its members, but
they have only given real aid to the advancement of
science in those spheres which have close connection
with the doctrines of the Church, such as mathematics,
the natural sciences, chronology, explanation of classical
writers and inscriptions. The service of Jesuit astrono-
mers like Christopher Schlussel (Clavius) , the corrector
of the calendar; Christopher Schreiner, the discoverer
of the sun spots; Francesco Da Vico, the discoverer
of a comet and observer of the transit of Venus ; Angelo
Secchi, the investigator of the sun, and a meteorologist,
are universally acknowledged. And no less credit is
given to the services of the Order afforded by the
optician Grimaldi; and that much praised all-round
scholar and imiversal genius (Doctor centum artium)
Athanasius Kircher. Among the classical writers is
Angelo Mai."
This is certainly not a bad list from an unfriendly
source, and possibly might be helped out by a few
suggestions. Thus Otto Hartig, the Assistant Librarian
of the Royal Library of Munich, tells us in " The
Catholic Encyclopedia " that Ritter very justly traces
the source and beginning of modem geography to the
" Acta Sanctorum " of the Jesuit BoUandists, who
gathered up the crude notes of the journeys of the
early missionaries with their valuable information
about the customs, language and religion of the in-
habitants on the frontiers of the Roman Empire,
along the Rhine and Danube, of the British Isles,
Russia, Poland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland and the
372 The Jesuits
Far East. Another signal contribution to geography
was the " Historia natural y moral de las Indias " of
Jos^ d'Acosta, one of the most brilliant writers on the
natural history of the New World and the customs
of the Indians. The first thorough exploration of
Brazil was made by Jesuit missionaries led by Father
Ferre (i 599-1632). The Portuguese priests, Alvares
and Bermudcs, who went to Abyssinia on an embassy
to the king of that country, were followed by the Jesuits.
Femandes crossed southern Abyssinia in 16 13, and set
foot in regions which until recently were closed to
Europeans. Paez and Lobo were the first to reach the
sources of the Blue Nile, and as early as the middle
of the seventeenth century they ^ith Almeida,
Menendes and Teles drew up a map of Abyssinia which
is considered the best produced before the time of
Abbadie (1810-97). The Jesuit missionaries, Machado,
AiTonso and Paiva, in 1630 endeavored to establish
communications between Abyssinia and the Congo;
Ricci and Schall, both of whom were learned
astronomers, made a cartographic survey of China.
Ricci is commonly knowTi as the Geographer of China,
and is compared to Marco Polo. Andrada was the first
to enter Tibet, a feat which was not repeated until
our owTi times. The Jesuits of Canada, among whom
was Marquette, were the first to furnish the learned
world with information about upper North America;
Mexico and California as far as the Rio Grande, were
travelled by Kino (1644-17 11), Sedlmayer (1703-79)
and Baegert (1717-77); and the Jesuit, Wolfgang
Beyer, reached LakeTiticaca between 1752 and 1766 —
eighty years before the celebrated globe-navigator
Meyer arrived there. Ramion sailed up the Cassi-
quiare, from the Rio Negro to the Orinoco in 1744,
and thus anticipated La Condamine, Humboldt, and
Bonpland. Samuel Fritz in 1684 established the
Culture 373
importance of the Maranhao as the main tributary of
the Amazon, and drew the first map of the country.
Techo (1673), Harques (1687), and Duran (1638) told
the world all about Paraguay, and d'Ovaglia (1646)
about Chile. Gruber and d'Orville reached Lhasa
from Pekin, and went down into India through the
Himalaya passes.
Possibly it is worth while here to give more than a pass-
ing notice to the ascent of the Nile in the seventeenth
century, made by the noted Pedro Paez, a Spanish
Jesuit. He left an account of it which Kircher pub-
lished in his " CEdipus ^gyptiacus " but which James
Bruce angrily described as an invention. Bruce claims
that he himself was the first to explore the river. But
Bruce followed Paez by at least 150 years. The
question is discussed at length by two writers in the
" Biographic universeUe," under the titles " Bruce "
and " Paez."
Paez was bom at Olmeda in 1564. He entered the
Society when he was eighteen years of age and was
sent to Goa in 1588. He was assigned to attempt an
entry of Abyssinia; to facilitate his work, he assumed
the dress of an Armenian. He had to wait a year
for a ship at Ormuz, and when, at last, he embarked
he was captured by an Arab pirate, ill-treated and
thrown into prison. As he was unable to procure a
ransom, he spent seven years chained to the oar as a
galley slave, but was finally set free and reached Goa
in 1596. He was then employed in several missions
of Hindostan, but again set out for Abyssinia which
he reached in 1603. To acquaint himself with the
language of the people he buried himself in a monastery
of Monophysite monks, and then began to give public
lessons in the city. His success as a teacher attracted
attention, and he was finally called before the emperor,
where his eloquence and correctness of speech capti-
374 The Jesuits
vated and ultimately helped to convert the monarch.
A grant of land was given him at Gorgora where he
built a church. The question of the sources of the
Nile was frequently discussed, and in 1618 Paez
ascended the river. He was thus the first modem
European to make the attempt. He told the story in
the two large octavos, which at the tim.e of the Suppres-
sion could be found in most of the libraries of the
Society. Bruce asserts, however, that nothing is said
in these volumes about the discovery, and he accuses
Kircher of imposture. But, says the writer in the
" Biographic universelle," the fact is that between
the account of Paez and that of Bruce there is scarcely
any difference except in a few insignificant details; so
that if Bruce is right, so also are Paez and Kircher.
Paez explored the river as early as 16 18, whereas Bruce
arrived there only in 1772, that is 154 years later.
"Bruce," says another writer "makes it clear that
someone had preceded him and displays his temper in
every line."
The great English work, " The Dictionary of Na-
tional Biography," handles Bruce more severely.
" He was in error," it says, " in regarding himself
as the first European who had reached these fountains.
Pedro Paez, the Jesuit, had undoubtedly done so in
161 5, and Bruce's unhandsome attempt to throw
doubt on the fact only proves that love of fame is not
literally the last infirmity of noble minds, but may
bring much more unlovely symptoms in its train.
He was endowed with excellent abilities, but was
swayed to an imdue degree by self-esteem and thirst
for fame. He was uncandid to those he regarded as
rivals, and vanity and the passion for the picturesque
led him to embellish minor particulars and perhaps in
some instances to invent them. He delayed for
twelve years the composition of his narrative and then
Culture 375
dictated it to an amanuensis, indolently omitting to
refer to the original journals and hence frequently-
making a lamentable confusion of facts and dates.
His report is highly idealised and he will always be
the poet of African travel." The book did not appear
till 1790. The missionary success of Paez consisted in
uniting schismatical Abyssinia to Rome in 1624.
He died shortly afterwards, and, when the depraved
Emperor Basilides mounted the throne in 1634, the
Jesuit missionaries were handed over to the axe of
the executioner. Paez, it may be remarked, was not
the only one whom Bruce vilified. After Paez came
the Portuguese Jesuit Jeronimo Lobo, a very inter-
esting and lengthy account of whose daring missionary
work may be found in the " Biographic universelle."
The writer tells us that Lobo published his narrative in
1659, and that it was again edited by the Royal Society
of London in 1688. Legrand translated it into French
in 1728, and Dr. Samuel Johnson gave a compendious
translation of it in 1734. The complete book was
reprinted in 1798, and in the preface the editors take
Bruce to task for his treatment of both Paez and Lobo.
It is worthy of remark that the notice of " Bruce "
in the " Encyclopedia Britannica " (ninth edition)
does not say a single word either of Paez or Lobo,
although both had attracted so much notice in the
modem literary world.
It was due to the Jesuits that France established
subventions for geographical research. In 165 1 Mar-
tino Martini, kinsman of the celebrated Eusebio Kino,
published his " Atlas Sinensis ", which Richtoven
described as " the fullest geographical description of
China that we have." Kircher published his famous
" China illustrata " in 1667. Verbiest was the imperial
astronomer in China, and so aroused the interest of
Louis XIV that he sent out six Jesuit astronomers at
376 The Jesuits
his owTi expense and equipped them with the finest
instruments. One of these envoys, Gerbillon, explored
the unknown regions north of China, and he, with
Buvet, R6gis and Jarton and others, made a survey of
the Great Wall, and then mapped out the whole
Chinese empire (1718). Manchuria and Mongolia as
far as the Russian frontier and Tibet to the sources
of the Ganges were included. The map ranks as a
masterpiece even to-day. It consists of 120 sheets,
and it has formed the basis of all the native maps
made since then. De Halde edited all the reports
sent to him by his brethren, and published them in
his " Description geographique, historique, politique,
physique et chronologique de I'empire de Chine et de
la Tartarie chinoise." The material for the maps
in this work was prepared by d'Anville, the greatest
geographer of the time, but he was not a Jesuit. In
addition to these works, were written fifteen volumes
by the missionaries of Pekin about the history and
customs of the Chinese, and published in Paris.
These Jesuit astronomers and geographers were
associate members of all the learned societies of
Europe, and were especially serviceable to those bodies
in being able to determine the longitude and latitude
of the places they described. Between 1684 and 1686
they fixed the exact position of the Cape of Good
Hope and of Louveau in Siam. As early as 1645
Riccioli attempted to determine the length of a degree
of longitude. Similar work was done by Thoma in
China, Boscovitch and Maire in the Papal States,
Leisganig in Austria; Mayer in the Palatinate, and
Beccaria and Canonica in northwestern Italy. Veda
published the first map of the Philippines about 1734.
Mezburg and Guessman made maps of Galicia and
Poland, Andrian of Carinthia, and Christian Meyer of
the Rhine from Basle to Mainz. Riccioli, a distin-
Culture 377
guished reformer of cartography, published his " Alma-
gestum novum ", and his " Geographia et hydro-
graphia reformata " as early as 1661. Kircher gave
the world his " Arsmagnetica " and "Mundus subter-
raneus " about the same time, and made the ascent
of Etna and Stromboli at the risk of his life, to measure
their craters. His theory of the interior of the earth
was accepted by Leibniz and by the entire Neptunist
school of geology. He was the first to attempt to
chart the ocean currents. Heinrich Scherer of Dil-
lingen (i 620-1 740) devoted his whole life to geography,
and made the first orographical and hydrographical
synoptic charts. Johann Jacob Hemmer was the
founder of the first meteorological society, which had
contributors from all over the world. This list is
sufficiently glorious.
Perhaps it might be noted here that these eminent
men were not primarily seeking distinction or aiming
at success in the sciences to which they devoted them-
selves. That consideration occupied only a secondary
place in their thoughts and the glory they achieved
was sought exclusively to enable them the more easily
to reach the souls of men. But on the other hand,
that motive inspired them with greater zeal in the
prosecution of their work than a merely human pur-
pose would have done. Assuredly, it would have been
much more comfortable for Ricci and Schall and Verbiest
and Grimaldi to be looking through telescopes in the
observatories of Europe than at Canton or Pekin,
where every moment they were in danger of having their
heads cut off. As a matter of fact, after more than
forty years of service for China's education in mathe-
matics and astronomy, the only reward that Father
Schall reaped was, as we have seen, to be dragged to
court, though he was paralyzed and speechless, and
to be condemned to be hacked to pieces.
378 The Jesuits
It is quite true that the philosophers of the Society
have never evolved any independent philosophical or
theological thought, in the modern acceptation of that
term. That is, they have never acted like the captain
of a ship who would throw his charts and compass
overboard, and insist that North is South because he
thinks it so. The aim of philosophy is intellectual
truth and not the extravagances of a disordered
imagination. Contrary to the modem superstition,
Catholic philosophers are not hampered in their
speculations by authority, nor are they compelled in
their study of logic, metaphysics and ethics to draw
proofs from revelation. Philosophy is a human not a
divine science, but on the other hand. Catholic phil-
osophy is prevented from going over the abyss by the
possession of a higher knowledge than unassisted
human reason could ever attain. Thus protected, it
speculates with an audacity, of which those who are
not so provided can have no conception. For them
philosophy runs through the whole theological course,
and when Holy Scripture, the pronouncements of the
Church, and the utterances of the Fathers have
established the truth of the particular doctrine which
is under consideration, then reason enters, and elevated,
ennobled, fortified and illumined, it walks secure in
the highest realms of thought. Three entire years
are given to the explicit study of it, in the formation
of the Jesuit scholastic, and it continues to be employed
throughout his four or five years of theology. Both
sciences are fundamental in the Society's studies, and
it has not lacked honor in either. But as philosophy is
subsidiary and ancillary, it will be sufficient to set
forth what is said about the Society's theologians.
Dr. Joseph Pohle writing in " The Catholic En-
cyclopedia " tells us that controversial theolog}'' was
carried to the highest perfection by Cardinal Bellarmine.
Culture 379
Indeed, there is no theologian who has defended
almost the whole of Catholic theology against the
attacks of the Reformers with such clearness and
convincing force. Other theologians who were re-
markable for their masterly defence of the Catholic
Faith were the Spanish Jesuit Gregory of Valencia
(d. 1603) and his pupils Adam Tanner (d. 1635) and
Jacob Gretser (d. 1625). Nor can there be any
question that Scholastic theology owes most of its
classical works to the Society of Jesus. Molina was
the first Jesuit to write a commentary on the theological
" Summa " of St. Thomas, and was followed by
Cardinal Toletus and those other brilliant Spaniards,
Gregory of Valencia, Suarez, Vasquez, and Didacus
Ruiz. Suarez, the most prominent among them, is
also the foremost theologian the Society of Jesus has
produced. His renown is due not only to the fertility
and wealth of his literary productions, but also to his
clearness, moderation, depth and circumspection. He
had a critic, both subtle and severe, in his colleague,
Gabriel Vasquez. Didacus Ruiz wrote masterly
treatises on God and the Trinity, as did Christopher
Gilles ; and they were followed by Harruabal, Ferdinand
Bastida, Valentine Herice, and others whose names
will be forever linked with the history of Molinism.
During the succeeding period, John Praepositus, Caspar
Hurtado, and Antonio Perez won fame by their com-
mentaries on St. Thomas. Ripalda wrote the best
treatise on the supernatural order. To Leonard
Lessius we owe some beautiful treatises on God and
his attributes. Coninck made the Trinity, the Incar-
nation, and the Sacraments his special study. Cardinal
John de Lugo, noted for his mental acumen and highly
esteemed as a moralist, wrote on the virtue of Faith
and the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist.
Claude Tiphanus is the author of a classical monograph
380 The Jesuits
on the notions of personality and hypostasis, and
Cardinal Pallavicini, known as the historiographer of
the Council of Trent, won repute as a dogmatic theo-
logian by several of his writings (XIV, 593-94).
With regard to moral theology, Lehmkhul tells us
that in the middle of the eighteenth century there
arose a man who was, so to say, a blessing of Divine
Providence. Owing to the eminent sanctity which he
combined with soUd learning, he definitely established
the system of moral theology which now prevails
in the Church. That man was St. Alphonsus Maria
Liguori, who was canonized in 1839, and declared a
Doctor of the Church in 187 1. In his youth he was
imbued with the stricter principles of moral theology,
but as he himself confesses, the experience of fifteen
years of missionary life and careful study brought him
to realize the falseness and the evil consequences of
the system in which he had been educated, and the
necessity of a change. He, therefore, took the
" Medulla " of the Jesuit, Hermann Busembaum,
subjected it to a thorough examination, confirmed it by
internal reasons and external authority, and then
published a work which was received with universal
applause, and whose doctrine is entirely on Pro-
babilistic principles. This approval and appropriation
of Busembaum's teaching by one who has been made
a Doctor of the Church is a sufficient vindication of the
doctrine of Probabilism, for which the Society suffered
so much, and is at the same time a magnificent tribute
to the greatness of Busembaum, " whose book,"
Lemkuhl contents himself with saying, " was widely
used," whereas forty editions of it had been issued
during the author's own life, which happened to be
an entire century before the publication of Liguori's
great work. Busembaum's " Medulla " was printed
in 1645, and Liguori's "Moral Theology" in 1748.
Culture 381
up to 1845, there were 200 editions of Busembaum;
that is, one edition for every year of its existence.
In the history of moral theology Sanchez, Layman,
Azor, Castro Palao, Torres, Escobar also may be
cited as leading lights.
In Scripture there are the illustrious names of
Maldonado, Ribera, Prado, Pereira, Sancio and
Pineda. Of the saintly Cornelius a Lapide (Vanden
Steen) a Protestant critic, Goetzius, said in 1699:
" He is the most important of Catholic Scriptural
writers." His " Commentary of the Apocalypse "
has been translated into Arabic. In ascetical theology,
St. Ignatius is a leader in modern times; and his
" Spiritual Exercises " form a complete system of
asceticism. With him are a great number of his
sons, whose names are famiUar in every religious house,
such as Bellarmine, Rodriguez, Alvarez de Paz, Gaudier,
da Ponte, Lessius, Lancicius, Surin, Saint- Jure, Neu-
mayr, Dirckink, Scaramelli, Nieremberg and many
others. Finally, it can not be denied that the Society
has hearkened to the second rule of the Summary
of its Constitutions, which is read publicly and with
an unfailing regularity every month of the year, in
every one of its houses throughout the world, namely:
that " the End of this Society is not only to attend
to the salvation and perfection of our own souls, with
the divine grace, but with the same, seriously to employ
ourselves in procuring the salvation and perfection of
our neighbor."
The canonization of saints proceeds very slowly in
the modem- Church. Years and years are spent in
preliminary investigations of the life, the holiness,
the doctrines, and the miracles of the one who is to
be presented to the public recognition of the Church.
Theologians and canonists have to pass on all those
points and those who testify speak only under the
382 The Jesuits
most solemn oaths and the threat of dire censure
if they witness to what they know to be false. Infinite
labor has been expended before the question is pre-
sented to the Holy See. Very many of these causes
never reach even that stage, for everywhere, in its
progress, stands an official called the Promoter of the
Faith, but popularly known as the " Devil's Advocate,"
whose work consists in doing his utmost to throw
obstacles in the way of the canonization. Nevertheless,
the Society has a sufficient number on its roll of fame,
in spite of its comparatively brief and perpetually
perturbed existence, to convince the world that it is
not the maleficent organization that it is credited with
being.
At the head of the list come the two friends, Ignatius
and Xavier, dying within four years of each other:
the latter in 1552, the former in 1556. The third is
Borgia, who died in 1572. He had set aside all the
honors of the world, except that of actual royalty, in
order to take the lowest place in the Society, but he
became its chief. In charming contrast with these
three great men, are the three boy saints: Stanislaus,
Aloysius, and Berchmans, dying respectively in 1568,
1591 and 162 1. Stanislaus, the little Polish noble,
travelled all the way from Vienna to Rome on foot,
a distance of 1500 miles, to enter the novitiate. He
had no money, or guide, or friends, but he arrived
safely, for the angels gave him Communion on his
journey, and he has ever since been the darling of the
beginners in religious life. Aloysius was of princely
blood, but died nursing the sick in the hospital. He is
the patron of youthful purity, and was never a priest,
though an unwise writer makes a missionary of him.
The third, John Berchmans, was neither prince nor
noble. On the contrary, it used to be the delight of
foreigners, when rambling through the little Flemish
Culture 383
town of Diest, to see the name of " Berchmans " on the
humble shops of hucksters and grocers, and to fancy
that some of the little lads who clattered about in their
sabots, on their way to school, were relatives of his.
His sanctity has made his family name famous in the
world. His beatification was especially welcome, be-
cause, as Berchmans was the very incarnation of the
Jesuit rule, the Order cannot have been the iniquitous
organization it is frequently said to be.
Then there are three Japanese Jesuits who were
crucified at Nagasaki in 1597 ; and in 16 16 came Alfonso
Rodriguez, who had prepared Peter Claver to be the
Apostle of the negro slaves in America, and who went
quietly from his post at the gates of the College of
Minorca to the gates of heaven. Peter Claver had
to wait for thirty-eight years before going to join his
venerable friend. Besides the two St. Francises of the
early days, there are two more of that name in the
Society: the Frenchman, John Francis Regis, who died
in 1640, and the Italian, Francis Hieronymo, whose
work ended in 17 16. They were both preachers to
the most abandoned classes. Hieronymo could gather
as many as 15,000 men to a regular monthly Com-
munion, and when he entered the royal convict ships,
he converted those sinks of iniquity into abodes of
peace and resignation.
It may be noted here that St. Francis Regis had
a distinction peculiarly his own. Long after his
canonization as a saint, he was proclaimed to have
been actually expelled from the Society, and that the
public disgrace was prevented only by his death,
which occurred before the official papers arrived from
Rome. This accusation is trident-like in its wounding
power or purpose. It transfixes Regis, and kills his
reputation for virtue; then it inflicts a gash on the
Society by making it present to the Church, as worthy
384 The Jesuits
of being raised to the altars, a man whom it was un-
willing to keep in its own houses; finally, it assails the
Church and attempts to show that no respect should
be had for its decrees of canonization. It was almost
unnecessary for the learned Bollandist, Van Ortroy, to
show that there is no foundation whatever for this
story of the dismissal of St. John Francis Regis from
the Society of Jesus.
Such are the canonized Jesuits. The Blessed are
more numerous. There are ninety-one of them. First
in time are the forty Portuguese martyrs under Ignatius
de Azevedo, who were slain by the French Huguenots
in a harbor of the Azores in the year 1570. Then
follow the English witnesses to the Truth. The first
to die was Thomas Woodhouse, who was executed in
1573. Between that date and 1582 four others were
put to death; among them the illustrious Edmund
Campion. Of those who died in the persecutions of
Japan, between 161 7 and 1627, there are thirty-one
Japanese as well as European Jesuits. Rudolf Aqua-
viva was put to death in Madura in 1583, and John de
Britto in 1693. Two Hungarians, Melchior Grodecz
and Stephen Pongracz were slain in Hungary in 16 19,
and Andrew Bobola was butchered by the Cossacks
in 1657. There are others among the Society's Blessed
who were not martyred, but would have been willing
to win their crown in that way, if God so wanted.
They are Peter Faber, the first priest of the Society;
Peter Canisius, the Apostle of Germany; and the
Italian Antonio Baldinucci, a great missionary who
used to whip himself to blood, to move the hearts of
the hardened sinners around him, and who lighted
bonfires of bad books and pictures and playing cards
in the public squares to impress his excitable fellow-
countrymen. His missionary methods were some-
what like those of Savonarola.
Culture 385
Those who are ranked as Venerable are fifty in
number, including Claude de la Colombiere, the Apostle
of the devotion to the Sacred Heart; Cardinal Bel-
larmine; Nicholas Lancicius, the well-known ascetical
writer; Julien Maunoir, the apostle of his native
Brittany; and Jose Anchieta, the thaumaturgus of
Brazil, There are, however, a great many others
under consideration, among them being the heroes of
North America — ^Jogues, Goupil, Lalande, Brebeuf,
Lalemant, Gamier, Daniel, Chabanel — who were slain
by the Iroquois. In the conclaves of 1605, which
elected Clement VIII and Leo XI, Bellarmine was very
seriously considered as a possible pope, but the fact
that he was a Jesuit was an obstacle in the eyes of many.
When he died in 162 1, there was a general expectation
that he would be canonized for his extraordinarily
holy Hfe. In fact, Urban VIII who was so rigid in
such matters placed him among the " Venerable "
six years after his death. His case was re-introduced
for beatification in 1675, 1714, 1752 and 1832, but
nothing was done chiefly because it would have angered
the French regalist politicians, as his name was
associated with a doctrine most obnoxious to them. In
1920 the case was again taken up.
We omit the countless thousands of Jesuits who ever
since the Society was established have striven in every
possible way to reaHze its ideals; the heroes who have
hurried with delight to the most disgusting and
dangerous missions they could find in the farthermost
parts of the world; who have died by thousands of
disease and exhaustion in the pest-laden ships that
carried them to their destination or flung them dead
on some desolate coast; or those who have been slain
by savages or devoured by wild beasts; or who died
of starvation in the forests and deserts where they
were hunting for souls; or have given their lives with
25
386 The Jesuits
joy for the privilege of ministering to the plague-
stricken. Nor do we mention here the great phalanxes
of the unknown who, without a single regret for what
they might have been in the world, have endeavored to
obey, to some extent, at least, that startling admonition
that they hear so often: Ama nesciri ei pro nihilo
reputari: " Love to be unknown and to be reputed as
nothing," — the men who have truly lived up to that
ideal in the repulsiveness of hospitals and jails and
asylums, or in the ceaseless drudgery and obscurity of
the class-room and the unchanging routing of house-
hold occupations.
These men have seen themselves time and time again
robbed of all their possessions, hounded out of their
own countries and cities as if they were criminals,
their names branded with infamy and a by-word for
all that is vile, and they understood better and better,
as time went on, what is meant by that page which
stares at them from their rule book and which is
entitled : " The Sum and Scope of Our Constitutions,"
and which tells them: " We are men crucified to
the world, and to whom the world is crucified; new
men who have put off their own affections to put on
Christ, dead to themselves to live to justice; who, with
St. Paul, in labors, in watching, in fastings, in chastity,
in knowledge, in long-suffering, in sweetness, in the
Holy Ghost, in charity unfeigned, in the word of
truth, shew themselves ministers of God; and, by the
armor of justice, on the right hand and on the left,
by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report,
by good success and ill success, press forward with
great strides to their heavenly country, and by all
means possible, and with all zeal, urge on others also,
ever looking to God's greatest glory."
CHAPTER XII
PROM VITELLESCHI TO RICCI
1615-1773
Pupils in the Thirty Years War — Caraffa; Piccolomini; Gottifredi —
Mary Ward — Alleged decline of the Society — John Paul Oliva —
Jesuits in the Courts of Kings — John Casimir — English Persecu-
tions. Luzancy and Titus Oates — Jesuit Cardinals — Gallicanism in
France — Maimbourg — Dez — Troubles in Holland. De Noyelle and
Innocent XI — Attempted Schism in France — Gonzdles and Prob-
abilism — Don Pedro of Portugal — New assaults of Jansenists —
Administration of Retz — Election of Ricci — The Coming Storm.
As Mutius Vitelleschi's term of office extended from
16 1 5 to 1645, it coincided almost exactly with the
Thirty Years War. Of course, the colleges, which
had been estabHshed in almost every country in Europe,
felt the effects of this protracted and devastating
struggle, but, on the other hand, comfort was foimd
in the fact that many of the great statesmen and soldiers
of that epoch had been trained in those schools. There
was, for instance, the Emperor Ferdinand, of whom
Gustavus Adolphus used to say, " I fear only his
virtues," and associated with him was MaximiHan,
the Great, who was so ardent in the practice of his
religion that Macaulay describes him as, "a fervent
missionary wielding the powers of a prince." He
appointed the Jesuit poet, Balde, as his court preacher,
and called to Ingolstadt the Jesuit astronomer,
Scheiner, who disputed with Galileo the discovery of
the sun-spots — as a matter of fact, the discoveries
of both synchronized with each other, but Fabricius is
asserted to have anticipated both. Scheiner suggested
and planned the optical experiment which bears his
name, and also invented the pantograph.
387
388 The Jesuits
Tilly, one of the greatest warriors of his time, had
first thought of entering the Society, but, on the advice
of his spiritual guides, took up the profession of arms.
According to Spahn " he displayed genuine piety,
remarkable self-control and disinterestedness and
seemed like a monk in the garb of a soldier " (The
Catholic Encyclopedia, XIV, 724). As he was in
command of the league of the Catholic states, and was
ordered to restore the lands which had been wrested
from their Catholic owners, of course, he gained the
reputation of being a bitter foe of Protestantism —
an attitude of mind which was attributed to his edu-
cation at Cologne and Chatelet. Wallenstein, his
successor, was educated at the Jesuit college of Olmutz
and was a liberal benefactor of his old masters in
the work of education. The fact that in 1633 they
saved from the fury of a Vienna mob their rancorous
enemy, the famous Count de Thum, when he was
taken prisoner by Wallenstein in the Bohemian uprising,
ought to count for something in dissipating the delusion
that Jesuits are essentially persecutors. When the
Emperor Mathias sent them back to Bohemia and
founded a college for them at Timau and affiliated it
to the University of Prague, they showed their grati-
tude by sacrificing a number of their men in the pesti-
lence which was then raging. ]
Richelieu, who was prominent in what was called
the French period of the war, was particularly solicitous
in protecting the interests of his former teachers.
Although politically supporting the Protestant cause,
he invariably stipulated in his treaties that the Jesuits
should be protected in the territories handed over to
Protestant control, even when they opposed him, as
for instance, in the Siege of Prague, where Father
George Plachy, a professor of sacred history in the
university, led out his students in a sortie and drove
From Vitelleschi to Ricci 389
back the foe — an exploit which merited for him a
mural crown from the city while Emperor Ferdinand
III sent an autograph letter to the General of the
Society to thank him for the patriotism displayed by
Plachy, Indeed, when the Protestant ministers of
Charenton wanted Richelieu to suppress the Jesuits,
he answered that " it was the glory of the Society to
be condemned by those who attack the Church, cal-
umniate the saints, and blaspheme Christ and God.
For many reasons, the Jesuits ought to be esteemed by
everyone; indeed there are not a few who love them
precisely because men like you hate them."
There is one of their pupils who, at this time, though
a man of unusual ability, brought sorrow not only on
the Society but also on the universal Church: Marc
Antonio de Dominis. He was a Dalmatian, whose
family had given a Pope and many illustrious prelates
to the Church. He followed the course of the Jesuit
college in Illyria, and amazed his masters by the
brilliancy of his talents. He entered the novitiate,
and contrary to the practice of the Society was immedi-
ately made a professor of sacred eloquence, philosophy
and mathematics. Crowds flocked to hear him;
meantime he distinguished himself in the pulpit.
Apparently he was a priest when he became a novice.
The fame he acquired, however, turned his head and
he left the Society to become a bishop, and later an
archbishop, in Dalmatia. But his utterances soon
showed that he was at odds with the Church. He was
with Venice in its quarrel with the Pope, and then
relinquishing his archbishopric, he fled to England,
where he was received with enthusiasm by James I,
who kept him at court, showered rich benefices on
him and made him Dean of Windsor. There he wrote
a book entitled " De republica Christiana " (1620),
which denied the primacy of the Pope. Pursued by
390 The Jesuits
remorse he went to Rome and at the feet of Gregory XV
implored forgiveness for his apostasy. But his repent-
ance was feigned. His letters to certain individuals
showed that he was still a heretic, and he was imprisoned
in Sant' Angelo, where he died in 1624, giving signs at
the last moment of genuine repentance.
The long Generalate of Vitelleschi was clouded by
one disaster: the expulsion of the Jesuits from the
Duchy of Lorraine. They had opposed the bigamous
marriage of the duke, but his confessor. Father Chemi-
not, claimed that there were sufficient grounds for
invalidating the first marriage, and took the opposite
side. He was expelled from the Society or left it.
During Vitelleschi's time, the famous English nun,
Mary Ward, appeared in Rome. She had been a Poor
Clare, but found that it was not her vocation to be
a contemplative, and she, therefore, proposed to
establish a religious congregation which would do
for women in their own sphere what the Jesuits were
doing for men. For that end she asked for dispensation
from enclosure, choir duty, the religious habit and
also freedom from diocesan control. As all this was
an imitation of the Society's methods, she and her
companions began to be called by their enemies
" Jesuitesses." Their demands, of course, evoked a
storm, but Father Vitelleschi encouraged them, and
Suarez and Lessius were deputed to study the con-
stitutions of the new congregation. Nevertheless,
although the women were the recipients of very
great consideration from three Popes, Paul V, Gregory
XV, and Urban VHI, the committee of cardinals to
whom the matter was referred, refused in 1630 to
approve of their rules. In 1639 the little group returned
to England where, under the protection of Queen
Henrietta Maria, they began their work, and were
approved by the Holy See. At first, they were known
From Vitelleschi to Ricci 391
in Rome as " The English Ladies." In Ireland and
America they are " The Loretto Nuns " (A masterly-
review of this incident may be found in Guilday's
" English Refugees," I, c. vi).
Vitelleschi died in February, 1645, and was followed
in rapid succession by Fathers Caraffa, Piccolomini,
Gottifredi and Nickel, whose collective terms amounted
only to seventeen years. Caraffa governed the Society
for three years; Piccolomini for two; and Gottifredi
died before the congregation which elected him had
terminated its work. Nickel was chosen in 1652. He
was old and infirm and after nine years, felt compelled
to ask for a Vicar-General to assist him in his work.
The one chosen for this office was John Paul Oliva. He
served three years in that capacity, but as he had been
made Vicar with the right of succession, he became
General automatically when Father Nickel died on
July 31, 1664. This departure from usage had been
allowed with the approval of Pope Alexander VII.
Oliva was a Venetian and two of his family, his grand-
father and uncle, had been Doges of the Republic.
Before his election to the office of General he had
been ten years master of novices and had also been
named rector of the Collegium Germanicum. He
was on terms of intimacy with Conde and Turenne;
and Innocent X died in his arms. His election evidently
gave great satisfaction. Princes and cardinals began
to multiply the coUeges of the Society throughout
Italy, where they already abounded. Milan, Naples,
Cuneo, Monbasileo, Voltuma, Genoa, Turin, Savi-
gliano, Brera and other cities all wanted them.
It is this period from 161 5 to 1664, which, for some
undiscoverable reason, is described both by Ranke
and Bohmer-Monod as marking the deterioration and
decay of the Society. An examination of this indict-
ment is, of course, imperative; and though it must
392 The Jesuits
necessarily be somewhat polemical, it may be helpful
to a better understanding of the situation and give a
more complete knowledge of facts. Ranke begins his
attack by throwing discredit on Vitelleschi, describing
him as a man of " little learning," adducing as his
authority for this assertion a phrase in some Italian
writer who says that Vitelleschi was a man di poche
lettre ma di santitd. di vita non ordinaria." Now the
obvious meaning of this is, not that he was a man of
" little learning," but that " he wrote ver^' few letters."
As he belonged to an unusally illustrious family of
princes, cardinals, and popes; and as he had not only
made the full course of studies in the Society, but had
taught philosophy and theology for several years and
was subsequently appointed to be the Rector of the
Collegium Maximum of Naples, which was the Society's
house of advanced studies, and as he was, besides,
the author of several learned works, it is manifestly
ridiculous to class him with the illiterates. As a
matter of fact, ^'lutius Vitelleschi was a far better
educated man than Leopold von Ranke.
Father Nickel, in turn, is set down as " rude, dis-
courteous, and repulsive; to such an extent that he
was deposed from his office by the general congregation,
which explicitly declared that he had forfeited all
authority."
It would be hard to crowd into a whole chapter as
many false statements as this much and perhaps
over-praised historian contrives to condense in a single
sentence. For apart from the inherent impossibility
of anyone who was " rude, repulsive and discourteous "
arriving at the dignity of General of the Society, it
is absolutely false that Father Nickel " was deposed
from his office and was explicitly told that he had
forfeited his authority." Far from this being the case,
it was he who had summoned the congregation in
From Vitelleschi to Ricci 393
order to lay before it the urgent necessity of his being
relieved from the heavy burden of his office. On its
assembling, the first thing he did was to ask for a
Vicar because his infirmities and his age — he was
then seventy-nine years old — made it impossible for
him to fulfill the duties of his office, or even to take part
in the proceedings of the congregation. Moreover,
it is absolutely calumnious to say that the congregation
explicitly declared that he had forfeited all his authority.
Even Ranke, who makes the charge, declares that he
was guilty of no trangression ; nor was the action of
the congregation in defining the Vicar's position as
" not being in conjunction with that of the retiring
General," anything else than a desire to avoid having
the Society governed by two heads. Nor did this
denote " a change in the Society's methods;" for there
had been a provision in the constitution from the very
beginning for even the deposition of a general. Again,
far from being repulsive in his manners, the congre-
gation proclaimed him to have been the very opposite.
Indeed, all his brethren sympathized with him, especially
at that moment, because, besides the usual burden of
his office and his age, he was afflicted by the sad news
which had just reached him that three of the Fathers
who were delegates to the congregation — the Vice-
Provincial of Sardinia and his two associates — had
been shipwrecked at the mouth of the Tiber. The
words of the congregation's acceptance of his with-
drawal denote nothing but the deepest reverence and
affection. They are: Congregatio ohsequendum duxit
voluntati charissimi optimeque meriti Parentis, that is,
" The congregation deemed it proper to comply with the
desire of the most beloved and most deserving Father."
Bohmer-Monod, likewise, in spite of their joint
claim to sincerity and lack of bias, are especially
denunciatory of the character of the Society at this
394 The Jesuits
juncture. " It is no longer," they say, " an autocracy,
but a many-headed oligarchy, which defends its rights
against the General as jealously as did the Venetian
nobles against the doges. The military and monastic
spirit has relaxed and a spirit of luxurious idleness
and greed of woridly possessions has taken its place.
Not only the writings of the enemies of the Jesuits,
but the letters of their own Generals go to prove it.
Thus, Vitelleschi wrote, in 1617, that the reproach of
money-seeking was a universal one against the Society.
Nickel also sent a grand circular letter to recall the
Order to the observance of Apostolic poverty. Indeed,
John Sobieski, a devoted friend of the Order, could
not refrain from writing to Oliva : ' I remark with great
grief that the good name of the Society has much to
suffer from your eagerness to increase its fortune
without troubling yourselves about the rights of others.
I feel bound, therefore, to warn the Jesuits here against
their passion for wealth and domination, which are
only too evident in the Jesuits of other countries.
Rectors seek to enrich their colleges in every way.
It is their only thought.' But these reproaches made
no impression on Oliva who was a sybarite leading an
indolent life at the Gesu or in his beautiful villa of
Albano. Even if he were the proper kind of man, he
would have been powerless, for, in 1661 Goswin
Nickel was deposed solely because of his rigidity towards
the most influential members of the Order. The
Constitution of the Order was changed, for Oliva was
made General because he had humored the nepotism
of the Pope."
The answer to this formidable arraignment is: —
First, the General of the Society cannot be an auto-
crat. He must rule according to the Constitutions;
failing in this, he may be deposed by the general
congregation. Secondly, the society can never bQ
From Vitelleschi to Ricci 395
ruled by an oligarchy, especially by "an oligarchy
with many heads " which is a contradiction in terms.
The only oligarchy possible would be the little group
around the General known as the assistants, represent-
ing the different national or racial sections of the Society.
But they are invested with no authority whatever.
They are merely counsellors, are elected by the Con-
gregation, and ipso facto lose their office at the death
of the General, though of course they hold over until
the election of his successor. The metaphor of the
Venetian nobles and the doges has no application in
the Society of Jesus.
■ Nor is it true that after Vitelleschi's death, " it
lost its monastic spirit " for the simple reason that it
never had that spirit. The Jesuits are not monks and
their official designation in ecclesiastical documents
is Clerici Regulares Societatis Jesu (Clerks, or Clerics,
Regular of the Society of Jesus). It is precisely because
they broke away from old monastic traditions and
methods that they were so long regarded with suspicion
by the secular and regular or monastic clergy, especially
as the innovation was made at the very time that
Martin Luther was furiously assaihng monastic orders.
If, however, by " the monastic spirit " is meant the
religious spirit, and that is possibly the meaning of
the writers, it will not be difficult to show that piety
and holiness of life had not departed from the Society.
For instance, some of the greatest modem ascetic
writers appeared just at that time in the Society.
Thus, Suarez died in 1617, and Lessius in 1623, both
of whom may some day be canonized saints. To the
latter, St. Francis de Sales wrote to acknowledge his
spiritual indebtedness to the Society. Living at that
time also were Bellarmine, Petavius, Nieremberg,
Layman, Castro Palao, Surin, Nouet, de la Colom-
biere, and others equally spiritual. Alvarez de Paz
396 The Jesuits
died in 1620, Le Gaudier in 1622, Drexellius in 1630,
Louis Lallcmant in 1635, Lancisius in 1636, de Ponte
in 1644, Saint-Jure in 1657. Meantime, the famous
work on " Christian Perfection " by Rodriguez, who
died in 1616, had been making its way to every religious
house in Christendom. There was also a great number
of holy men in the Society at that moment. Had
that not been the case, Cardinal Orsini, who died in
1627, would not have asked for admission; nor Charles
de Lorraine, Prince Bishop and Count of Verdun, who
had entered a few years before; nor would the Pope
have made the great Hungarian Pazmany a cardinal
in 1616, and Pallavicini in 1659. Blessed Bernardino
Realini was not yet dead; St. John Berchmans was
living in 162 1 ; and St. Peter Claver died in 1654, before
his adviser St. Alphonsus Rodriguez; St. John Francis
Regis made his first vows in 1633, and Vitelleschi
himself is admitted to have been a man of extraordinary
sanctity. A religious order with such members is the
reverse of decadent.
The " military spirit " which the Society was
reproached with having lost was no doubt the daring
" missionary spirit " which won her so much glory in
the early days. But it was by no means lost. Andrada
made his famous journey to Tibet in 1624; de Rhodes
started about 1630 on his famous overland trip from
India to Paris, and then set off for Persia where he
died ; the missionaries of North America were exploring
Hudson Bay and the Great Lakes and searching for the
Mississippi ; those of South America were following the
wonderful Vieira through thousands of miles of forests
and along endless rivers in Brazil ; others were searching
the Congo or Gold Coast or Abyssinia for souls;
Jeronimo Xavier and de Nobili were in India; others
again in Persia and the Isles of Greece; and Ricci and
Schall and their companions were converting China.
From Vitelleschi to Ricci 397
There were martyrdoms all over the world, like those
of Brebeuf and his companions in Canada; Jesuits
were laying down their lives in Mexico, Paraguay,
the Caribbean Islands, the Philippines, Russia, Eng-
land, Hungary, and above all in Japan, where every
member of the Society was either butchered or exiled;
while thousands of their brethren in Europe were
clamoring to take their places in the pit or at the stake.
That condition of things would not seem to connote
degeneracy or decadence.
As for the "grand circular letter, ' ' which Father Nickel
sent out to the whole Society, that document was
nothing but an academic disquisition on the relative
importance of poverty as against the two other vows.
It was not a censure of the Society for its non-observance
of poverty. With regard to Sobieski, it is impossible
to imagine that he ever uttered such a calumny against
his most devoted friends. They had trained him
intellectually and spiritually; just before the great
battle with the Tatars, he spent the whole night in
prayer with his Jesuit confessor, Przeborowski, and
in the morning he and all his soldiers knelt to receive
the priest's blessing. Finally, when the bloody battle
was won, they knelt before the altar, at the feet of the
same priest, and intoned a hymn of thanksgiving to
God for the glorious victory. When Przeborowski
died. Father Vota took his place, and it was he who
induced the hero to join the League of Augsburg,
thus helping him to win the glory of being regarded as
the saviour of Europe, when on September 12, 1683,
he drove back the Turks from the gates of Vienna.
As Sobieski died in Vota's arms, it is not very likely
that he ever regarded his affectionate friends as " greedy
and rapacious,"
What Bohmer-Monod says regarding Vitelleschi's
encyclical to the Society on the occasion of his election
398 The Jesuits
is equally unjustifiable. Not only does the General
not denounce the Society for its degeneracy, but he
explicitly says, " Although I am fully aware that
there is still in the body of the Society the same spirit
that animated it at the beginning, and moreover,
that this spirit not only actually persists, but is con-
spicuously robust and full of life and vigor; neverthe-
less, as each one desires to see what he loves absolutely
and in every respect perfect, we should all, from the
highest to the lowest, strive to the utmost to have it
free from the slightest stain or wrinkle. To urge this
is the sole purpose of this epistle." Later on he says,
"There are three things which help us to conserve this
spirit: prayer, persecution and obedience." The
second, at least, has never failed the Society.
That there was no such decadence or degeneracy
later is placed beyond all possibility of doubt by a
man whose integrity cannot for a single moment be
questioned: Father John Roothaan, General of the
Society, who wrote to all his brethren throughout the
world concerning the third century in the life of the
Order. Had he made any misstatement, he would
have been immediately contradicted. As for his
competency in the premises it goes without saying
that no one had better means than he for becoming
acquainted with the condition of the Society at that
period. He testifies as follows:
" When the Society began its third centenary, it
was flourishing and vigorous as it always has been in
literature, theology, and eloquence; it engaged in the
education of youth with distinguished success, in some
countries without rivals ; in others it was second almost
to no other religious order; its zeal for souls was exer-
cised in behalf of men of every condition of life not
only in the countries of Europe, Catholic and Protestant
alike, but among the savages of the remotest part
From Vitelleschi to Ricci 399
of the world, nor was the commendation awarded them
less than the fruit they had gathered; and what is
most important, amid the applause they won and the
favors they were granted, their pursuit of genuine
piety and holiness was such, that although in the vast
number of more than twenty thousand then in the
Society there may have been a few, a very few, who in
their life and conduct were not altogether what they
should have been, and who in consequence brought
sorrow on that best of mothers, the Society, neverthe-
less there were very many in every province who were
conspicuous for sanctity and who diffused far and wide
the good odor of Jesus Christ. It waged a bitter war
against error and vice; it fought strenuously in defence
of Holy Church and the authority of the See of Peter;
it displayed a ceaseless vigilance in detecting the new
errors which then began to show themselves, and
whose object was to overturn the thrones of kings
and princes and to revolutionize the world; and it
bent every one of its energies of voice, pen, counsel
and teaching to refute and as far as possible to destroy
those pernicious doctrines. Hence it was sustained
and favored by the Sovereign Pontiffs and by the
hierarchy of the Church and its authority was held
in the highest esteem by princes and people alike. It
seemed like a splendid abiding-place of science and
piety and virtue; an august temple extending over
the earth, consecrated to the glory of God and the
salvation of souls."
The characterization of Oliva, by Bohmer-Monod as
" a sybarite leading an indolent life at the Gesti or in
his beautiful villa at Albano," is nothing else than an
outrage. Sybarites do not live till the age of eighty-
one; nor are they summoned to fill the office of " Apos-
tolic Preacher " by four successive Popes — Innocent
X, Alexander VI, Clement IX, and Clement X; nor
400 The Jesuits
do they write huge folios of profound theology; nor
do they act as advisers to popes, kings, and princes;
nor could they govern fifteen or twenty thousand men
scattered all over the world, all of whom looked up
to them as saints. Such in fact was this really great
man, and falsehood could scarcely go further, than to
pillory him in history as a degraded voluptuary. As
for his luxurious villa, it will suffice to say that the
individual who conceived that idea of a Jesuit country-
house, never saw one. It is never luxurious; but
always shabby, bare and poor.
The whole available income of the English province
at this period (1625-1743) may be found in Foley's
" Records " (VII, pt. I, xviii), and is quoted in Guil-
day's "English Refugees" (I, 156). "The entire
revenue in 1645 for colleges, residences, seminaries
under their charge, as well as fourteen centres in
England and Wales is recorded at something like
£3915. This sum maintained 335 persons, which
at the present rate of money would be at £34.10
per head. In 1679 after the Orange Rebellion this
sum was reduced." What was true of the English
province, may also in great measure be predicated of
the rest, especially of the one in which the General
resided.
Another curious instance of this systematic calumnia-
tion is found in the preface of a volume of poems of
Urban VIII, edited in 1727 by a professor of Oxford,
who was prompted to publish them, we are informed,
** because the poems would be an excellent corrective
of the obscenity and unbridled licentiousness of the
day." But while thus extolling the Pope, this heretical
admirer of His Holiness, goes on to say that the Pontiff
was particularly beloved by Henry IV, and when that
monarch was attacked by an assassin, " the Jesuits,
the authors of the execrable deed, were expelled from
From Vitelleschi to Ricci 401
the kingdom, and a great pillar was erected to per-
petuate their infamy. Whereupon Urban, who was
then Cardinal Barberini, was sent to France, and
induced Henry to destroy the pillar, and recall the
Jesuits without inflicting any punishment on them."
For a person of ordinary intelligence, the conclusion
would be that Barberini recognized that the Society
liad been grossly calumniated; if not, he had a curious
way of showing his affection for the King by bringing
back his deadly enemies and destroying the pillar.
The author of this effusion also fails to inform his
readers that Pope Urban VIII was a pupil of the
Jesuits; that during all his life he was particularly
attached to the Order; that one of his first acts after
ascending the pontifical throne was to raise Francis
Borgia to the ranks of the beatified; that the Jesuit,
Cardinal de Lugo, was his particular adviser, and
that in the reform of the hymnody of the Breviary,
he entrusted the work exclusively to the Jesuits. With
regard to the expulsion of the Society from France,
Henry IV had no hand in it whatever. That injustice
is to be laid to the score of the parliament of Paris
over which Henry had no control. Far from being an
enemy he was the devoted and affectionate friend of
the Society, as well he might be, for it was the influence
of the Spanish Jesuit, Cardinal Toletus, that made
it possible for him to ascend the throne of France.
Long before his election as General Oliva had
achieved considerable reputation as an orator; and,
as his correspondence shows, he was held in the highest
esteem by many of the sovereigns of Europe for his
wisdom as a counsellor. Unfortunately, however,
nearly all the trouble that occurred in his time originated
in the courts of kings. Thus in France, Louis XIV
made his confessor, Father Frangois Annat, a member
of his council on religious affairs, with the result that
26
402 The Jesuits
when the king fell out with the Pope, Annat's position
became extremely uncomfortable; but it is to his
credit that he effected a reconciliation between the
king and the Pontiff. After Annat, Francois de Lachaise
was entrusted "v\ith the distribution of the royal
patronage, and, of course, stirred up enmity on all
sides. In Portugal, Don Pedro insisted upon Father
Femandes being a member of the Cortes; but Oliva
peremptorily ordered him to refuse the office. In
Spain, the queen made Father Nithard, her confessor,
regent of the kingdom, and, German though he was,
grand inquisitor and councillor of state. When he
resisted, she appealed to the Pope, and the poor man
was obliged to accept both appointments. Of course
he aroused the opposition of the politicians and resigned.
The queen then sent him as ambassador to Rome,
and on his arrival there, the Pope made him a cardinal.
He wore the purple for eight years and died in 1681.
The saintly Father Claude de la Colombi^re, the
spiritual director of the Blessed Margaret Mary, also
enters into the category of " courtier Jesuits." He
was sent to England as confessor of the young Duchess
of York, Mary Beatrice of Este, and though he led
a very austere and secluded life in the palace, he was
accused of participation in the famous Titus Gates
plot, about which aU England went mad; and although
there was absolutely no evidence against him, he was
kept in jail for a month, and in 1678 was sent back to
France. ' \-
It was Father Petre's association with James II
of England that gave Gliva most trouble. He was
not the confessor, but the friend of the king, who
had taken him out of the prison to which Titus Gates
had consigned him. James wanted to make him
grand almoner, and when Oliva protested, Castlemain,
the English ambassador at Rome, was ordered to
From Vitelleschi to Ricci 403
ask the Pope to make him a bishop and a cardinal.
When that was prevented an attempt was made to
give him a seat in the privy councils. Cretineau-Joly
not only questions Petre's sincerity in these various
moves, but accused the English provincial of collusion.
Pollen, however, who is a later and a better authority,
insists that, if we cannot aquit Petre of all blame,
it is chiefly because first-hand evidence is deficient.
Petre made no effort to defend himself but the king
completely exonerated him. The king's evidence,
however, counted for nothing in England with his
Protestant subjects. The feeling against Petre was
intense and William of Orange fomented it for political
reasons, and the most extravagant stories were
accepted as true; such, for instance, as that the Jesuits
were going to take possession of England, or that the
heir-apparent was a supposititious infant. Finally,
when James fled to France, Petre followed him and
remained by his side till the end. " He was not a
plotter," says Pollen, " but an easy-going English
priest who was almost callous to public opinion."
It is perfectly clear that he had nothing to do with
the foolish policies of James. On the contrary, he had
done everything in his power to thwart them. " Had
I followed his advice," James admitted to Louis XIV,
" I would have escaped disaster."
A romantic figure appears at this time in the person
of John Casimir, who after many adventures ascended
the throne of Poland. In spite of the remonstrances
of his mother he not only refused to dispute the claim
of his elder .brother, but espoused his cause, fought
loyally for his election and was the first to congratulate
liim when chosen. He then withdrew from Poland
and we find him, first, as an officer in the imperial
army, and at the head of a league against France.
Afterwards, while in command of a fleet in the Medi-
404 The Jesuits
terranean, he was driven ashore near Marseilles by
a storm; he was recognized and kept in prison for two
years, but was finally released at the request of his
brother. In passing by Loreto, on his way home, the
fancy of becoming a Jesuit seized him. He applied
for admission and was received, but left three or four
years afterwards, and, though not in orders, was made
a cardinal. When the news of his brother's death
arrived, he returned the red hat to the Pope and set
out for Poland to claim the crown, and simultaneously
that of Sweden. The latter pretence, of course, meant
war with Gustavus Adolphus, who forthwith invaded
Poland, but Casimir drove him out and also expelled
the Prussians from Lithuania. Probably on acount of
the dissensions in his own country which gave him
occupation enough, he ceased to urge his rights to the
throne of Sweden, and after some futile struggles
relinquished that of Poland likewise. i„2^-^
In the Convocation of Warsaw where he pronounced
his abdication, he is said to have made the following
utterance which sounds like a prophecy but which
may have been merely a clever bit of political fore-
sight. " Would to God," he exclaimed " that I were
a false prophet, but I foresee great disasters for Poland.
The Cossack and the Muscovite will unite with the
people who speak their language and will seize the
greater part of Lithuania. The frontiers of Greater
Poland will be possessed by the House of Branden-
burg; and Prussia, either by treaty or force of arms,
wiU invade our territory. In the dismemberment
of our country, Austria will not let slip the chance of
laying hands on Cracow." John was the last repre-
sentative of the House of Vasa. He was succeeded
by Michael, who reigned only three years (1669-72)
and then the great Sobieski was elected after he and
his 20,000 Poles had routed an army of 100,000 Tatars
From Vitelleschi to Ricci 405
— an exploit which made him the country's idol as
well as its king.
In becoming General, Oliva inherited the suffering
inflicted on the Society by the English persecutions
which had been inaugurated by Elizabeth and continued
by James I, A lull had occurred during the reign of
Charles I, probably because the queen, Henrietta
Maria, was a Catholic; and in 1634 there were as many
as one hundred and sixty Jesuits in the British domin-
ions; but Cromwell was true to his instincts, and,
between the time of the Long Parliament and the
Restoration of the Stuarts, twenty-four Catholics
died for the Faith. Naturally, the Jesuits came in for
their share. Thus Father James Latin was put in
jail on August 3, 1643, and was never heard of after-
wards. " From which," says O'Reilly, " it is easy
to conjecture his fate." William. Boy ton was one of
the victims in a general massacre that took place in
1647, in the Cashel Cathedral; and two years after-
wards, John Bathe and Robert Netterville were put
to death by the Cromwellians in Drogheda. Bathe
was tied to a stake and shot, while Netterville, who
was an invalid, was dragged from his bed, beaten with
clubs and flung out on the highway. He died four
days afterwards.
The Stuarts were restored in 1660, but the easy-
going Charles H made no serious effort to erase the
laws against Catholics from the statute-book, and
from time to time proclam^ations were issued ordering
all priests and Jesuits out of the realm. Two occasions
especially furnished pretexts for these expulsions.
One was the " Great Plague," and the other was the
" Great Fire," for both of which the Jesuits were held
responsible. No one knew what was going to happen
next, when there appeared in England an individual
to whom Cretineau-Joly devotes considerable space,
406 The Jesuits
but who receives scant notice from English writers.
He announced himself as Hippolyte du Chatelet de
Luzancy. He was the son of a French actress, and
was under indictment for forger}' in his native country;
added to these attractions, founded or not, he claimed
to be an ex-Jesuit. Of course, he was received with great
enthusiasm by the prelates of the Established Church,
for he let it be known he was quite willing to accept
any religious creed they might present to him. The
Government officials also welcomed him. His first
exploit was to accuse Father Saint-Germain, the
Duchess of York's confessor, of entering his apartment
with a drawn dagger and threatening to kill him.
Whereupon all England was startled and the House
of Lords passed a b.ill consigning all priests and Jesuits
to jail. Saint-Germain was the first victim. Luzancy
was then called before the privy council and told a
blood curdling story of a great conspiracy that was
being hatched on the Continent. It implicated the
king and the Duke of York. The story was false on
the face of it, but Luzancy was taken under the pro-
tection of the Bishop of London ; he was given the degree
of Master of Arts by Oxford and was installed as the
Vicar of Dover Court, Essex. A most unexpected
defender of the Society appeared at this juncture in
the person of Antoine Amauld, the fiercest foe of the
Jesuits in France. He denounced Luzancy as an
imposter, and berated the whole English people for
accepting the conspiracy myth. His indignation,
however, was not prompted by any love of the Society,
but because Luzancy claimed to have lived for a
considerable time with the Jansenists and with Amauld,
in particular, at Port-Royal.
It was probably the success achieved by Luzancy
that suggested the greater extravagances of Titus
Oates. Titus Gates was a minister of the Anglican
From Vitelleschi to Ricci 407
Establishment, and first signalized himself in association
with his father, Samuel, who also wore the cloth, by
trumping up an abominable charge against a certain
Protestant schoolmaster, for which the father lost
his living, and the son was sent to prison for trial.
Escaping from jail, Titus became a chaplain on a
man-of-war, but was expelled from the navy in a
twelve-month. He then succeeded in being appointed
Protestant chaplain in the household of the Duke of
Norfolk and was thus brought into contact with
Catholics. He promptly professed to be converted
and was baptized on Ash- Wednesday 1677. The
Jesuit provincial was induced to send him to the
English College at Valladolid, but the infamous
creature was expelled before half a year had passed.
Nevertheless, he was granted another trial and was
admitted to the Seminary of St. Omers, which
soon turned him out of doors.
Coming to London, he took up with Israel Tonge who
is described as a " city divine and a man of letters,"
and together they devised the famous " Popish Plot,"
each claiming the credit of being its inventor. It
proposed: first, to kill " the Black Bastard, " a designa-
tion of Charles II which they said was in vogue among
Catholics. His majesty was to be shot " with silver
bullets from jointed carbines. " Secondly, two Benedic-
tines were to poison and stab the queen's physician,
"with the help," as Titus declared, "of four Irish
ruffians who were to be hired by Doctor Fogarthy."
The Prince of Orange, the Lord Bishop of Hertford
and several minor celebrities "were also to be put out
of the way.' Thirdly, England, Ireland and all the
British possessions were to be conquered by the sword
and subjected to the Romish obedience. To achieve
all this, the Pope, the Society of Jesus and their
confederates were to send an ItaHan bishop to England
408 The Jesuits
to proclaim the papal programme. Subsequently,
Cardinal Howard was to be papal legate. Father
White, the Jesuit provincial, or Oliva, Father General
of the Order, would issue commissions to generals,
lieutenant generals, naval officers. When the king
was duly assassinated, the crown was to be offered to
the Duke of York, after he had approved of the
murder of his royal brother as well as the massacre
of all his Protestant subjects. Whereupon the duke
himself was to be killed and the French were to be
called in. The Jesuit provincial was to be made
Archbishop of Canterbury, and so on.
No more extravagant nonsense could have been
conceived by the inhabitants of a madhouse. Never-
theless, "all England," says Macaulay, "was worked
up into a frenzy by it. London was placed in a state
of siege. Train bands were under arms all night. Prep-
arations were made to barricade the main thorough-
fares. Patrols marched up and down the streets,
cannon were planted in Whitehall. Every citizen
carried a flail, loaded with lead, to brain the popish
assassins, and all the jails were filled w4th papists.
Meantime Oates was received in the palaces of the
great and hailed everywhere as the saviour of the
nation." The result of it all was that sixteen innocent
men were sent to the gallows, among them seven
Jesuits: William Ireland, John Gavan, William Har-
court, Anthony Turner, Thomas Whitebread, John
Fenwick and David Lewis, besides their illustrious
pupil, Oliver Plunket, Archbishop of Armagh. As
the saintly prelate has been beatified by the Church
as a martyr for thus shedding his blood, inferentially
one might claim a similar distinction for all his com-
panions. On the list are one Benedictine, one Francis-
can and six secular priests. The Earl of Stafford
who was sentenced like the rest to be hanged, drawn
From Vitelleschi to Ricci 409
and quartered was graciously permitted by his majesty
to be merely beheaded. For these murders Oates
was pensioned for life, but in 1682 Judge Jeffries
fined him one hundred thousand pounds for scandalum
magnatum and condemned him to be whipped, pilloried,
degraded and imprisoned for life. " He has deserved
more punishment," said the judge, " than the law can
inflict." But when William of Orange came to the
throne he pardoned the miscreant and gave him a
pension of three hundred pounds.
In his " Popish Plot," Pollock continually insists,
by insinuation rather than by direct assertion, that
Oates was a novice of the Society. Thus, we are told
that he was sent to the " Collegio de los Ingleses at
Valladolid to nurse into a Jesuit;" and subsequently
" the expelled novice was sent to complete his education
at St. Omers." But, in the first place, a " Collegio "
at Valladolid or anywhere else can never be a novitiate,
for novices are forbidden all collegiate study; secondly,
St. Omers in France was a boys' school and nothing
else; thirdly, the description of Oates by the Jesuit
Father Warner absolutely precludes any possibility of
his ever having been admitted as a novice or even as
a remotely prospective candidate.
Warner's pen picture merits reproduction. Its
general lines are: " Mentis in eo summa stupiditas;
lingua balbutiens; sermo e trivio; vox stridula, et
cantillans, plorantis quam loquentis similior. Memoria
fallax, prius dicta numquam fideliter reddens; frons
contracta; oculi parvi et in occiput retracti; facies
plana, in medio lancis sive disci instar compressa;
prominentibus hie inde genis rubicundus nasus; os
in ipso vultus centro, mentum reliquam faciem prope
totam aequans; caput vix corporis trunco extans, in
pectus declive; reliqua corporis hisce respondentia;
monstro quam homini similiora." In English this
410 The Jesuits
means that the lovely Oates " was possessed of a
mind in which stupidity was supremely conspicuous, a
tongue that stuttered in vulgar speech; a voice that
was shrill, whining, and more of a moan than an
articulate utterance; a faulty memory that could not
recall what had been said; a narrow forehead, small
eyes, sunk deep in his head ; a fiat face depressed in the
middle like a plate or a dish; a red nose set between
puffy cheeks; a mouth so much in the centre of his
countenance that the chin was almost as large as the
rest of the features; his head bent forward on his
chest; and the rest of his body after the same build,
making him more of a monster than a man." If the
English provincial could for a moment have ever
dreamed of admitting such an abortion into the
Society, he would have verified his name of Father
Strange. On the other hand it was natural for the
fanatics of that time to adopt Oates.
During Oliva's administration, and in spite of his
protests. Father Giovanni Salemo and Francisco
Cienfuegos were made cardinals ; under Peter the Great
a few Jesuits were admitted to Russia, but the terrible
Czar was fickle and drove out his guests soon after.
There was also some missionary success in Persia,
where 400,000 Nestorians were converted between the
years 1656 and 1681, the date of Oliva's death.
Charles de Noyelle, a Belgian, was now appointed
Vicar; and at the congregation which assembled in
1682 he was elected General, receiving every vote
except his own. He was then sixty-seven years old.
His first task was to adjust the difficulty between
Innocent XI and Louis XIV on the question of the
regale, or the royal right to administer the revenues of
a certain number of vacant abbeys and episcopal sees
claimed by the kings of France. Such invasions of
the Church-rights by the State were common extending
From Vitelleschi to Ricci 411
as far back as the times of St. Bernard. By 1608 the
French parliament had extended this prerogative to
the whole of France; but the upright Henry IV, half
Protestant though he was, refused to accept it ; whereas
later on the Catholic Louis XIV had no scruples about
the matter, and issued an edict to that effect. The
Pope protested and refused to send the Bulls to the
royal nominees for the vacant dioceses, with the
result that at one time there were thirty sees in France
without a bishop. Only two prelates stood out against
the king and, strange to say, one of them was Caulet,
the Jansenist Bishop of Pamiers; who, stranger still,
lived on intimate terms with the Jesuits.
So far the Jesuits had kept out of the controversy,
but, unfortunately. Father Louis Maimbourg published
a book in support of the king, and, eminently
distinguished though he was in the field of letters,
especially in history, he was promptly expelled from the
Society. The king angrily protested and ordered
Maimbourg not to obey, but the General stood firm
and Maimbourg severed his connection with his
former brethren. As substantially all the bishops
were arrayed against the Pope, copies of the Bull
against Louis were sent to the Jesuit provincials for
distribution. The situation was most embarrassing,
but before the copies were delivered, they were seized
by the authorities. In retaliation for the Bull, the king
took the principality of Benevento, which was part of
the patrimony of the Church, and thus drew upon
himself a sentence of excommunication. As this
document would also have been refused by the bishops,
it was entrusted to a Jesuit Father named Dez, who
was on his way from Rome to France.
For a Frenchman to be the bearer of a Bull excom-
municating his king, especially such a king as Louis
XIV, was not without danger; but Dee was equal to
412 The Jesuits
the task. He directed his steps in such a leisurely
fashion towards Paris that his brethren in Italy had
time to appeal to the Pope to withdraw the decree.
Fortunately the Pope yielded, and the excommuni-
cation was never pronounced; much to the relief of
both sides. It would probably have ended in a schism ;
as a matter of fact it provoked the famous Assembly
of the Clergy of 1682 which formulated the Four
Articles of the Gallican Church. These Articles were
then approved by the king and ordered to be taught
in all theological schools of France — a proceeding
which again angered the Sovereign Pontiff, who refused
to confirm any of the royal nominees for the vacant
bishoprics. The contest now became bitter, and it
is said that Father Lachaise, whether prompted by
the king or not, wrote to the General asking him to
plead with the Pope to transmit the Bulls. That
brought down the Papal displeasure not only on
Lachaise personally but on all the Jesuits of France.
In 1689 the Pope died, and the king, who was by this
time alarmed at the lengths to which he had gone,
suggested that each of the bishops whom he had named
should write a personal letter to the new Pontiff,
Alexander VIII, disclaiming the acts of the Assembly
of the Clergy of 1682. Subsequently, the king himself
sent an expression of regret for having made the
Four Articles obligatory on the whole kingdom; he
thus absolutely annulled the proceedings of the famous
gathering. The regale, however, was and is still
maintained as a right in France whether it happens
to be monarchical or republican. At present, it holds
all church property but has nothing to say about
episcopal appointments.
In 1685 the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes was
issued. It cancelled all the privileges granted to the
Huguenots by Henry IV, and Protestants were given
From Vitelleschi to Ricci 413
the choice either of renouncing their creed or leaving
the country. The result was disastrous industrially,
as France was thus deprived of a great number of
skilled workmen and well-to-do merchants ; in addition
fictitious conversions were encouraged. As usual, the
Jesuits were blamed for this measure by the Calvinists
and Jansenists, and in retaliation the states general of
Holland imposed the most outrageous taxes on the
forty-five establishments which the Society possessed
in that little country, hoping thereby to compass their
ruin. But the sturdy Netherlanders drew up a formal
protest and demanded from the government an ex-
planation of why men of any religious views, even
foreigners, should find protection in Holland while
native Dutchmen were so unfairly treated. The claim
was allowed, but the antagonism of the government,
inspired as it was by William of Orange, who recognized
that hostility to the Order was a good recommendation
to his English subjects, was not laid aside. It was
vigorous twenty years later.
The Vicar-Apostolic of Holland, who was titular
Archbishop of Sebaste, had long been scandalizing the
faithful by his heretical teachings. He was finally
removed by the Holy See; but against this act the
government of the states general protested, and ordered
the Jesuits to write to Rome and ask for the rehabili-
tation of the vicar. The plea was that by doing so,
they would restore peace to the country which was
alleged to have been very much disturbed by the
Papal document. The refusal to do so, they were
warned, would be regarded as evidence of hostility to
the government. De Bruyn, the superior, wrote to
the Pope in effect, but instead of asking for the vicar's
rehabilitation, he thanked the Holy Father for re-
moving him. The consequence was that on June 20,
1705, three months after they had been told to write.
414 The Jesuits
the forty-five Jesuit houses in Holland were closed,
and the seventy-four Fathers took the road of exile,
branded as disturbers of the public peace.
It was during the Generalate of Father de Noyelle,
that Innocent XI is said to have determined to suppress
the Society by closing the novitiates. This is admitted,
even by Pollen, and is flourished in the face of the
Jesuits by their enemies as a mark of the disfavor in
which they are held by that illustrious Pontiff. The
assertion is based on a Roman document, the con-
demnatory clause of which runs as follows: " The
Father General and the whole Society should be for-
bidden in the future to receive any novices, or to
admit anyone to simple or solemn vows, under pain
of nullity or other punishment, according to the wish
of His Holiness, until they effectually submit and
prove that they have submitted to the decree issued
with regard to the aforesaid missions." Cr6tineau-
Joly or his editor points out in a note that this is not
a papal document at all. The Pope would never
address himself as " His HoHness," nor tell himself
what he should do. It was simply an utterance of
the Propaganda, in which body the Society did not
lack enemies. It was dated 1684, and in the very next
year its application was restricted by the Propaganda
itself to the provinces of Italy. It was never approved
by the Holy See, and when it was presented to Innocent
XI under still another form, namely to prevent the
reception of novices in Eastern Asia, he flatly re-
jected it.
Louis XIV had lost the Netherlands to Spain and
in a fit of childish petulance he insisted that the Jesuit
province there on account of being half Walloon
should be annexed to the French assistancy. When
this demand was disregarded he ordered the French
Jesuits who were in Rome to return to France, as
From Vitelleschi to Ricci 415
he proposed to make the French part of the Society
independent of the General. He was finally placated
by a promise that men who had been superiors in
France proper, should be chosen to fill similar positions
in the Walloon district. It was a very silly performance.
Tirso Gonzalez, a Spaniard, was chosen as the
successor of de Noyelle in 1687. He had taught
theology at Salamanca for ten years, and had been
a missionary for eleven. He is famous for his an-
tagonism to the doctrine known as Probabilism, as he
advocated ProbabiHorism. Probabilism is that system
of morals according to which, in every doubt that con-
cerns merely the lawfulness or unlawfulness of an action,
it is permissible to follow a solidly probable opinion,
in favor of liberty, even though the opposing view is
more probable. This freedom to act, however, does not
hold when the validity of the sacraments, the attain-
ment of an obligatory end, or the established rights of
another are concerned. Gonzalez maintained with
considerable bitterness that, even apart from the three
exceptions, it was permitted to follow only the more
probable opinion — a doctrine which is now almost
universally rejected.
During the Generalate of Oliva, Gonzalez had written
a book on the subject, which was twice turned down
by all the censors; whereupon, he appealed to Pope
Innocent XI in 1680 asking him to forbid the teaching
of ProbabiHsm. The Pope did not go so far, but he
permitted it to be attacked. Of course, Gonzalez
strictly speaking had a right to appeal to the Sovereign
Pontiff, but it was a most unusual performance for
a Jesuit, especially as the doctrine in question was
only a matter of opinion, with all the great authorities
of the Society against him. It must have been with
dismay that his brethren heard of his election as
General by the thirteenth general congregation. It
416 The Jesuits
appears certain, says Brucker in his history of the
Society (p. 529), that on the eve of the election the
Pope expressed his opinion that Gonzalez was the
most available candidate. That evidently determined
the suffrage, though Gonzalez seems to have had
no experience as an administrator.
One of the first things the general did was to start
a campaign against the doctrines of Gallicanism, as
formulated in the famous Assembly of 1682, which
every one thought was already dead and buried.
His friend, Pope Innocent XI, died in August, 1689,
and his successor Alexander VIII ordered Gonzalez to
call in all the copies that had been printed. In 1691
Gonzalez began to print his book which Oliva had
formerly forbidden. It was run through the press in
Germany without the knowledge of his assistants;
copies appeared in 1694, and threw the Society into
an uproar, especially as Gonzalez's appeared on the
title page as " Former Professor of Salamanca and
actual General of the Society of Jesus." Nevertheless,
at the general congregation which met in 1697 Father
Gonzalez was treated with the profoundest consider-
ation. Not a word was uttered about his doctrine
and assistants who were most acceptable to him were
elected. Although a few more probabiliorists sub-
sequently appeared, the Society, nevertheless, remained
true to the teaching of Suarez, Lugo, Laymann, and
their school.
A quarrel then arose between Don Pedro II of
Portugal and Cardinal Conti, the papal nuncio, about
the revenues of certain estates. The question was
referred to Gonzalez, who decided in favor of the
Pope, whereupon Pedro's successor, John V, closed all
the Jesuit novitiates in Portugal and banished some
of the Fathers from the country. Gonzalez died before
this affair was settled. He passed away on October
From Vitelleschi to Ricci 417
27, 1705, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. He
had been a Jesuit for sixty-three years, and during
nineteen years occupied the post of General.
Father Michael Angelo Tamburini was the fourteenth
General; his tenure of office extended from January 30,
1706, till his death on February 28, 1730. He was
a native of Modena, and had filled several important
offices with credit, before he was chosen to undertake
the great responsibility of governing the entire Order,
at the age of fifty-eight. The troubles in France were
increasing. For although the implacable leaders of
the Jansenist party, Amauld and Nicole, had dis-
appeared from the scene — Arnauld dying at Malines,
a bitter old man of eighty-three, and Nicole soon
following him to the grave — yet the antagonism
created by them against the Society still persisted and
was being reinforced by the atheists, who now began
to dominate France.
Quesnel, who succeeded Amauld and Nicole, wrote
a book entitled " Moral Reflections on the New
Testament ", the style of which quite captivated de
Noailles, Bishop of Chalons-sur-Marne, and without ad-
verting to its Jansenism he gave it his hearty approval.
Later however, when he became Archbishop of Paris, he
condemned another Jansenist publication whose doc-
trine was identical with the one he had previously
recommended; whereupon an anonymous pamphlet
calling attention to the contradiction was published;
in it the cardinal was made to appear in the very
unpleasant attitude of stultifying himself in the eyes
of the learned. He accused the Jesuits of the pamphlet,
whereas, it was the work of their enemies, and was
written precisely to turn him against the Society.
The situation became worse when other members of
the hierarchy began to comment on his approval of
the Jansenistic publication, and he was exasperated
27
i
418 The Jesuits
to such an extent that he suspended every Jesuit in
the diocese. The Jansenists were naturally jubilant
over their success, and began to look forward hope-
fully to the approaching death of Louis XIV, who had
never wavered in his defense of the Society. His
successor, the dissolute Philip of Orleans, could be
reckoned on as their aid, they imagined, but they were
disappointed. He began by refusing their petition to
revoke the university rights of the Jesuits and although
he dissolved all the sodalities in the army, he lodged a
number of Jansenists in jail for an alleged conspiracy
against the government, a measure which they, of
course, attributed to the machinations of the Society.
It was during this Generalate that the Paraguay
missions reached their highest degree of efhciency.
In a single year no fewer than seventy-seven mission-
aries left Europe to co-operate in the great work.
Meantime, Francis Hieronymo and Anthony Baldinucci
were astonishing Italy by their apostolic work, as was
Manuel Padial in Spain — all three of whom were
inscribed later on the Church's roll of honor. Finally,
the canonization of Aloysius and Stanislaus Kostka
along with the beatification of John Francis Regis put
the stamp of the Church's most solemn approval on
the Institute of Ignatius Loyola. Father Tamburini
died at the age of eighty-two. He had lived sixty-five
years as a Jesuit; and at his death, the Society had
thirty-seven provinces with twenty-four houses of
professed, 612 colleges, 340 residences, 59 novitiates,
200 mission stations, and 157 seminaries. Assuredly,
it was doing something for the Church of God.
Francis Retz, a Bohemian, was the next General.
His election, which took place on March 7, 1730, was
unanimous; and his administration of twenty years
gave the Society a condition of tranquillity such as it
had never enjoyed in its entire history. Perhaps,
From Vitelleschi to Ricci 419
however, there would have been a shade of sorrow if
the future of one of the Jesuits of those days could have
been foreseen. Father Raynal left the Society in
1747 and joined the Sulpicians. Subsequently he
apostatized from the Faith, became the intimate asso-
ciate of Rousseau, Diderot and other atheists and died
at an advanced age apparently impenitent. Before
Father Retz expired, two more provinces had been
added to the thirty-seven already existing; the col-
leges had increased to 669; the seminaries to 176 and
there were on the registers 22,589 members of whom
11,293 were already priests. During this period
several great personages, who were to have much to do
with the fortunes of the Society, began to assume
prominence in the political world. They were Fred-
erick the Great of Prussia, Maria Theresa of Austria,
the Due de Choiseul in France, and Carvalho, Marquis
de Pombal in Portugal.
Eight months after the death of Father Retz which
occurred on November 19, 1750, the Society chose for
its General Ignatius Visconti, a Milanese. He was at
that time sixty-nine years of age and survived only
two years. He was succeeded by Father Louis Cen-
turione, who, besides the burden of his seventy years
of life, had to endure the pain of constant physical
ailments. In two years time, on October 2, 1757,
he breathed his last, and on the 21st of May following,
1 Lorenzo Ricci was elected. According to Huonder,
i the choice was unanimous, but the digest of the
nineteenth congregation states that he was elected by
a very large .majority.
Who was Ricci? He was a Florentine of noble
blood, and was bom on August 3, 1703. He was,
therefore, fifty-three years of age when placed at the
head of the Society, whose destruction he was to
. witness fifteen years later. From his earliest youth, he
420 The Jesuits
had attracted attention by his unusual intellectual
ability as well as by his fervent piety. He had been
professor of Rhetoric at the colleges of Siena and Rome
to which only brilliant men were assigned, and at
the end of his studies he was designated for what is
called the " Public Act," that is to say an all -day
defense of a series of theses covering the entire range
of philosophy and theology. He subsequently taught
theology for eleven years and was spiritual father at the
Roman College. The latter office brought him in con-
tact with the most distinguished prelates of the Church,
who chose him as the guide of their consciences. In
1755 Father Centurione called him to the secretaryship
of the Society, and he was occupying that post when
elected General. The regret is very often expressed
that a General of the stamp of Aquaviva was not
chosen at that time; one who might have been equal
to the shock that was to be met. Hence, the choice
of a man who had never been a superior in any minor
position is sometimes denounced as fatuous. One
distinguished enemy is said to have exclaimed when
he heard the result of the balloting: " Ricci! Ricci!
Now we have them."
It must not, however, be forgotten that the battle
which brought out Aquaviva's powers bears no com-
parison with that which confronted Father Ricci.
Against Aquaviva were ranged only the Spanish
Inquisition, a small number of recalcitrant Spanish
Jesuits, and to a certain extent, Philip II, But
in the first place, the Spanish Inquisition had no
standing in Rome ; in the second, the Jesuits who were
in opposition had all of them a strain in their blood,
which their fellow countrymen disliked; and, finally,
though Philip II would have liked to have had his
hand on the machinery of the Society he was at all
times a staunch Catholic. Against this coalition.
From Vitelleschi to Ricci 421
Aquaviva had with him as enthusiastic supporters all
the Catholic princes of Germany and they contributed
largely to his triumph. Father Ricci, on the contrary,
found arrayed against the Society the so-called Catholic
kings: Joseph I of Portugal; Charles III of Spain and
Joseph II of Austria, all of them absolutely in the
power of Voltairean ministers like Pombal, de Choiseul,
Aranda, Tanucci and Kaunitz, who were in league,
not only to destroy the Jesuits, but to wreck the Church.
The suppression of the Society was only an incident
in the fight; it had to be swept out of the way at any
cost. A thousand Aquavivas would not have been able
to avert it. Two Popes succumbed in the struggle.
Carayon, in his " Documents inedits," describes
Father Ricci as " timid, shy, and lacking in initiative"
Among the instances of his timidity, there is quoted
his reprehension of Father Pinto, who had of his own
accord asked Frederick II to pronounce himself as a
defender of the Society. Of course, he was sternly
reproved by Father Ricci and properly so, for one
cannot imagine a more incongruous situation than
that of the Society of Jesus on its knees to the half-
infidel friend of Voltaire, entreating him to vouch for
the virtue and orthodoxy of the Order. Frederick
himself was very much amused by the proposition.
In any case, the fight was too far advanced to afford
any hope of its being checked. Eight years before
that time, Pombal had made arrangements with Spain
to drive the Jesuits out of Paraguay, and had extorted
from the dying Benedict XIV the appointment of
Saldanha to investigate the Jesuits of Portugal.
Indeed, it was soon discovered that Pombal's per-
formances were only a part of the general plot to
destroy the Society and the Church.
As soon as Benedict's successor ascended the papal
throne. Father Ricci laid a petition before him repre-
422 The Jesuits
sen ting the distress and injury inflicted on the Society
by what was going on in Portugal. Crimes which had
no foundation were attributed to it, and all of the
Fathers, whether guilty or not, had been suspended
from their priestly functions. The petition could
not have been more humble or more just, but it brought
down a storm on the head of Father Ricci. The sad
feature of it was that, although it was intended to be an
absolutely secret communication, it was immediately
circulated with notes throughout Europe, and a fierce
votum, or protest, was issued against it by Cardinal
Passionei, who denounced it as an absolutely untruth-
ful and subtle plea to induce the Holy Father to hand
over the rest of his flock to the ferocious wolves (the
Jesuits). The cardinal stated that the King of Portu-
gal had complained of the Jesuits, and that Cardinal
Saldanha was a person capable of obtaining the best
information about the case, and was absolutely with-
out bias or animosity for any party, besides being
known for his ecclesiastical zeal and his submission
to the head of the Church.
Far from being influenced by this utterance of
Passionei, Pope Clement XIII appointed a congrega-
tion to examine the question ; the report was favorable to
the Society, so that Pombal was momentarily checked.
On the other hand, it was very clear that the battle
was not won. A false report of the proceedings of
the congregation was published, and although the
Pope ordered it to be burned by the public executioner,
it was, nevertheless, an open proclamation that the
enemies of the Society were willing to go to any lengths
to gain their point. Portuguese gold flowed into
Rome and Mgr. Bottari was employed to revive all
the ancient calumnies against the Society. In a
short time, he produced a work called "Reflections of a
Portuguese on the Memorial presented to His Holiness
From Vitelleschi to Ricci 423
Clement XIII by the Jesuits." When there was
question of putting the book on the Index, Almada,
the Portuguese ambassador declared that if such a
proceeding were resorted to Portugal would secede
from the Church. Furthermore, when the Papal
Secretary of State, Achito, wrote a very mild and
prudent letter to the nuncio in Lisbon, instructing him
to let the king know that the petition of the Jesuits
was very humble and submissive, he was denounced as
issuing a declaration of war against Portugal. Mean-
time, the author of the " Reflections " continued to
pour out other libellous publications in Rome itself,
and Papal prohibitions were powerless to prevent him.
CHAPTER XIII
CONDITIONS BEFORE THE CRASH
State of the Society — The Seven Years War — Political Changes —
Rulers of Spain. Portugal, Naples, France and Austria — Febronius —
Sentiments of the Hierarchy — Popes Benedict XIV; Clement XIII;
Clement XIV.
Just before its suppression, the Society had about
23,000 members. It was divided into forty-two
provinces in which there were 24 houses of professed
fathers, 669 colleges, 61 novitiates, 335 residences and
273 mission stations. Taking this grand total in
detail, there were in Italy 3,622 Jesuits, about one-
half of whom were priests. They possessed 178
houses. The provinces of Spain had 2,943 members
(1,342 priests) and 158 houses; Portugal, 861 members
(384 priests), 49 houses; France, 3,350 members
(1,763 priests), 158 houses; Germany, 5,340 members
(2,558 priests), 307 houses; Poland, 2,359 members;
Flemish Belgium, 542 members (232 priests), 30 houses;
French Belgian, 471 members (266 priests), 25 houses;
England, 274 members; and Ireland, 28. Their missions
were in all parts of the world. In Hindostan, de Nobili,
and de Britto's work was being carried on; in Madura,
there were forty-seven missionaries. The establish-
ments in Persia extended to Ispahan and counted
400,000 Catholics. Syria, the Levant and the Maronites
were also being looked after. Although Christianity
had been crushed as early as 1644, the name of
the province of Japan was preserved, and in
1760 it counted fifty-seven members. There were
fifty-four Portuguese Fathers attached to China at
the time of the Suppression, and an independent French
424
Conditions Before the Crash 425
mission had been organized at Pekin with twenty-three
members mostly priests. In South America, the
whole territory had been divided into missions, and
there were 445 Jesuits in Brazil, with 146 in the vice-
province of Maranhao. The Paraguay province con-
tained 564 members of whom 385 were priests; they
had 113,716 Indians in their care. In Mexico, which
included Lower California, there were 572 Jesuits,
who were devoting themselves to 122,000 Indians.
New Granada had 193 missionaries; Chili had 242;
Peru, 526; and Ecuador, 209.
In the United States, they were necessarily very
few, on account of political conditions. At the time
of the Suppression, they numbered only nine, two of
whom Robert Molyneux and John Bolton survived
until the complete restoration of the Society. The
French had missions in Guiana, Hayti and Martinique;
and in Canada, the work inaugurated by Brebeuf
among the Hurons, was kept up among the Iroquois,
Algonquins, Abenakis, Crees, Ottawas, Miamis and
other tribes in Illinois, Alabama and Lower Mississippi.
At the time of the Suppression there were fifty-five
Jesuits in Canada and Louisiana. i^
. This world-wide activity synchronized with the
Seven Years War, which was to change the face of
the earth politically and religiously. The unscrupulous
energy of Lord Clive had, previous to the outbreak of
hostilities, given Bombay, Madras, Calcutta and the
Camatic to England. Before war had been pro-
claimed, Boscawen, who was sent to Canada, had
captured two French warships and the feeble protest of
France was answered by the seizure of three hundred
other vessels, manned by 10,000 seamen and carrying
cargoes estimated to be worth 30,000,000 francs. In
1757 Frederick the Great won the battle of Rosbach
against the French; and in the same year triumphed
426 The Jesuits
over the imperial forces. In 1759 he defeated the
Russians, only to meet similar reverses in turn; but
in 1760 when all seemed lost, Russia withdrew from
the fight and became Frederick's friend. In 1758
France scored some victories in Germany, but in 1762
was completely crushed and consented to what a
French historian describes as "a -shameful peace."
Quebec fell in 1759, and Vaudreuil capitulated at
Montreal in 1760.
Peace was finally made by the treaties of Paris and
Hubcrtsburg in 1763, in virtue of which, France
surrendered all her conquests of German territory as
well as the Island of Minorca. In North America,
she gave up Canada with its 60,000 French inhabitants.
She also lost the River and Gulf of St. Lawrence, the
valley of the Ohio, the left bank of the Mississippi,
four islands in the West Indies, and her African trading-
post of Senegal. In return, she received the Islands
of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Marie-Galande, D6sirade
and St. Lucia. In Asia, she was granted Pondicherry,
Chandernagor and other places, but was prohibited
from fortifying them. Spain yielded Florida and
Pensacola Bay to England, in order to recover Cuba
and the Philippines; and after a while, France made
her a present of Louisiana. Thus, New France was
completely effaced from the map of America; and
France proper, while losing almost all her other colonial
possessions, saw her maritime power, her military
prestige and her political importance disappear. She
was now only in the second grade among the nations.
On the same level stood Spain, while Portugal had
long since ceased to count. Austria had declined and
Protestant England and Prussia ruled, while schis-
matic Russia was looming up in the North.
In Spain, Charles III had succeeded to the throne
in 1759. He had previously been King of Naples,
Conditions Before the Crash 427
where he had reigned not without honor. It is true
he made the mistake of accepting Choiseul's " Family
Compact " which united the fortunes of Spain with
those of the degenerate Bourbons, but he is never-
theless credited with being paternal in his adminis-
trations and virtuous in his private life. Unfortunately
while in Naples, he had chosen as his minister of finance,
the Marquis de Tanucci, a Tuscan who had at an
early stage inaugurated a contest with the Holy See on
the right of asylum. " But one seeks in vain anything
on which to build the exalted reputation which Tanucci
enjo3''ed during life and which clung to him even after
death. His financial system was false; for instead of
encouraging the arts, perfecting agriculture, building
roads, opening canals, establishing manufactures in
the fertile country over which he ruled, he did nothing
but make it bristle with custom-houses. Men of
science, jurists, archaeologists, literary and other
distinguished men, he left in prison or allowed to
starve" (Biographie imiverselle). ' ; -
Tanucci's moral character may be Inferred from the
fact that when entrusted with the regency at Naples,
he purposely neglected the education of the crown
prince, keeping him aloof from poHtical life, and giving
him every opportunity to indulge his passions. He
declared war against the Holy See; he restricted the
ancient rights of the nuncios; diminished the number
of bishoprics; suppressed seventy-eight monasteries;
named one of his henchmen Archbishop of Naples, and
forbade a ceremonial homage to be paid to t*he Pope
which had been in use ever since the time of Charles of
Anjou. He governed the Two Sicilies for fifty years
and took with him to the grave the execration of the
nobles and the hatred of the people of the Two King-
doms. Duclos said of him " he was of all the men I
ever knew the least fitted to govern."
428 The Jesuits
The Spanish ministers were very numerous and very
bad. There was Wall, whom Schoell described as
Irish, whereas Ranlce deprives him of that distinction
by classing him among the political atheists of that
time. Of Squillace, little is said except that he was a
Neapolitan and probably belonged to one of the
branches of the Borgia family. He is the individual
whose legislation caused a burlesque disturbance in
Madrid about cloaks and sombreros. The Jesuits
were falsely accused of being the instigators of the
riot and suffered for it in consequence. Finally,
after many changes, there came the saturnine and
self-sufficient Aranda, "who, "says Schoell, "sniffed with
pleasure the incense which the French Encyclopedists
burned on his altar, and whose greatest glory was to
be rated as one of the enemies of the altar and the
throne." A former minister of Ferdinand V with the
ominous title of the Duke of Alva was his intimate and
shared his many schemes in fomenting anti-Jesuitism.
Aranda is described as follows, by the Marquis de
Langle in his " Voyag^e en Espagne " (I, 27) : " He is
the only Spaniard of our time whose name posterity
can inscribe on its tablets. He is the man who wanted
to cut in the fagade of every temple and unite on the
same shield the names of Luther, Calvin, Mahomet,
William Penn and Jesus Christ ; and to proclaim from
the frontiers of Navarre to the straits of Cadiz, that
Torquemada, Ferdinand and Isabella were blasphemers.
He sold altar-furniture, crucifixes and ^candelabra for
bridges, wine-shops and public roads."
In France, conditions were still worse. During a
reign of fifty-six years, Louis XV trampled on all the
decencies of public and private life. He was the
degraded slave of Pompadour, a woman who dictated
his policies, named his ministers, appointed his ambas-
sadors, made at least one of his cardinals, and even
Conditions Before the Crash 429
directed his armies. Her power was so great that the
Empress of Austria felt compelled to address her as
" ma bonne amie.'' She was succeeded by du Barry
who was taken from a house of debauch. The coarse-
ness of this creature deprived her of much of the power
possessed by her predecessor, except that Louis was
her slave. It was Pompadour who brought Choiseul
out of obscurity to reward him for revealing a plot
to make one of his own cousins supplant her in her
relations to the king. For that, he was made ambas-
sador to Rome in 1754, where during the last illness of
Benedict XIV, he was planning with other ambassadors
to interpose the royal vetos in the election of Benedict's
successor. Before that event, however, he was sent
to Vienna, from which post, he rose successively until
he had France completely in his grasp. The " Family
Compact " or union of all the Bourbon princes, which
was a potent instrument in the war against the Jesuits,
was his conception. He was a friend of La Chalotais,
one of the arch-enemies of the Society, and was an
intimate of Voltaire, whose property at Ferney he
exempted from taxation. The spirit of his religious
policy consisted in what was then called " an enlight-
ened despotism," or a systematic hatred of everything
Christian.
Cretineau-Joly describes him as follows: " He was
the ideal gentleman of the eighteenth century. He
was controlled by its unbelief, its airs, its vanity, its
nobility, its dissoluteness, insolence, courage, and by a
levity which would have sacrificed the peace of Europe
for an epigram. He was all for show; settling questions
which he had merely skimmed over and sniffing the
incense offered to him by the Encyclopedists, but
shuddering at the thought that they might fancy
themselves his teachers. He would admit no master
either on the throne or below it. His life's ambition
430 The Jesuits
was to govern France and to apply to that sick nation
the remedies he had dreamed would restore her to
health. He could not do so except by winning pubUc
opinion, and for that p.urpose, he flattered the philoso-
phers, captured the parliament, cringed to Madame de
Pompadour and made things pleasant for the king.
When he had gathered everyone on his side, he set
himself to hunting the Jesuits."
On the throne of Portugal sat Joseph I, of whom,
Father Weld in his " Suppression of the Society of
Jesus" (p. 91) writes: "Joseph I united all those
points of character which were calculated to make
him a tool in the hands of a man who had the audacity
to assume the command and astuteness to represent
himself as a most humble and faithful servant. Timid
and weak, like Louis XV, he was easily filled with
fear for the safety of his own person, and, to a degree
never reached by the French king, was incapable of
exerting his own will when advised by any one who had
succeeded in gaining his confidence. To this mental
weakness, he also added the lamentable failing of
being a slave to his own voluptuous passions. It
required but little insight into human nature to see
that a terrible scourge was in store for Portugal.
To the evils of misrule, it pleased God to add other
terrible calamities which overwhelmed the country in
misery that cannot be described. The licentious
habits of his father, John V had already impaired the
national standard of morals. The nobility had ceased
to visit their estates and had degenerated into a race
of mere courtiers. The interests of the common people
were neglected by the Government, and almost their
only friends were the religious orders." (The Catholic
Encyclopedia, XII, 304).
The real master of Portugal in those days was Don
Sebastioa Jose Carvalho, better known as Pombal —
Conditions Before the Crash 431
the gigantic ex-soldier who, despite his herculean
strength and reckless daring, was ignored when there
was question of promotion. He left the army in
disgust, and by the influence of the queen, Maria
of Austria, and that of his uncle, the court chaplain,
was sent as ambassador to London and then to Vienna.
In both places he was a disastrous failure, probably
on account of his brutal manners. Returning to
Lisbon, he paid the most obsequious attention to
churchmen, especially to the king's confessor, the Jesuit
Carbone, who kept continually recommending him
until John V bade him never to mention Carvalho's
name. To the Marquis of Valenza, who also urged
Carvalho's promotion, John said: " that man has hairs
in his heart and he comes from a cruel and vindictive
family." At the death of John and the retirement of
the aged Motta, the former prime minister, the queen
regent, who was fond of Carvalho's Austrian wife
made Pombal prime minister: and Moreira, another
Jesuit confessor, was insistent in proclaiming his
wonderful ability. Never was departure from the
principles and rules of the religious state by meddling
with things outside the sphere of duty so terribly
punished. Father Weld, however, when speaking of
Moreira, who was a prisoner in Jonquiera, has a note
which says that " Moreira protested to the end that
he had never uttered a word in favor of Carvalho."
No sooner was Carvalho in power than the violence
of his character began to display itself in the sanguinary
measures he employed to suppress the brigandage that
was rife in the country and even in the capital
itself. The nobility, especially, were marked out for
punishment; and when public criticism began to be
heard, he issued furious edicts against the calumniators
of the administration. He suppressed with terrible
severity a rising at Porto against a wine-company
432 The Jesuits
which he had established there, and began a series of
attacks on the most eminent personages of the kingdom.
He dismissed in disgrace the minister of the navy,
Diego de Mendoza; and de la Cerda, the ambassador
to France ; as well as John de Braganza, the Marquis of
Marialva and many others. He gave the highest
positions, ecclesiastical and political, to his relatives;
forced the king to sign edicts without reading them,
some of which made criticism of the government high
treason, and he extended their application even to
the ordinances of his minister ; he silenced the preachers
who spoke of public disasters as punishment of God;
and forbade them to publish anything without his
approbation. Though he reorganized the navy, he left
the army a wreck, lest the nobles might control it.
There was no public press in Portugal during his
administration, and the mails were distributed only
once a week. He encouraged commerce and organized
public works, but always to enrich himself and his
family. He flung thousands into prison without even
the pretence of a trial, and at his downfall in 1782
says the " Encyclopedic catholique," " out of the
subterraneous dungeons there issued eight hundred
of his victims, the remnants of the nine thousand who
had survived their entombment; and a government
order was issued declaring that none of the victims
living or dead had been guilty of the crimes imputed
to them." This was the man who was declared by the
Philosophers of the eighteenth century to be " the
illuminator of his nation."
Nor was there much comfort to be hoped for in
Austria. Maria Theresa was undoubtedly pious, kind
hearted and devoted to her people, but as ruler is very
much overrated. Her advisers were commonly the
men who were plotting the ruin of all existing govern-
ments — Jansenists and Freethinkers, Even her court
Conditions Before the Crash 433
physicians were close allies of the schismatical Jansenist
Archbishop of Utrecht, and they made liberal and
constant use of the great esteem they enjoyed at
Vienna to foment hostility to the Holy See. They
even succeeded in persuading the empress, though they
were only laymen, to appoint a commission for the
reform of theological teaching in the seminaries; and
one of their friends, de Stock, was appointed to direct
the work. The Jesuits were removed from the pro-
fessorships of divinity and canon law; lay professors
were appointed in their stead by the politicians, in
spite of the protests of the bishops; and books were
published in direct opposition to orthodox teaching.
At this time appeared the famous treatise known as
" Febronius " by Hontheim, a suffragan bishop of
Treves, who thus prepared for the coming of Joseph II.
The universities were quickly infected with his doctrines ;
and new schools were established at Bonn and Miinster
out of the money of suppressed convents in order to
accelerate the spread of the poison. When the Uni-
versity of Cologne protested, it was punished for its
temerity.
It goes without saying that if Maria Theresa, with
her strong Catholic instincts, was so easy to control,
it was not difficult for the statesmen who governed
France, Spain, Portugal and Italy to carry out their
nefarious schemes against the Church. The Free-
masons were hard at work, and immoral and atheistic
literature was spread broadcast. It had already made
ravages among the aristocracy and the middle classes,
and now the grades below were being deeply gangrened.
Cardinal Pacca writing about a period immediately
subsequent to this, says: " In the time of my two
ntmciatures at Cologne and Lisbon, I had occasion to
become acquainted with the greater part of the French
imigr^s, and I regret to say that, with the exception
28
434 The Jesuits
of a few gentlemen from the Provinces, they all made
open profession of the philosophical maxims which
had brought about the catastrophe of which they were
the first victims. They admitted, at times, in their
lucid moments, that the overturning of the altar had
dragged down the throne ; and that it was the pretended
intellectuality of the Freethinkers that had introduced
into the minds of the people the new ideas of liberty
and equality, which had such fatal consequence for
them. Nevertheless, they persisted in their errors and
even endeavored to spread them both orally and by the
most abominable publications. God grant that these
seeds of impiety, flung broadcast on a still virgin soil,
may not produce more bitter and more poisonous
fruit for the Church and the Portuguese monarchy."
The editor of the " Memoirs " adds in a note: " They
have only too well succeeded in producing the fruit."
" I remember," continues Pacca, " that during my
nunciature at Cologne, some of these distinguished
" emigres " determined to have a funeral service for
Marie Antoinette, not out of any religious sentiment,
but merely to conform to the fashion followed in the
courts of Europe. I was invited and was present.
The priest who sang the Mass preached the eulogy
of the dead queen. In his discourse which did not
lack either eloquence or solidity, he enumerated the
causes of the French Revolution, and instanced chiefly
the irreligious doctrines taught by the philosophy of
the period. This undeniable proposition evoked loud j
murmurs of discontent in the congregation, which was
almost exclusively composed of Frenchmen; and when
the orator said that Marie Antoinette was one of the
first victims of modem philosophy, a voice was heard
far down in the church crying out in the most insulting
fashion: 'That's not true.'" When laymen who
professed to be Catholics were so blind to patent facts
Conditions Before the Crash 435
and would dare to conduct themselves so disgracefully
in a church at a funeral service for their murdered
queen, there was no hope of appealing to them to
stand up for truth and justice in the political world.
The hierarchy throughout the Church was devoted
to the Society, but it could only protest. And hence
as soon as the first signs appeared of the determination
to destroy the Order, letters and appeals, full of tender
affection and of unstinted praise for the victims,
poured into Rome from bishops all over the world.
There were at least two hundred sent to Clement
XIII, but many of them were either lost or purposely
destroyed, as soon as the great Pontiff breathed his
last. Father Lagomarsni found many of them which
he intended to pubHsh but, for one reason or another,
did not do so.
Some of these papers, however have been reproduced
by de Ravignan, in his " Clement XIII et Clement
XIV." They fill more than a hundred pages of his
second volume, and he chose only those that came
from the most important sees in the Church, such as
the three German Archbishoprics of Treves, Cologne
and Mayence, whose prelates were prince electors of
the empire. There are also appeals from Cardinal
Lamberg the Prince-Bishop of Passau, from the
Primate of Germany, the Archbishop of Salzburg, the
Primates of Bohemia, of Hungary, and of Ireland.
The Archbishop of Armagh says " he lived with the
Jesuits from childhood, and loved and admired them."
There are letters from the Cardinal Archbishop of
Turin; the Archbishops of Messina, Monreale, Sor-
rento, Seville, Compostella, Tarragona, and even from
the far north, — from Norway and Denmark, where the
vicar-Apostolic begs the Pope to save those distant
countries from the ruin which will certainly fall on
them if the Jesuits are withdrawn. They are all
436 The Jesuits
dated between the years 1758 and 1760. The Polish
Bishop of Kiew begs the Pope to stand " like a wall
of brass " against the enemies of the Society, which
he calls a religiosissimus ccetus. For the Bishops of
Lombez, it is the dilectissima Socieias Jesu, quce
concussa, confugit in sinum nostrum — " the most
beloved Society of Jesus which, when struck, rushed
to our arms." The Bishop of Narbonne declares:
"It is known and admitted through all the world
that the Society of Jesus, which is worthy of all respect,
has never ceased to render services to the Church
in every part of the world. There never was an order
whose sons have fulfilled the duties of the sacred
ministry with more burning, pure and intelligent zeal.
Nothing could check their zeal; and the most furious
storm only displayed the constancy and solidity of
their virtue." Du Guesclin denounces the persecution
as " atrocious; the like of which was never heard of
before." " I omit," says the Archbishop of Auch,
" an infinite number of things which redound to their
praise." The Bishop of Malaga recalls how Clement
VIII described them as " the right arm of the Holy See."
The Archbishop of Salzburg bitterly resents " the
calumnious and defamatory charges against them."
And, so, in each one of these communications to the
Holy Father, there is nothing but praise for the victims
and indignant denunciations of their executioners.
The three Pontiffs who occupied the Chair of St.
Peter at that period were Benedict XIV, Clement XIII
and Clement XIV. Benedict died on May 3, 1758,
eighteen days before Father Ricci was elected General.
Clement XIII was the ardent defender of the Society
during the ten stormy years of his pontificate; and
finally Clement XIV yielded to the enemy and put his
name to the Brief which legislated the Order out of
existence.
Conditions Before the Crash 437
Perhaps there never was a Pope who enjoyed such
universal popularity as the brilliant Benedict XIV.
His attractive personality, his great ability as a writer,
his readiness to go to all lengths in the way of con-
cession, elicited praise even from heretics, Turks and
unbelievers. As regards his attitude to the Society,
there can be no possible doubt that he entertained
for it not only admiration, but great affection. He had
been a pupil in its schools, and had always shown its
members the greatest honor. He defended it against
its enemies, and lavished praise again and again on
the Institute. It is true that he re-affirmed the Bulls
of his predecessor condemning the Malabar and Chinese
Rites, but he denied indignantly that he was thereby
explicitly condemning the Jesuits. It is also true
that he appointed Saldanha, at the request of Pombal,
to investigate the Jesuit houses in Portugal; but in
the first place, that permission was wrung from him
when he was a dying man; and there is no doubt what-
ever that in doing so, he was convinced that the con-
cession would propitiate Pombal and not injure the
Jesuits, whose conduct he knew to be without reproach.
Moreover, he had put as a proviso in the Brief that
Saldanha who, though the Pope was unaware of it,
was an agent of Pombal, should not publish any
grievous charge if any such were to be formulated,
but should refer it to Rome for judgment. Finally, as
the Brief was signed on April i, 1758, and as the
Pope died on May 3, Saldanha's powers ceased. That
however, did not trouble him and he did every-
thing that Pombal bade him to do, to defame
and destroy the Society. He was not Benedict's
agent.
Far from being prejudiced against the Society,
Benedict XIV did nothing but bestow praise on it
during all his long pontificate. In 1746 in the Bull
438 The Jesuits
"Devotam," he says that "it has rendered the greatest
services to the Church and has ever been governed with
as much success as prudence." In 1748 the " Prcc-
clairs " declared that " these Religious are everywhere
regarded as the good odor of Jesus Christ, and are so
in effect," and, in the same year, the Bull " Constantem "
affirmed that " they give to the world examples of
religious virtue and profound science." Benedict
died in the arms of the Jesuit, Father Pepe, his con-
fessor and friend.
Clement XIII, whose name was Caflo della Torre
Rezzonico, was born at Venice, March 7, 1693; after
studying with the Jesuits at Bologna, he was appointed
referendary of the tribunal known as the Segnatura di
Giustizia, and later became Governor of Rieti, car-
dinal-deacon and in 1743 Bishop of Padua. He was
called a saint by his people ; in spite of the vast revenues
of his diocese, he was always in want for he gave every-
thing to the poor, even the shirt on his back. On
July 5, 1758, he was elected Pope to succeed Benedict
XIV. The first shock he received as head of the
Church was in 1758 from Pombal, who insulted him
by sending back an extremely courteous letter which
the Pontiff had written in answer to a demand for
leave to punish three Jesuits who happened to know
a nobleman against whom a charge had been lodged of
attempting to assassinate the king. Pombal followed
up the outrage by flinging all the exiled Jesuits on
the Papal States; and then, in 1760, by dismissing
the Papal ambassador from Lisbon. In 1761 Pope
Clement wrote to Louis XV of France, imploring
him to stop the proceedings against the Jesuits:
in 1762 he protested against the proposed suppression
of the Society in France; and in 1764 he denounced
the government programme which he declared was an
assault upon the Church itself.
Conditions Before the Crash 439
Spain was guilty of the next outrage when, in 1767,
Charles III imitated Pombal by expelling the Jesuits
and deporting them to Civita Vecchia: and then
refusing to answer a letter of the Pope who asked for
an explanation of the proceeding. Naples and Parma
insulted him in a similar fashion. And to add injury
to outrage, the Bourbon coalition seized the Papal
possessions of Avignon and Venaissin in France, and
Benevento and Montecorvo in Italy. Finally, when
Spain, France and Naples sent him a joint note demand-
ing the universal suppression of the Society, he died of
grief on February 3, 1769. He was then seventy-
five years old, and had governed the Church for ten
years, six months and twenty-six days. Canova, one
of the last of the Jesuit pupils, built his monument,
putting at the feet of the Pontiff two lions — one asleep,
the other erect and ready for the combat. It was a
representation in the mind of the sculptor portraying
the meekness of Clement, combined with an indomitable
courage which defied the kings of Europe who were
attacking the Church.
De Ravignan says of him: " Not because I am a
Jesuit, but independently of that affiUation, I regard
Clement XIII as endowed with the most genuine
traits of grandeur and glory that ever shone in the
most illustrious popes. He brings back to me the
lineaments of Innocent III, of Gregory VII, of Pius V,
of Clement XI. Like them he had to fight; like them
he had to face the powers of earth in league against
the Church; like them he knew how to unite the most
inflexible firmness with the most patient moderation.
Alone, as it were, in the midst of a Christendom that
was conspiring against the Chair of Peter, he suffered
and moaned, but he fought. He was not a politician;
he was a Pope. As a worthy successor of St. Peter,
he stood soHdly on the indestructible rock. Always
440 The Jesuits
in the presence of God and his duty, when every
earthly interest and when the most appealing entreaties
seemed to suggest to him to be silent and to yield
basely, he heard within his soul the strong voice of
the Church, which can never relinquish the rights
with which heaven has invested it; and neither threats,
nor outrages, nor spoliations nor sacrilegious assaults
availed to bend his resolution to resist, or induced him
to display any suspicion of feebleness for a single
instant. Until he died, Clement fulfilled the august
mission of a Supreme Pontiff. He fought for the
Church though it cost him his life. His death was
really that of a martyr."
The successor of Clement XHI was not so heroic.
He was Lorenzo or Giovanni Antonio Ganganelli.
He was bom at Sant' Archangelo near Rimini on
October 31, 1705; and received his education from the
Jesuits at Rimini and from the Piarists at Urbano.
At the age of nineteen, he entered the order of the
Minor Conventuals, and changed his baptismal name
of Giovanni to Lorenzo. His talents and virtue raised
him to the dignity of definitor generalis of his order in
1 741. Benedict XIV made him consultor of the Holy
Office, and Clement XHI gave him the cardinal's
hat at the instance, it is said, of Father Ricci, the
General of the Jesuits. On May 18, 1769, he was
elected Pope by 46 out of 47 votes. By ehminating a
great number of possible cardinals, the veto power of
the Catholic kings had restricted the choice of a Pope
to four out of the forty-seven in the Sacred College. In
the beginning of his career, Ganganelli was extremely
favorable to the Jesuits: but when he was made a
cardinal, a change of disposition manifested itself,
although in giving him the honor, Clement XIII had
said that he was " a Jesuit in the disguise of a Fran-
ciscan." Once on the Papal throne, he refused even
Conditions Before the Crash 441
Father Ricci an audience, possibly through fear of
the Great Powers; for, before Clement's accession the
work of the destruction had already begun, and the
new Pope found himself in the centre of a whirlwind.
It was now clear that the Society could never weather
the storm.
CHAPTER XIV
POMBAL
Early life — Ambitions — Portuguese Missions — Seizure of the
Spanish Reductions. Expulsion of the Missionaries — End of the
Missions in Brazil — War against the Society in Portugal — The Jesuit
Republic — Cardinal Saldanha — Seizure of Churches and Colleges —
The Assassination Plot — The Prisons — Exiles — Executioa of Mala-
grida.
The first conspirator who set to work to carry out the
plot to destroy the Society, which had long been
planned by the powers, was, as might be expected,
the ruthless Pombal He was more shameless and
savage than his associates and would adopt any
method to accomplish his purpose. The insensate
fury which possessed his whole being against the
Society is explained by Cardinal Pacca, who was
Papal nuncio in Lisbon shortly after Pombal's fall
(Notizie sul Portogallo, lo). He v^-rites: " Pombal
began his diplomatic career in Germany where he
probably drank in those principles of aversion to the
Holy See and the religious orders, which, when after-
wards put in practice, merited for him from the irre-
ligious philosophers the title of a great minister, and
an illuminator of his nation; from good people, how-
ever, that of a vile instrument of the sects at war with
the Church. Having obtained the office of prime
minister, he made himself master of the mind of the
king, Don Joseph; and for a quarter of a century
governed the kingdom as a despot.
" To wage war against the Holy See, and to oppress
the clergy, he adopted the measures and employed
the arms which, in the hands of the irreligious men of
[442]
Pombal 443
our time, have done and are still doing harm and
inflicting grievous wounds on the Church. He cor-
rupted and perverted public education in the schools
and universities, especially in Coimbra which soon
became a centre of moral pestilence. He took from
the hands of the youth of the kingdom the sound
doctrinal works which they had so far been made to
study; and substituted schismatical and heretical pub-
lications such as Dupin's 'De antiqua ecclesia' which
had been condemned by Innocent XH ; and Hontheim's
' Febronius ' condemned by Clement XHI. He also
brought into Portugal the works of the regalists, and
excluded those writers who maintained the rights
and authority of the Holy See, in defence of which he
would not allow a word to be uttered. And to the
horror of all decent people, he imprisoned in a loath-
some dungeon a holy and venerable bishop who had
warned his flock against those pernicious publications.
Meantime the notorious Oratorian Pereira, who was
condemned by the Index, and others who flattered him
were remunerated for their writings and could print
whatever they liked. He was a Jansenist who, in
the perfidious fashion of the sect, exalted the authority
of the bishops in order to diminish that of the Pope;
and enlarged the authority of kings in church matters
to such an extent that the system differed very little
from that of the Protestant Anglican Church. Queen
Maria, who succeeded Joseph on the throne, did much
to improve conditions; but did not undo all the harm
that Pombal had already inflicted on the nation.
Disguised Anglicanism continued to exist in Portugal."
Father Weld adds his own judgment to that of the
cardinal, and tells us that " the bias in Pombal's
nature may be traced to his English associations when
he was ambassador in London." He advances this
view, probably because of a note of Pacca's, who says
444 The Jesuits
that he could venture no opinion about the influence of
England on Pombal, merely for want of documents
on that point. The author of the " Memoires pour
servir k I'histoire eccl^siastique du xviii*' si^cle " assures
us that Pombal's purpose was to extend his reforms
even into the bosom of the Church; to change, to
destroy; to subject the bishops to his will; to declare
himself an enemy of the Holy See; to protect authors
hostile to the Holy See; to encourage publications
savoring of novelty; to favor in Portugal a theological
instruction quite different from what had been adopted
previous to his time; and finally to open the way to a
pernicious teaching in a country which until then
had enjoyed religious peace.
This scheme did not restrict itself to a religious
propaganda but got into the domain of politics; for
the author of the " Vita di Pombal " (I, 145) notes the
report, which is confirmed by the " Memoria Catholica
secunda " that " Pombal had formed the design of
marrying the Princess Maria to the Duke of Cumber-
land, the butcher of Culloden — but that this was
thwarted by the Jesuit confessor of the king." On
this point the Marechal de Belle Isle writes (Testament
politique, 108): "It is known that the Duke of
Cumberland looked forward to becoming King of
Portugal, and I doubt not he would have succeeded,
if the Jesuit confessors of the royal family had not been
opposed to it. This crime was never forgiven the
Portuguese Jesuits."
Whatever the truth may be about these royal
schemes, Pombal soon found his chance to wreak his
vengeance on the Society for balking his plans of making
Portugal a Protestant country. A scatter-brained
individual, named Pereira, who lived at Rio Janerio,
raised the cry which may have been suggested to him,
that the Jesuits of the Reductions excluded white
Pombal 445
intercourse with the natives because of the valuable
gold mines they possessed; and that it would be a
proper and, indeed, a most commendable thing in the
interests of religion for the government to seize this
source of wealth, and thus compel the Jesuits who
controlled that territory to live up to the holiness
of their profession. It was also added that the missions
were little else than a great commercial speculation;
and finally that the ultimate design of the Society was
to make a Republic of Paraguay, independent of the
mother country.
These three charges had been reiterated over and over
again ever since the foundation of the Reductions,
and had been just as often refuted and officially denied
after the most vigorous investigation. But there was
a man now in control of Portugal who would not be
biased by any religious sentiment or regard for truth,
if he could injure the Society. The first step was to
transfer the aforesaid missions to Portuguese control.
They all lay on the east shore of the Uruguay, and
belonged to Spain. Hence, in 1750, a treaty was
made between Spain and Portugal, to concede to
Spain the undisputed control of the rich colony of
San Sacramento, at the mouth of the River La Plata,
in exchange for the territory, in which lay the seven
Reductions of St. Michael, St. Lawrence, St. Aloysius,
St. John, St. Francis Borgia, Holy Angels and St.
Nicholas. According to the treaty, it was stipulated
that the Portuguese should take immediate possession
and fling out into the world, they did not care where,
the 30,000 Indians who had built villages in the
coimtry, and were peacefully cultivating their
farms, and who by the uprightness and purity
of their lives were giving to the world and to all
times an example of what Muratori calls a Cristi-
anesimo felice.
446 The Jesuits
To add to the brutality of the act, the Fathers
themselves were ordered to announce to the Indians
the order to vacate. Representations were made by
the Spanish Viceroy of Peru, the Royal Audiencia of
Charcas and various civil and ecclesiastical authorities
of Spain that not only was this seizure a most atrocious
violation of justice which could not be carried out
except by bloodshed, no one could say to what extent,
but that it was giving up the property of the Indians
to their bitterest enemies, the Portuguese. For it was
precisely to avoid the Mamelukes of Brazil that the
Reductions had been originally created. Moreover,
it would almost compel the Indians to conclude that
the Fathers had betrayed them, and that they were
not only parties to, but instigators of, the whole
scheme of spoliation. Southey, in his " History of
Brazil," denounces it as " one of the most tyrannical
commands that were ever issued, in the recklessness
of unfeeling power," and says that " the weak
Ferdinand VI had no idea of the importance of the
treaty."
The Jesuits appealed; but they were, of course,
unheeded; and the Father General Visconti ordered
them to submit without a murmur. Unfortunately,
the commissioner Father Altamirano, whom he sent
out was a bad choice. He was hot-headed and
imperious; and according to Father Huonder (The
Catholic Encyclopedia) actually treated his fellow
Jesuits as rebels, when they advised him to proceed
with moderation. Perhaps the fact that he was the
representative of the king, as well as of the General,
affected him; at all events the Indians would have
killed him if he had not fled. Ten years would not
have sufficed for a transfer of such a vast multitude
with their women and children, and the old and infirm,
not to speak of the herds and flocks and farming
Pombal 447
implements and household furniture, yet they were
ordered to decamp within thirty days. Pombal
would soon treat his Jesuit fellow countrymen as he had
treated the Indians.
When, at last, the cruel edict was published, all the
savage instincts of the Indians awoke, and it seemed
for a time as if the missionaries would be massacred.
It speaks well for the solid Christian training that had
been given to these children of the forest that they at
last consented to consider the matter at all. Some of
the caciques were actually won over to the advisability
of the measure, and started out with several hundred
exiles to find a new home in the wilderness. A number
of the children and the sick succumbed on the way.
When, at last they found a place in the mountains of
Quanai, they were attacked by hostile ;tribes. They
resisted for a while, but finally returned in despair
to their former abode. To make matters worse, the
Bishop of Paraguay notified the Fathers that if they
did not obey, they would be ipso facto suspended.
" Whereas," says Weld, " if the Fathers really wished
to oppose the government, a single sign from them would
have sent an army of fifty thousand men to resist the
Europeans; but owing to their fidelity and incredible
exertions, there were never as many as seven hundred
men in the field against the united armies of Spain
and Portugal when hostilities at last broke out."
During the year 1754, the Indians harassed the enemy
by the skirmishes and won many a victory; and they
would have ultimately triumphed if they had had a
leader. At last in 1755,, the combined forces of the
enemy with thirty pieces' of artillery attacked them
with the result that might have been expected. The
natives rushed frantically on their foes; but the
musketry and cannon stretched four hundred of them
in their blood ; and the rest either fled to the mountains
448 The Jesuits
or relapsed into savage life; or made their submission
to the government, many becoming as bad as their
kindred in the forests because of the corruption they
saw around them. The Portuguese entered into
possession of the seven Reductions, but failed to find
any gold. So great was their chagrin that, in 1761,
Carvalho wanted the rich territory which he had given
to Spain returned to Portugal ; and when Spain naturally
demurred, he prepared to go to war for it. He finally
gained his point, and on February 12, 1761, the
territories were restored to their original owners,
but nothing was stipulated, about restitution to the
unfortunate natives and Jesuits who had been the
victims of this shameful political deal.
[ Some of the Indians who fled to the forests kept up
a guerilla warfare against the invaders; but the greater
number followed the advice of the Fathers and settled
on the Parana and on the right bank of the Uruguay.
In 1762 there were 2,497 families scattered through
seventeen Reductions or doctrinas, as they had begun
to be called, a term that is equivalent to " parish."
But the expulsion of the Fathers which followed soon
after completed the ruin of this glorious work. The
Indians died or became savage again; and today only
beautiful ruins mark the place where this great com-
monwealth once stood. At the time of the Suppression,
or rather when Pombal drove the Jesuits out of every
Portuguese post into the dungeons of Portugal or
flung them into the Papal States, the Paraguay province
had five hundred and sixty-four members, twelve
colleges, one university, three houses for spiritual
retreats, two residences, fifty-seven Reductions and
113,716 Christian Indians. The leave-taking of the
Fathers and Indians was heart-rending on both sides.
It is a long distance from the River La Plata to the
Amazon; for there are about thirty-five degrees of
Pombal 449
latitude between the two places. But they were not
too far apart to check Carvalho in his work of de-
struction. After having done all he could for the
moment at one end of Brazil, he addressed himself
to the Jesuit missions at the other. A glance at the
past history of these establishments will reveal the
frightful injustice of the brutal acts of 1754.
One hundred years before that time, Vieira had
made his memorable fight against his Portuguese
fellow-countrymen for the liberation of the Indians
from slavery. By so doing, he had, of course, aroused
the fury of the whites, and they determined to crush
him. They put him in prison; and in 1660 sent him
and his companions to Portugal, in a crazy ship to be
tried for disturbing the peace of the colony. Never-
theless, he won the fight, although meantime three
Jesuits had been killed by the Indians, and their
companions expelled from the colony, in spite of the
king's protection. In this act, however, the Portu-
guese had gone too far. His majesty saw the truth
and sent the missionaries back. That was as early
as 1 680. In 1 7 2 5 new complaints were sent to Portugal,
but the supreme governor of the Maranhao district
wrote, as follows, to the king: "The Fathers of the
Society in this State of Maranhao are objects of enmity
and have always been hated, for no other reason
than for their strenuous defence of the liberty of the
unfortunate Indians, and also because they used all
their power to oppose the tyrannical oppression of
those who would reduce to a degraded and unjust
slavery men whom nature had made free. The
Fathers take every possible care that the laws of
your majesty on this point shall be most exactly
observed. They devote themselves entirely to the
promotion of the salvation of souls and the increase
of the possessions of your majesty; and have added
29
450 The Jesuits
many sons to the Church and subjects to the crown
from among these barbarous nations."
With regard to their alleged commerce, the governor
says: "Whatever has been charged against the
Fathers by wicked calumniators who, through hatred
and env-y, manufacture ridiculous lies about the wealth
they derive from those missions, I solemnly declare to
your majesty, and I speak of a matter with which
I am thoroughly acquainted, that the Fathers of the
Society are the only true missionaries of these regions.
Whatever they receive from their labors among the
Indians is applied to the good of the Indians them-
selves and to the decency and ornamentation of the
churches, which, in these missions, are always very
neat and very beautiful. Nothing whatever that is
required in the missions is kept for themselves. As
they have nothing of their own, whatever each
missionary sends is delivered to the procurator of the
mission, and every penny of it reverts to the use
of the particular mission from whence it came.
Missioners of other orders send quite as much produce,
but each one keeps his own portion separate, to be used
as he likes, so that the quantity however great being
thus divided, does not make much impression on
those who see it. But as the missionaries of the
Society send everything together to the procurator,
the quantity, when seen in bulk, excites the cupidity
of the malevolent and envious."
About 1739, Eduardo dos Santos was sent by John V
as a special commissioner to Maranhao. After spending
twenty months in visiting every mission and examining
every detail he wrote as follows: " The execrable
barbarity with which the Indians are reduced to slavery
has become such a matter of custom that it is rather
looked on as -a virtue. All that is adduced against
this inhuman custom is received with such repugnance
1
Pombal 451
and so quickly forgotten that the Fathers of the
Society in whose charity these unfortunate creatures
often find refuge and protection, and who take com-
passion on their miserable lot, become, for this very
reason, objects of .hatred to these avaricious men."
Such were the official verdicts of the conduct of
the Jesuits on the Amazon a few years before Pombal
came into power. But in 1753 regardless of all this
he sent out his brother Francis Xavier Mendoza, a
particularly worthless individual, and made him
Governor of Gran Para and Maranhao, giving him a
great squadron of ships and a considerable body of
troops with orders to humble the Jesuits and send
back to Portugal any of them who opposed his will.
Everything was done to create opposition. They
were forbidden to speak or to preach to the Indians
except in Portuguese; the soldiers were quartered in
the Jesuit settlements, and were instructed to treat
the natives w4th especial violence and brutality.
In 1754 a council was held in Lisbon to settle the
question about expelling the Society from the missions
of Maranhao. The order was held up temporarily by
the queen; but when she died, a despatch was sent in
June 1755 ordering their immediate withdrawal from
all "temporal and civil government of the missions."
The instructions stated that it was " in order that
God might be better served." Unfortunately the
bishop of the place co-operated with Carvalho in
everything that was proposed. He suppressed one of
the colleges, restricted the number of Fathers in the
others, to twelve, and sent the rest back to Portugal;
and in order to excite the settlers against the Society,
he had the Bull of Benedict XIV which condemned
Indian slavery read from the pulpits, proclaiming that
it had been inspired by the Jesuits. Meantime, in
the reports home, the insignificant Indian villages where
452 The Jesuits
they labored were magnified into splendid cities and
towns all owned by the Society; two pieces of cannon
which had never fired a ball were described as a whole
park of artillery, and a riot among the troops was set
down as a rebellion excited by the Jesuits.
The first three Fathers to be banished from Brazil
were Jose, Hundertpfund and da Cruz, Jose was a
royal appointee sent out to determine the boundary
line between the Spanish and Portuguese American
possessions. But that did not trouble Pombal; nor
did the German nationality of Hundertpfund, nor did
he deign to state the precise nature of their offenses.
A fourth victim named Ballister had had the bad
taste to preach on the text: " Make for yourself
friends of the Mammon of iniquity." He was forth-
with accused of attacking one of Carvalho's com-
mercial enterprises, and promptly ordered out of the
country. Again, when some mercantile rivals sent
a petition to the king against Carvalho's monopolies,
Father Fonseca was charged with prompting it, and
he was outlawed though absolutely innocent. And
so it went on. Carvalho's brother was instructed to
invent any kind of an excuse to increase the number
of these expatriations.
While these outrages were being perpetrated in
the colonies, Lisbon's historic earthquake of 1755
occurred. The city was literally laid in ruins. Thou-
sands of people were instantly killed; and while other
thousands lay struggling in the ruins, the rising flood
of the Tagus and a deluge of rain completed the disaster.
Singularly enough, Carvalho's house escaped the
general wreck; and the foolish king considered that
exception to be a Divine intervention in behalf of
his great minister, and possibly, on that account,
left him unchecked in the fury which even the awful
calamity which had fallen on his country did not at
r
Pombal 453
all moderate. The Jesuits were praised by both
king and patriarch for their heroic devotion both
during and after the great disaster, but those com-
mendations only infuriated Pombal the more. When
one of the Fathers, the holy Malagrida, had dared
to say in the pulpit that the earthquake was a punish-
ment for the vice that was rampant in the capital,
Pombal regarded it as a reflection on his administra-
tion; and the offender, though seventy years old and
universally regarded as a saint, was banished from
the city as inciting the people to rebellion.
However, the furious minister meted out similar
treatment to others, even to his political friends.
Thus, although the British parliament had voted
£40,000 for the relief of the sufferers, besides giving a
personal gift to the king and sending ships with car-
goes of food for the people, Pombal immediately
ran up the tax on foreign imports, for he was financially
interested in domestic productions. Even in doling
out provisions to the famishing populace, he was so
parsimonious that riots occurred, whereupon he hanged
those who complained. The author of the " Vita "
(I, 106) vouches for the fact that at one time there
were three hundred gibbets erected in various parts of
Lisbon. The Jesuit confessors at the court were
especially obnoxious to him and he dismissed them all
with an injunction never to set foot in the royal
precincts again. The anger of their royal penitents
did not restrain him, so absolute was his power both
then and afterwards. The plea was that the priests
were plotters against the king. To increase that
impression he pointed out to his majesty the number
of offenders against him; all members of the detested
Order who were coming back in every ship from
Brazil. The General of the Society, Father Centurioni,
wrote to the king pleading the innocence of the
454 The Jesuits
victims; but the letter never got further than the minis-
ter. The king did not even know it had been sent.
The next step in this persecution was to publish
the famous pamphlet entitled: "A Brief Account of
the Republic which the Jesuits have established in
the Spanish and Portuguese dominions of the New
World, and of the War which they have carried on
against the armies of the two Crowns; all extracted
from the Register of the Commissaries and Plenipotenti-
aries, and from other documents." A copy was sent to
every bishop of the country ; to the cardinals in Rome,
and to all the courts of Europe. Pombal actually spent
70,000 crowns to print and spread the work of which he
himself was generally credited with being the author.
In South America it was received with derision; in
Europe mostly with disgust. Sad to say, Acciajuoli,
the Apostolic nuncio at Lisbon, believed the Brazilian
stories ; but he changed his mind, when on the morning
of June 15, 1760, just as he was about to say Mass, he
received a note ordering him in the name of the king
to leave the city at once, and the kingdom within
four days; adding that to preserve him from insult a
military escort would conduct him to the frontier.
Other publications of the same tenor followed the
" Brief Account." One especially became notorious.
It was: " Letters of the Portuguese Minister to the
Minister of Spain on the Jesuitical Empire, the Republic
of Maranhao ; the history of Nicholas I. " The Nicholas
in question v/as a Father named Plantico. To carry
out the story of his having been crowned king or
Emperor of Paraguay, coins with his effigy were
actually struck and circulated throughout Europe.
Unfortunately for the fraud, none of the coins were
ever seen in Paraguay where they ought to have been
current. Moreover, as Plantico was transported with
the other Jesuits of Brazil, he would have been hanged
Pombal 455
on his arrival in Portugal, if he had tried to set up a
kingdom of his own in Paraguay. On the contrary,
he went off to his native country of Croatia, and was
Rector of the College of Grosswardein when the
general suppression of the Society took place. Fred-
erick II and d'Alembert used to joke with each other
about " King Nicholas I "; and in Spain, that and the
other libels were officially denounced and their cir-
culation prohibited.
As for Carvalho, these hideous imaginings of his
brain became realities ; and the list of Jesuitical horrors
which his ambassador at Rome repeated to the Pope,
all, as he alleged, for the sake of the Church, almost
suggest that Pombal was a madman. Long extracts of
the document may be found in de Ravignan and Weld,
but it will be sufficient here to mention a few of the
charges. They are, for instance, " seditious machina-
tions against every government of Europe; scandals in
their missions so horrible that they cannot be related
without extreme indecency; rebellion against the
Sovereign Pontiff; the accumulation of vast wealth
and the use of immense political power; gross moral
corruption of individual members of the Order ; abandon-
ment of even the externals of religion; the daily and
public commission of enormous crimes; opposing the
king with great armies; inculcating in the Indian
mind an implacable hatred of all white men who are not
Jesuits; starting insurrections in Uruguay so as to
prevent the execution of the treaty of limits ; atrociously
calumniating the king; embroiling the courts of Spain
and Portugal; creating sedition by preaching in the
capital against the commercial companies of the
minister; taking advantage of the earthquake to attain
their detestable ends; surpassing Machiavelli in their
diabolical plots; inventing prophecies of new disasters,
such as warnings of subterranean fires and invasions
456 The Jesuits
of the sea; calumniating the venerable Palafox; com-
mitting crimes worse than those of the Knights
Templars, etc."
Unfortunately, Cardinal Passionei who was un-
friendly to the Society, exercised great power at
Rome at that time. He was so antagonistic that he
would not allow a Jesuit book in the library, which made
d'Alembert say: " I am sorry for his library." He
also refused to condemn the work of the scandalous
ex-monk Norbert, who was in the pay of Carvalho.
To make matters worse, Benedict XIV was then at
the point of death. And a short time previously,
yielding to Carvalho's importunities, he had appointed
Cardinal Saldanha, who was Carvalho's tool, to investi-
gate the complaints and to report back to Rome, with-
out however taking any action on the premises. The
dying Pontiff was unaware of the intimacy of Saldanha
with the man in Portugal or he would not have ordered
him in the Brief of appointment to " follow the paths of
gentleness and mildness, in dealing with an Order which
has always been of the greatest edification to the whole
world; lest by doing otherwise he would diminish the
esteem which, up to that time, they have justly acquired
as a reward of their diHgence. Their holy Institute
had given many illustrious men to the Church whose
teachings they have not hesitated to confirm with
their blood." As the Pope died in the following month,
Saldanha made light of the instructions. His usual
boast was that " the will of the king was the rule of his
actions; and he was under such obligations to his
majesty, that he would not hesitate to throw himself
from the window if such were the royal pleasure."
It was currently reported in Lisbon, says Weld
(130), that the office of visitor had been first offered
to Francis of the Annunciation, an Augustinian who
had reformed the University of Coimbra; and on
Pombal 457
his refusal he was sent to prison where he ended his
days. But the obliging Saldanha saw in it an oppor-
tunity for still further advancement; he accepted the
work and performed it in accordance with the wishes
of Pombal. Meantime, new dungeons were being made
in the fortress of Jonquiera in which the offending
Jesuits were to be buried. Saldanha began his work
as Inquisitor on May 31, by going with great pomp
to the Jesuit Church of St. Roch. Seated on the throne
in the sanctuary, he gave his hand to be kissed by all
the religious. When the provincial knelt before him,
the cardinal told him to have confidence — he would
act with clemency. When the ceremony was over,
he departed abruptly without asking any questions
or making any examination. But a few days after-
ward, the provincial received a letter bearing the date
May 15, that is sixteen days before this visit to the
Church, declaring that the Fathers in Portugal and in
its dominions to the ends of the earth were, on the
fullest information, found to be guilty of a worldly
traffic which was a disgrace to the ecclesiastical state;
and they were commanded under pain of excommuni-
cation to desist from such business transactions at
the very hour the notification was made. The
language employed in the letter which was immediately
spread throughout the country was insulting and
defamatory to the highest degree.
All the procurators were then compelled to hand
over their books to the government. And when the
horrified people, who knew there was nothing back
of it all but- Carvalho's hatred, manifested their dis-
content, it was ascribed to the Jesuits, Hence on
June 6, the cardinal patriarch, at the instigation of the
prime minister, suspended them all from the function
of preaching and hearing confessions throughout the
patriarchate. The cardinal had, at first, demurred.
458 The Jesuits
for he knew the Jesuits in Lisbon to be the very reverse
of Saldanha's description of them, and he therefore
demanded a regular trial. Whereupon Carvalho flew
into such a rage that out of sheer terror, and after
a few hours' struggle, he issued the cruel order. The
poor cardinal, who was an ardent friend and admirer
of the Society, was so horrified at what he had done
that he fell into a fever, and died within a month.
Before he received the last sacraments, he made a
public declaration that the Society was innocent, and
he drew up a paper to that effect; but Carvalho never
let it see the light. When the Archbishop of Evora
heard that the dying man had shed tears over his
weakness, he said : ' ' Tears are not enough. He
should have shed the last drop of his blood."
Saldanha was made patriarch in the deceased
prelate's place; and though his office of visitor had
ceased ipso facto on the death of the Pope, he continued
to exercise its functions nevertheless. He appointed
Bulhoens, the Bishop of Para, a notorious adherent of
Carvalho, to be his delegate in Brazil. Bulhoens
first examined the Jesuits of Para, but could find
nothing against them. He then proceeded to Mar-
anhao; but the bishop of that place left in disgust;
and the governor warned Bulhoens that if he persisted,
the city would be in an uproar. Not being able to effect
anything, he asked the Bishop of Bahia to undertake
the work of investigation. The invitation was
promptly accepted; and all the superiors were ordered
to show their books under pain of excommunication.
They readily complied, and no fault was found with the
accounts. He then instituted a regular tribunal;
received the depositions of seventy-five witnesses,
among them Saldanha's own brother who had lived
twenty-five years in Maranhao. Next he examined the
tax commissioner, through whose hands all contracts
Pombal 459
and bills of exchange had to pass; and that official
affirmed under oath that he had never known or
heard of any business transactions having been carried
on by Jesuits. The result was that the courageous
bishop declared " it would be an offence against God
and his conscience and against the king's majesty to
condemn the Fathers." When his report was for-
warded to Portugal, Carvalho ordered the confiscation
of his property; expelled him from his palace, and
declared his see vacant. The valiant prelate passed
the rest of his days in seclusion, supported by the
alms of the faithful.
In September 1758, a charge was trumped up in
Lisbon in a most tortuous fashion, based on the alleged
discovery of a plot to assassinate the king. Those
chiefly involved were the Duke de Averio and the
Marquis de Tavora, with his wife, his two sons, his
two brothers and his two sons-in-law, all of whom
were seized at midnight on December 12. The
marchioness and her daughter-in-law were carried off
to a convent in their night-dresses; the men of the
family, to dens formerly occupied by the wild beasts
of the city menagerie. De Aveiro, who was supposed
to be the assassin-in-chief, was not taken until next
day. Several others were included in this general
round-up, some of them for having asserted that the
whole conspiracy was a manufactured affair. At the
same time, some of the domestic servants of the
marquis, probably for having offered resistance at the
time of the arrest, were put to death so that they could
tell no tales. Not being able to have the accused
parties tried before any regularly constituted tribunal,
because of the lack of evidence, Carvalho drew up a
sentence of condemnation himself, and presented it to
a new court which he had just established, called the
inconfidenza, and demanded the signatures of the judges
460 The Jesuits
who were all his creatures. After being stormed at
for a while, all, with one exception, put their names
to the paper. Then, as by the law of the land no
nobleman could be condemned to death except by his
peers, he constituted himself as a tribunal, along with
his secretary of the Navy and the secretary of Foreign
Affairs, neither of whom had any difficulty in com-
plying with the wish of their master.
On January ii, 1759, three of the noblemen involved,
Aveiro, Tavora and Antongia, were led out to execution
before the king's palace. Vast multitudes had
assembled in the public square; and to ensure order,
fresh regiments had been summoned from other parts
of the kingdom. A riot was feared, for the Tavoras
were among the noblest families of the realm. The
accused had not even been defended and had been
interrogated on the rack. The execution was most
expeditious, and the heads of the three victims quickly
rolled in the dust. That night, the marchioness was
taken from the convent to the new dungeons in the
fort ; and on January 1 2 , she heard the sentence of
death passed on her by Carvalho himself who was
both judge and accuser. The scaffold was erected in
the square of Belem; and long before daylight of
January 13 an immense multitude had gathered to
witness the hideous spectacle. The marchioness ad-
vanced and took her seat in the chair. The axe
quickly descended on her neck — and all was over.
She was despatched in this hurried fashion because
the interference of the king was feared. Indeed, the
messenger arrived just when the head had been severed,
from the body. The two sons of the marchioness and
her son-in-law were then stretched on the rack and
strangled. The father of the family, the old marquis
followed next in order. As a mark of clemency, his
torture was brief but effective. Four others were then
Pombal 461
executed; fire was set to the gibbet; and its blood-
stained timbers along with the bodies of the victims
were reduced to ashes and thrown into the Tagus.
This was not a scene in a village of savages, but in
a great European capital which had just passed through
a terrible visitation of God but apparently had not
understood its meaning. Carvalho was thirsting for
more blood, but the king held him back; so he contented
himself with destroying the palaces of the Aveiras and
Tavoras; sprinkling the sites with salt; forbidding
anyone to bear the names hitherto so illustrious, and
even effacing them from the monuments and the
public archives. He was not allowed to commit any
more official murders for the moment; but at least
he had thousands who were dying in his underground
dungeons.
What had the Jesuits to do with all this? Nothing
whatever. They were accused of being the spiritual
advisers of the Tavora family which it was impossible
to disprove, because though the persons implicated by
the accusation were all arrested on the nth, sentence
of death had been already passed on the 9th. There
were twenty-nine paragraphs in the indictment. The
twenty-second said that " even if the exuberant and
conclusive proofs already adduced did not exist, the
presumption of the law would suffice to condemn such
monsters." Of course, no lawyer in the world could
plead against such a charge, and it is noteworthy that
in the Brief of Suppression of the whole Society by
Clement XIV which brings together all the accusations
against it, there is no mention whatsoever, even
inferentially, of any conspiracy of the Jesuits against
the life of the King of Portugal. Moreover, the
Inquisition and all the Bishops of Spain judged this
Portuguese horror at its proper value, when on May 3,
1759 they put their official stamp of condemnation
462 The Jesuits
on the pamphlets with which the whole of Europe
was flooded immediately after Pombal's infamous act.
They denounced the charges one by one as " designed
to foment discord, to disturb the peace and tran-
quillity of souls and consciences, and especially to
discredit the holy Society of Jesus and religious who
laudably labor in it to the benefit of the Church;
as is known throughout the world." Over and over
again as each book is specifically anathematised, the
" holy Society of Jesus " is spoken of with commend-
ation and praise. The condemned publications were
then burnt in the market place. That exculpation
ought to have been sufficient, coming as it did not
only from all the Spanish bishops but from the Inqui-
sition, which from the very beginning had been uni-
formly suspicious of everything Jesuitical. Against
this utterance Pombal was powerless for it was the
voice of another nation.
When the year 1759 began, three of the most con-
spicuous and most venerable Fathers of Portugal were
in jail under sentence of death. But neither the king
nor Carvalho dared to carry out the sentence of
execution. Something however had to be done; and
therefore a royal edict, which had been written long
before, was issued. After reciting all that had been
previously said about Brazil, etc. it declared that
" these religious being corrupt and deplorably fallen
away from their holy institute, and rendered mani-
festly incapable by such abominable and inveterate
vices to return to its observances, must be properly
and effectually banished, denaturalized, proscribed
and expelled from all his majesty's dominions, as
notorious rebels, traitors, adversaries and aggressors
of his royal person and realm; as well as for the public
peace and the common good of his subjects; and it
is ordered under the irremissible pain of death, that
Pombal 463
no person, of whatever state or condition, is to admit
them into any of his possessions or hold any communica-
tion with them by word or writing, even though they
should return into these states in a different garb or
should have entered another order, unless with the
Kjng's permission," It is sad to have to record that
the Patriarch of Lisbon endorsed the invitation to the
Jesuits to avail themselves of this royal clemency.
The procurators of the missions who occupied a
temporary house in Lisbon had been already carried
off to jail; and their money, chalices, sacred vessels,
all of which were intended for Asia and Brazil, were
confiscated. The Exodus proper began at the College
of Elvas on September i. At night-fall a squadron
of cavalry arrived ; and taking the inmates prisoners,
marched them off without any intimation of whither
they were going. On the following da}^ Sunday,
they were lodged in a miserable shed, exhausted
though they were by the journey, with nothing but a
few crusts to eat, after having suffered intensely from
the heat all day long. They were not even allowed to
go to Mass. During the next night and the following
day, they continued their weary tramp and at last
arrived at Evora. There the young men were left
at the college, and the sixty-nine Professed were
compelled to walk for six consecutive days till they
reached the Tagus. Many were old and decrepit and
one of them lost his mind on the journey. When they
reached the river, they were put in open boats and ex-
posed all day long to the burning sun, with nothing to
eat or drink. They were then transferred to a ship
which had been waiting for them since the month of
April. It was then late in September.
Other exiles soon joined them, after going through
similar experiences, until there were one hundred and
thirty-three in the same vessel. They were all kept
464 The Jesuits
in the hold till they were out of sight of land. There
was no accommodation for them: the food was insuffi-
cient ; the water was foul ; there were no dishes, so that
six or seven had to sit around a tin can, and take out
what they could with a wooden spoon, and the same
vessel had to serve for the water they drank. The
orders were to stop at no port until they reached
Civita Vecchia. However, after passing the Straits
of Gibraltar, it became evident that unless the captain
wanted to carry a cargo of corpses to Italy, he must
take in supplies somewhere: for many of the victims
were sixty or seventy years of age. There were even
some octogenarians among them. Hence, on reaching
Alicante, in Spain, one of the Fathers went ashore.
There was a college of the Society in that city; and as
soon as the news spread of the arrival of the prisoners,
the people rushed to the shore to supply their wants,
but the messenger was the only one allowed to be seen.
They then sailed away from Alicante. Off Corsica, a
storm caught them and so delayed their progress that
a stop had to be made at Spezia for more food. At
last, on October 24, more than a month after they had
left Lisbon, they were flung haggard, emaciated and
exhausted on the shores of the Papal States at Civita
Vecchia. Of course, they were received by the people
there with unbounded affection; and as Father Weld
relates " none exceeded the Dominican Fathers in
their tender solicitude for the sufferers. A marble
slab in their church records their admiration for these
confessors of the Faith with whom the sons of St.
Dominic declared they were devinctissimi — "closely
bound to them in affection."
On September 29, troops surrounded the College of
Coimbra. The astonished populace was informed
that it was because the Fathers had been fighting;
that some were already killed and others wounded;
f
Pombal 465
and the soldiers had been summoned to prevent
further disorders. That night amid pouring rain, the
tramp of horses' hoofs was heard; and as the people
crowded to the windows, they saw the venerable men
of the college led away between squads of cavalry as
if they were brigands or prisoners of war. They
arrived at the Tagus on October 7, where others were
already waiting. They numbered in all 121, and
were crowded into two small ships which were to
carry them into exile. They had scarcely room to
move. Yet, when they arrived at Genoa, they were
all packed into one of the boats. At Leghorn, they
were kept for a whole month in close confinement on
board the ship. When they started out, they were
buffeted by storms, and not until January 4, 1760 did
they reach the papal territory. They were in a more
wretched state of filth and emaciation than their
predecessors.
These prisoners were the special criminals of the
Society, namely — the professed Fathers. The other
Jesuits were officially admitted to be without reproach
and were exhorted, both by the civil and ecclesiastical
authorities, to abandon the Order and be dispensed
from their vows. As these non-Professed numbered
at least three-fourths of the whole body, the difficult
problem presents itself of explaining how the Professed
who are looked up to by the rest of the Society for
precept and example should be monsters of iniquity and
yet could train the remaining three-fourths of the
members in such a way as to make them models of
every virtue. .
Pombal was convinced that he could separate the
youth of the Society from their elders; and he was
extremely anxious to do so, because of the family
connections of many of them, and because of the loss
i to the nation at one stroke of so much ability and
30
466 The Jesuits
talent. But he failed egregiously. They were all
gathered in the colleges of Coimbra and Evora. No
seclusion was observed. Everybody was free to visit
them from the world outside; and inducements of
every kind were held out to them to abandon the
Society: family affection, worldly ambition, etc. —
but without avail. They had no regular superior, so
they elected a fourth-year theologian who had just
been ordained a priest. Another was made minister;
and a third, master of novices. The house was kept
in excellent order; the religious discipline was perfect
and the exercises of the community went on with as
much regularity as if nothing were happening. Pombal
sent commissioner after commissioner to shake the
constancy of the young men, but only two of the
tempted ones weakened. " Who is their superior? "
he asked one day in a rage. The answer was:
"Joseph Carvalho — your namesake and relative."
On October 20, a letter from the cardinal was read
in both houses. He expressed his astonishment that
these 3'-oung Jesuits did not avail themselves of the
royal favor to desert; and he warned them that they
were not suffering for their faith, and that " their
refusal of His Majesty's offer to release them from their
vows was not virtuous constancy but seditious
obstinacy."
Finally, October 24 was fixed for their departure,
and notice was given that they could not expect to
go to any civilized land, but would probably be dropped
on some desolate island off the African coast. That
shook the resolution of two of the band, but the rest
stood firm. In the morning, all went to Holy Com-
munion and at an hour before sunset, the word was
given to start. They sang a Te Deum and then set
out — 130 in all. They were preceded by a troop ofi
cavalry; a line of foot soldiers marched on either side;
Pombal 467
while here and there torches threw their glare over this
grim nocturnal procession. It took them four days
to reach Oporto, where they met their brethren from
Braganza and Braga. There were only ten from the
former place, but sixty soldiers had been detailed to
guard them. Indeed, the troopers from Braga had
to keep the crowds back with drawn swords, so eager
were the people along the road to express their sym-
pathy. At Oporto the young heroes had to witness
the desertion of four Professed Fathers; but that did
not weaken their resolution. They were all crammed
into three small craft, but the weather was too stormy
to leave the port; and there they remained a whole
week, packed so close together that there was scarcely
room to lie side by side. The air became so foul that
it was doubtful if they could survive. Even their
guards took sick, and, at last, a number of the prisoners
were transferred to a fort in the harbor.
At last to the number of 223 they sailed down the
Douro. One of them died, and his companions sang
the Office of the Dead over him and buried him in the
sea. When the ship did not roll too much. Mass was
said and they went to Communion. All the exercises
that are customary in religious houses were scrupulously
performed, and the Church festivals were observed as
if they were a community at home. They were
quarantined two weeks at Genoa without being per-
mitted to go ashore. Then another scholastic died,
and they found that his earthly goods consisted of
nothing but a few bits of linen, that must have been
( foul by this time, besides a discipline and a hair shirt.
! They cast anchor at Civita Vecchia on February 7,
' having left inhospitable Portugal in October.
The band from Evora to the number of ninety-
I eight, of whom only three were priests, had not such a
! rude experience except in the distress of seeing some
468 The Jesuits
deserters, among them two Professed Fathers. The
officer in charge of the ship, unHke most of the govern-
ment employees, was tender and kind to them. How
could he have been otherwise? His name was de
Britto — the same as that of the Portuguese martyr in
India. It meant the loss of his position, perhaps,
but what did he care? When they reached Lisbon,
the nineteen who had been separated from the first
detachment to be kept in jail came aboard, and the
little band numbered 115 all told, when the ship
hoisted anchor and made for the sea. They reached
Civita Vecchia where the two happy troops of valiant
young Jesuits met in each others arms. Their number
was then 336. They were distributed among the
various establishments of Italy, the novices being
sent to Sant' Andrea in Rome. Two cardinals and a
papal nuncio who were making their retreat in the
house at the time insisted on serving them at table,
while the Pope sent a message to the General to say:
" These young men have reflected great honor on the
Society and have shown how well they have been
trained."
The fury of Pombal was not yet sated. Not an
island of the Atlantic, not a station in Africa or India,
not a mission in the depths of the forests of America
that was not searched and looted by his commissioners,
who ruthlessly expelled the devoted missionaries who
were found there. Men venerable for age and acquire-
ments were given over to brutal soldiers who were
ordered to shoot them if any attempt at escape was
made. They were dragged hundreds of miles through
the wildest of regions, over mountains, through raging
torrents, amid driving storms; they were starved and
had nothing but the bare ground on which to rest;
they were searched again and again as if their rags
held treasures; were made to answer the roll call twice
Pombal 469
a day like convicts in jail ; and then tossed in the holds
of crazy ill-provisioned ships with no place to rest
their weary heads, except on a coil of rope or in the
the filth of the cattle; and when dead, they were to
be flung to the sharks. When at last they reached
Lisbon they were forbidden to show themselves on
deck, lest their fellow-countrymen and their families
might be shocked by their degradation. They were
then spirited away to the dungeons of St. Julian and
Jonquiera to rot, until death relieved them of their
sufferings. Those who were not placed in the crowded
jails were sent in their rags to find a refuge some-
where outside of their native land.
As has been said, there were two provinces in Portu-
guese South America — Brazil and Maranhao. In the
former, besides the Seminary of Belem, the Society
had six colleges and sixty-two residences with a total
of 445 members. Orders were given to the whole
445 to assemble at Bahia, Pernambuco and San
Sebastian. Everything was seized. At Bahia, the
novices were stripped of their habits and sent adrift,
though the families of some of them lived in far away
Portugal. The rest were confined in a house surrounded
by armed troops while the bishop of the city proclaimed
that any one who would encourage the victims to
persevere in their vocation would be excommunicated.
Then, one day, without a moment's notice, all were
ordered out of the house and sent to jail in different
places. There they remained for the space of three
months waiting for the missionaries from the interior
to arrive. They came in slowly, for some of them
lived eight hundred miles away, and had to tramp all
that distance through the forests and over mountain
ranges. Before all had made their appearance, however,
the first batches were sent across to the mother country
to make space. They started on March i6 and reached
470 The Jesuits
the Tagus on June 6. Those from Bahia had taken
from April to June, and it was fully three months
before the convict ship from Pemambuco arrived
in port.
All this time the deported rehgious were kept between
decks, and soldiers stood at the gangway with drawn
swords to prevent any attempt to go up to get a
breath of fresh air. Their food was nothing but
vegetables cooked in sea-water, for there was not
enough of drinking water even to slake their thirst.
The result was that the ship had a cargo of half -dead
men when it anchored off Lisbon; but the unfortunate
wretches were kept imprisoned there for fifteen days
with the port-holes closed. They were then trans-
ferred to a Genoese ship and sent to Civita Vecchia.
It appears that the Provincial of these Brazilian
Jesuits was named Lynch; but strange to say, there is
no mention of him in any of the IVIenologies. The
deportation from Pemambuco and San Sebastian
were repetitions of this organized brutality; and the
same methods were employed at Goa in India, and
the other dependencies, such as Macao and China.
In the transportations from these posts in the Orient,
the ships had to stop at Bahia which had been witness
of the first exportations ; but the victims in the China
ships could learn nothing of what had happened.
Twenty-three of them died on one of the journeys
from India. , It is noted that a Turk at Algiers and a
Danish Lutheran sea-captain, had shown the greatest
humanity to the victims whose fellow country-men
seemed transformed into savage beasts. The prisoners
had been kept in confinement twenty months before
they left Goa; and when they arrived at Lisbon on
October i8, 1764, they were taken off in long boats at
the dead of night, and lodged in the foulest dungeons
of the fortress of St. Julian.
Pombal 471
But these were not the only victims of Carvalho.
There were prisoners from every grade of society,
and their number reached the appalhng figure of
nine thousand. Among them were eminent ecclesi-
astics, bishops and canons and some of the most dis-
tinguished laymen of the kingdom. A description
of the prisons in which they were confined for years
or till they died has been given to posterity by some
of the victims. Father Weld in his " Suppression of
the Society in Portugal " quotes extensively from
their letters. The jails were six in number: Belem,
Almeida, Azeitano, St. George, Jonquiera and St.
Julian. They had annexes, also, along the African
coasts or on the remote islands of the Atlantic. Belem,
the Portuguese name for Bethlehem, so called because
it had once been an abbey, was about four miles from
Lisbon towards the ocean. It had the distinction of
keeping its prisoners behind iron bars, but exposed
to the public like wild beasts in a menagerie; so that
the public could come and look at them and feed them
if so disposed. The Portuguese criminals were given a
pittance by the government, to purchase food, but the
foreigners had to beg from the spectators for the means
to support life. It was admirably contrived to induce
insanity.
Jonquiera lay between Belem and Lisbon. The
ceUs were numerous in this place. Moreira, the king's
former confessor, and Malagrida were among the
inmates. The Marquis de Lorna who was also con-
fined there says " there were nineteen cells, each about
seven paces .square, and so tightly closed that a light
had to be kept burning continually; otherwise they
would have been in absolute darkness. When the
prisoners were first put in them, the plaster was
still wet and yielded to the slightest pressure. The
cold was intense. Worst of all for a Catholic country,
472 The Jesuits
the sacraments were allowed the prisoners only once a
year." The Marquis says that during the sixteen
years he spent there " he never heard Mass." In
these dungeons there were 221 Jesuits, 88 of whom
died in their chains. The Castle of St. Julian stood
on the banks of the Tagus and the walls were washed
by the tide. In this place, there were 125 Jesuits of
all nations; men of high birth, of great virtue and
intellectual ability. The cells were situated below the
sea-level; and were damp, unventilated, choked with
filth and swarming with vermin. Some of the Fathers
passed nineteen years in those tombs. The drinking
water was putrid; the prisoners' clothes were in rags;
often not sufficient for decency; many had no under
garments and no shoes; their hair and beards were
never cut ; the food was scant and of the worst quality,
and was often carried off before there was time to eat it.
The oil of the single lamp in the cells was so limited that
to save it, the wick was reduced to two or three threads.
The same conditions prevailed in the other prisons.
Meantime the jailers were making money on the sup-
plies supposed to be served to the prisoners. Such
was prison life in Portugal during the twenty years
of Pombal's administration.
One of the particularly outrageous features of these
imprisonments was that Pombal preferred to hold
foreigners rather than native Portuguese. The
foreigners, having no friends in the country, would
not, in all probability, be claimed by their relatives;
and as the ministers of nearly all the nations of Europe
were of the same mind as himself, he had no fear of
political intervention. Thus we find in a letter of
Father Kaulen, a German Jesuit, which was published
by Christopher de Murr, that in one section of St.
Julian, besides fifty-four Portuguese Jesuits, there were
thirteen Germans, one Italian, three Frenchmen,
Pombal 473
two Spaniards, and three Chinese. These Chinese
Jesuits must have made curious reflections on the mean-
ing of the term " Christian nations." " There are
others in the towers," adds Father Kaulen, " but I
cannot find out who they are, or how many, or to
what country they belong."
The three Frenchmen, Fathers du Gad and de
Ranceau along with Brother Delsart were set free
at the demand of Marie Leczinska, the wife of Louis XV;
it was through them that Father Kaulen was able to
send his letter to the provincial of the Lower Rhine.
He himself was probably liberated later by the inter-
vention of Maria Theresa, but there is no record of
it. His letter is of great value as he had personal
experience of what he writes. His experience was a
long one, for he entered the prison in 1759; and this
communication to his provincial is dated October 12,
1766. In it he writes: —
" I was taken prisoner by a soldier with a drawn
sword and brought to Fort Olreida on the frontier of
Portugal. There I was put in a frightful cell filled
with rats which got into my bed and ate my food.
I could not chase them away, it was so dark. We
were twenty Jesuits, each one in a separate cell.
During the first four months we were treated with some
consideration. After that, they gave us only enough
food to keep us from dying of hunger. They took
away our breviaries, medals, etc. One of the
Fathers resisted so vigorously when they tried to
deprive him of his crucifix that they desisted. The
sick got no help or medicine.
" After three years they transferred nineteen of us
to another place because of a war that had broken out.
We travelled across Portugal surrounded by a troop
of cavalry, and were brought to Lisbon; and after
passing the night in a jail with the worst kind of
474 The Jesuits
criminals, we were sent to St. Julian, which is on the
seashore. It is a horrible hole, underground, dark
and foul. The food is bad, the water swarming with
worms. We have half a pound of bread a day. We
receive the sacraments only when we are dying. The
doctor lives outside but if we fall sick during the night,
he is not called. The prison is filled with worms and
insects and little animals such as I never saw before.
The walls are dripping wet, so that our clothes soon
rot. One of the Fathers died and his face was so
brilliant that one of the soldiers exclaimed: 'That's
the face of a saint.' We are not unhappy, and the
three French Fathers who left us envied our lot.
" Very few of us have even the shreds of our soutanes
left. Indeed we have scarcely enough clothes for
decency. At night a rough covering full of sharp
points serves as a blanket; and the straw on which we
sleep as well as the blanket that covers us soon become
foul, and it is very hard to get them renewed. We are
not allowed to speak to any one. The jailor is
extremely brutal and seems to make a point of adding
to our sufferings; only with the greatest reluctance
does he give us what we need. Yet we could be set
free in a moment if we abandoned the Society.
Some of the Fathers who were at Macao and had
undergone all sorts of sufferings at the hands of the
pagans, such as prison chains and torture say to us that
perhaps God found it better to have them suffer in
their own country for nothing, than among idolaters
for the Faith.
" We ask the prayers of the Fathers of the province,
but not because we lament our condition. On the
contrary, we are happy. As for myself, though I
would like to see my companions set free, I would not
change places with you outside. We wish all our
Fathers good health so that they may work courage-
Pombal 475
ously for God in Germany to make up for the little
glory he receives here in Portugal.
Your Reverence's most humble servant
Lawrence Kaulen,
Captive of Jesus Christ."
Pombal was determined now to make a master-
stroke to discredit the Portuguese Jesuits. He would
disgrace and put to death as a criminal their most
distinguished representative, Father Malagrida, now
over seventy years of age, who had already passed
two years in the dungeons of Jonquiera. Malagrida
was regarded by the people as a saint. He had labored
for many years in the missions of Brazil and was
marvelously successful in the work of converting the
savages. Unfortunately he had been recalled to
Portugal in 1749 by the queen mother to prepare her
for the end of her earthly career. As Malagrida knew
how Carvalho's brother was acting in Brazil, he was
evidently a dangerous man to have so near the Court.
Hence when the earthquake occurred and the holy old
missionary dared to tell the people that possibly it was
a punishment of God for the sins of the people, Car-
valho banished him to Setubal and kept him there
for two years. When the supposed* plot against the
king's life occurred, Malagrida was sent to prison as
being concerned in it, though he had never been in
Lisbon since his banishment. He was condemned to
death with the other supposed conspirators; but his
character as a priest, and his acknowledged sanctity
made the king forbid the execution of the sentence.
Pombal, however, found a way out of the difficulty.
A book was produced which was said to have been
written by Malagrida during his imprisonment. It
was crammed with utterances that only a madman
could have written: In any case it could not have
476 The Jesuits
been produced by the occupant of a dark cell, where
there was no ink and no paper. When it was pre-
sented to the Inquisition whose death sentences the
king himself could not revoke, the judges refused to
consider the case at all ; whereupon they were promptly
removed by Pombal who made his own brother chief
inquisitor; and from him and tw.o other tools, promptly
drew a condemnation of Malagrida for heresy, schism,
blasphemy and gross immorality.
The sentence of death was passed on September 20,
1 76 1, and on the same day the venerable priest was
brought to hear the formal proclamation of it in the
hall of supplication. There he was told that he was
degraded from his priestly functions, and was con-
demned to "be led through the public streets of the city,
with a rope around his neck, to the square called do
Rocco, where he was to be strangled by the executioner,
and after he was dead, his body was to be burned to
ashes, so that no memory of him or his sepulchre might
remain. He heard the sentence without emotion
and quietly protested his innocence. On the very
next day, September 21, the execution took place.
Platforms were .erected around the square. Cavalry
and infantry were massed here and there in large
bodies; each soldier had eight rounds of ammunition.
Pombal presided. The nobility, the members of
the courts, and officers of the State were compelled
to be pr.esent, and great throngs of people crowded the
square and filled the abutting avenues and streets.
When everything was ready, a gruesome procession
started from the prison. Malagrida appeared with
the carocha, or high c*ap of the criminal, on his head,
and a gag in his mouth. With him were fifty-two
others who had been condemned for various crimes;
but only he was to die. They were called from their
cells merely to accentuate his disgrace. Having
Pombal 477
arrived at the place of execution, the sentence was
again read to him; and when he was reheved of the
gag, he calmly protested his innocence and gave him-
self up to the executioners, uttering the words of
Our Lord on the Cross: " Father, into Thy hands, I
commend my spirit." He was quickly strangled;
then fire was set to his lifeless body and the ashes were
scattered to the winds. He was seventy-two years of
age, and had spent forty-one of them working for the
salvation of his fellowmen.
All this happened in Portugal which once gloried
in having the great Francis Xavier represent it before
the world; which exulted in a son like de Britto, the
splendid apostle of the Brahmans, who waived aside
a mitre in Europe but bent his neck with delight to
receive the stroke of an Oriental scimitar. The same
Portugal which inscribed on its roll of honor the forty
Jesuits who suffered death while on their way to
evangelize Portugal's possessions in Brazil, now made
a holiday to witness the hideous torture of the venerable
and saintly Malagrida. The Jesuits of Portugal had
done much for their country. They had borne an
honorable part in the struggle that threw off the Spanish
yoke : the magnificent Vieira was a greater emancipator
of the native races than was Las Casas ; and he and his
brethren had won more territories for Portugal than
da Gama and Cabral had ever discovered. But all
that was forgotten, and they were driven out of their
country, or kept chained in fetid dungeons till they
died or were burned at the stake in the market-place,
in the preseence of the king and the people. No wonder
that Portugal has descended to the place she now
occupies among the nations.
CHAPTER XV
CHOISEUL
The French Method — Purpose of the Enemy — Preliminary Accu-
sations — Voltaire's testimony — La Vallette — La Chalotais — Seiz-
ure of Property — Auto da fe of the Works of Lessius, Suarez, Valentia,
etc. — Appeal of the French Episcopacy — Christophe de Beaumont —
Demand for a French Vicar — " Sint ut sunt aut non sint " — Protest
of Clement XIII — Action of Father La Croix and the Jesuits of Paris
— Louis XV signs the Act of Suppression — Occupations of dispersed
Jesuits — Undisturbed in Canada — Expelled from Louisiana —
Choiseul's Colonization of Guiana.
The result of Pombal's work in Portugal was
applauded by his friends in France, but his methods
were condemned. " He was a butcher with an axe."
Their own procedure was to be along different lines.
They would first poison the public mind, would enjoy
the pleasure of seeing the heretical Jansenist condemn-
ing the Jesuit for heterodoxy, and the professional
debauchee assailing his morality, and then they would
put the Society to death by process of law for the good
of the commonwealth and of the Church. There
would be no imprisonments, no burnings at the stake,
no exiles, but simply an authorized confiscation of
property which would leave the Jesuits without a
home, replenish the public purse and ensure the peace
of the nation. It was much easier and more refined.
Meantime, the Portuguese exhibition was a valuable
object lesson to their followers, who saw a king lat'ely
honored with the title of His Most Faithful Majesty
putting to death the most ardent champions of the
Faith. Later on. The Christian King, The Catholic
King, and The Apostolic Emperor would unite to
show that " Faith " and " Christianity " and Apos-
tolicity " were only names.
478
Choiseul 479
With all their refinement, however, the French
were more radical and more malignant than the Portu-
guese. Pombal had no other idea beyond that of a
state Church such as he had seen in England, forming
a part of the government machinery, and when his
effort to bring that about by marrying the Protestant
Duke of Cumberland to the Infanta of Portugal was
thwarted by the Jesuits, he simply treated them as
he did his other political enemies; he put them in jail
or the grave. In France, the scheme was more compre-
hensive. With men like Voltaire and his associates in
the literary world, and Choiseul and others of his set
controlling the politics of the country, the plan was
not merely to do away with the Church, but with all
revealed religion. As the Jesuits were conspicuous
adversaries of the scheme, it was natural that they
should be disposed of first.
Such is the opinion of St. Liguori, who says: " The
whole thing is a plot of the Jansenists and unbelievers
to strike the Pope and the Church." The Protestant
historian Maximilian Schoell is of like mind (Cours
d'histoire, xliv.) : "The Church had to be isolated;
and to be isolated, it had to be deprived of the help of
that sacred phalanx which had avowed itself to the
defence of the Pontifical throne Such was the
real cause of the hatred meted out to that Society."
Dutilleul, in his " Histoire des corporations religieuses
en France" (p. 279) expresses himself as follows:
" The Jesuit is a missionary, a traveller, a mystic, a
man of learning, an elegant civilizer of savages, a con-
fessor of queens, a professor, a legislator, a financier,
and, if need be, a warrior. His was not a narrow and
personal ambition, as people erroneously suppose and
assert. He was something more. He was a reactionist,
a Catholic and a Roman revolutionist. Far from
|| being attached, as is supposed, to his own interests,
480 The Jesuits
the Society has been in the most daring efforts of its
indefatigable ambition only the protagonists of the
spiritual authority of Rome."
Indeed, we have it from Voltaire himself, who wrote
to Helvetius in 1761: "Once we have destroyed the
Jesuits, we shall have easy work with the Pope."
Rorbacher (Histoire de I'eglise, tom. XXVII, p. 28)
holds the same view, " They are attacking the Society
only to strike with greater certainty at the Church
and the State." But the real, the ultimate purpose
of Voltaire was expressed by his famous phrase Ecrasons
Vinjdmc — "Let us crush the detestable thing," the
detestable thing meaning God or Christ, and such has
ever been the aim of his disciples. That it still persists
was proclaimed officially from the French tribune by
Viviani, " Our war is not against the Church, nor
against Christianity, but against God." This open
and defiant profession of atheism, however, would
not have been possible in 1761. Hence, to conceal
their purpose, they allied themselves with the most
pretentious professors of the religion of the time; the
only ones, according to themselves, who knew the
Church's dogma and observed her moral law; the
orthodox and austere Jansenists, who probably flattered
themselves they were tricking les impies, whereas,
d'Alembert wrote to one of his friends " Let the
Pandours destroy the Jesuits; then we shall destroy the
Pandours."
The programme was to compel the parliament to
terrorize the king, which was very easy, because of the
gross Ucentiousness of Louis XV. He was simply a
tool in the hands of his mistresses, and Guizot in his
" Histoire de France " has a picture in which Madame
du Barry stands over the king and points to the picture
of Charles I of England, who was beheaded for resisting
parliament.
Choiseul 481
The Jansenist section of the coaHtion began the
fight by the time-worn accusation of the " lax moraHty "
of the Jesuits — a method of assault that was by no
means acceptable to Voltaire who as early as 1746
had written to his ""friend d'Alembert, as follows:
" What did I see during the seven years that I lived
in the Jesuit's College? The most laborious and frugal
manner of life; every hour of which was spent in the
care of us boys and in the exercises of their austere
profession. For that I call to witness thousands of men
who were brought up as I was. Hence, it is that I
can never help being astounded at their being accused
of teaching lax moraUty. They have had like other
religious in the dark ages casuists who have treated
the pro and con of questions that are evident today
or have been relegated to oblivion. But, ma foi are
we going to judge their morality by the satire of the
Lettres Provinciales . It is assuredly by Father Bour-
daloue and Father Cheminais and their other preachers
and by their missionaries that we should measure
them. Put in parallel columns the sermons of Bour-
daloue and the Lettres Provinciales, and you'll find
in the latter the art of raillery pressed into service to
make indifferent things appear criminal and to clothe
insults in elegant language; but you will learn from
Bourdaloue how to be severe to yourself and indulgent
to others. I ask then, which is true morality and which
of the two books is more useful to mankind? I make
bold to say that there is nothing more contradictory;
nothing more iniqmtous; nothing more shameful in
human nature than to accuse of lax morality, the men
who lead the austerest kind of life in Europe, and
who go to face death at the ends of Asia and
America."
The romances about the immense wealth of the
Society best appealed to the public imagination,
31
482 The Jesuits
especially as the news of an impending financial
disaster was in the air. One instance of this style of
propaganda may suffice. The others all resemble it.
A Spaniard, it was said, had arrived at Brest with,
2,000,000 livres in his wallet and was promptly killed
by the Jesuits. Soon the 2,000,000 had grown to
8,000,000. Then there was a distinguished conversion;
that of a Jesuit named Chamillard who had turned
Gallican and Jansenist on his death-bed; and although
Chamillard a few days afterwards appeared in the fiesh
and protested that he was neither dead nor a Gallican
nor a Jansenist, his testimony was set aside. It had
appeared in print and that w^as enough. Such absurdi-
ties of course could do no serious harm, but at last, a
splendid fact presented itself which could not be dis-
proved ; especially as a vast number of people, in France
and elsewhere, were financial sufferers in consequence
of it. It was the bankruptcy of Father de la Valette.
In the public mind it proved everything that had ever
been written about the Order. Briefly it is as follows:
At the very beginning of the Seven Years War,
the British fleet had destroyed 300 French ships,
captured 10,000 sailors and confiscated 300,000,000
livres worth of merchandise. Among the sufferers was
Father La Valette, the superior of Martinique, who
was engaged in cultivating extensive plantations on
the island, and selling the products in Europe, for the
support of the missions. Very unwisely he borrowed
extensively after the first disaster, going deeper and
deeper into debt, until at last he was unable to meet
his obligations which by this time had run up to the
alarming sum of 2,000,000 livres, or about $400,000.
Suit was therefore brought by some of the creditors,
but instead of submitting the case to a commission
established long before by Louis XIV for adjusting
the affairs of the missions, they laid it before the usual
Choiseul 483
parliamentary tribunal in spite of the fact of its
inveterate and well-known hatred of the Society.
Guizot says that they did it with a certain pride,
so convinced were they of the justice of their plea.
Hundreds of others had suffered like themselves at
the hands of the enemy in the Seven Years War, and
they had no desire to avail themselves of any special
legislation in their behalf. They underrated the
honesty of the judges.
A verdict was, of course, rendered against them,
and the whole Society was made responsible for the
debt, though by the law of the land there was no
solidarity between the various houses of religious
orders. Nevertheless, they set to work to cancel
their indebtedness. They had made satisfactory
arrangements with their principal creditors, and
although Martinique, where much of the property was
located, had been seized by the English; yet one-third
of their liabilities had been paid off when the govern-
ment took alarm. If this continued, the public
treasury would reap no profit from the transaction.
Hence, an order was issued to seize every Jesuit
establishment in France. A stop was put to the reim-
bursement of private individuals and the government
seized all that was left. But although the Society was
not to blame it incurred the hatred of all those who
were thus deprived of their money. That, indeed,
was the purpose of the government seizure.
Long before the crash, the superiors had done all
in their power to stop La Valette, but in those days
Martinique was far from Rome. Although attempt
after attempt was made to reach him, it was all in vain.
One messenger was crippled when embarking at
Marseilles; another died at sea; another was captured
by pirates, until in 1762 Father de la Marche arrived
on the island. After a thorough investigation de la
484 The Jesuits
Marche declared (i) that La Valette had given himself
up to trading in defiance of canon law and of the special
laws of the Society; (2) that he had concealed his
proceedings from the higher superiors of the Society
and even from the Fathers of Martinique; (3) that
his acts had been denounced by his superiors, not only
as soon as they were made known, but as soon as they
were suspected. The visitor then asked the General of
the Society (i) to suspend La Valette from all admin-
istration both spiritual and temporal: and (2) to recall
him immediately to Europe.
La Valette's submission was appended to the verdict
of the visitor; in it, he acknowledges the justice of
the sentence, although as soon as he knew what harm
he was doing he had stopped. He attests under oath
that not one of his superiors had given him any author-
ization or counsel or approval ; and no one had shared
in or connived at his enterprises. He takes God to
witness that he did not make his avowals under
compulsion or threat, or out of complaisance, or for
any inducement held out to him, but absolutely of his
own accord, and for truth's sake; and in order to dispel
and refute, as far as in him lay, the calumnies against
the Society consequent upon his acts. The document
bore the date of April 25, 1762. He was expelled from
the Society and passed the rest of his life in England.
He never retracted or modified any of the statements
he had made in Martinique.
Following close on the decision in the La Valette
case, parliament ordered the immediate production
of a copy of the Constitutions of the Society. On the
following morning, it was in their hands and was
submitted to several committees made up of Jansenists,
Gallicans and Atheists. These committees were
charged ■^dth the examination of the Institute and
also of various publications of the Society. Extracts
Choiseul 485
were to be made and presented for the consideration
of the court. The most famous of these reports was
the one made by La Chalotais, a prominent magistrate
of Brittany. He discovered that the Society was in
conflict with the authority of the Church, the general
Councils, the Apostolic See, and all ecclesiastical and
civil governments; moreover that, in their approved
theological works, they taught every form of heresy,
idolatry and superstition, and inculcated suicide,
regicide, sacrilege, robbery, impurity of every kind,
usury, magic, murder, cruelty, hatred, vengeance,
sedition, treachery — in brief, whatever iniquity man-
kind could commit was to be found in their writings.
As soon as the report was laid before the judges, a
decree was issued on May 8, 1761 declaring that the
one hundred and fifty-eight colleges, churches and
residences with the foreign missions of the Order were
to be seized by the government; all the physical
laboratories, the libraries, moneys, inheritances of its
members, the bequests of friends for charitable,
educational or missionary purposes — all was to go
into the Government coffers.
Cretineau-Joly estimated that the total value of
the property seized amounted to about 58,000,000
francs or $11,600,000. The amount of the booty
explains the zeal of the prosecution. To soften the
blow a concession of a pension of thirty cents a day
was made by the Paris parliament to those who would
take an oath that they had left the Society. The
Languedoc legislators, however, cut it down to twelve.
Moreover this pension was restricted to the Professed.
The Scholastics got nothing; and as they were con-
sidered legally dead, because of the vows they had
taken in the Society, they were declared incapable of
inheriting even from their own parents. The decree
also forbade all subjects of the king to enter the Society;
486 The Jesuits
to attend any lecture given by Jesuits; to visit their
houses previous to their expulsion; or to hold any
communication with them. The Jesuits themselves
were enjoined not to write to each other, not even to
the General. It is noteworthy that the lawmakers
who issued these regulations profess to be shocked by
the Jesuit doctrine of " blind obedience."
By a second decree it was ordered that the works of
twenty-seven Jesuits which had been examined should be
burned by the public executioner. Among them were
such authors as Bellarmine, Lessius, Suarez, Valentia,
Salmeron, Gretser, Vasquez, Jouvancy, — all of whom
were and yet are considered to be among the greatest
of Catholic theologians, but the lay doctors of the
parliament held them to be dangerous to public
morals; and to the peace of the nation and in order to
express their horror emphatically, they called for this
auto da JL It should be noted that all of these works
were written in Latin, and that their technical character
as well as the terminology employed would make it
absolutely impossible for even these solons of the
French parliament to grasp the meaning of the text.
In order to sway the public mind, a summary of the
Chalotais report, commonly known as " Extraits des
assertions" was scattered broadcast throughout the
country. The desired effect was produced and even to-
day if an attempt is made to answer any of its charges
the answer is always ready, " We have the authority
of La Chalotais; he was an eminent magistrate; he
examined the books; the highest court in France
accorded him the verdict, and any attempt to explain
away the charges is superfluous! "
Yet there was in Paris at that time a higher tribunal
than the one which gave La Chalotais his claim to
notoriety. It was the General Assembly of the Clergy
which had been convoked by the King to pass upon
Choiseul 487
the character of the Jesuits as a body, before he affixed
his signature to the decree of expulsion. It consisted
of fifty-one prelates, some of them cardinals. They
met on June 27 and with the exception of the Bishop
of Angers, AUais, and especially of Fitzjames, the
Bishop of Soissons, who was the head of the Jansenist
party and whose pastoral utterances were condemned
by the Pope as heretical, addressed a " Letter " to the
king conjuring him " to preserve an institution which
was so useful to the State," and declaring that " they
could not see without alarm the destruction of a
society of religious who were so praiseworthy for the
integrity of their morals, the austerity of their discipline,
the vastness of their labors and their erudition and for
the countless services they had rendered to the Church.
" Charged as they are with the most precious trust
of the education of youth, participating as they do
under the authority of the bishops, in the most delicate
functions of the holy ministry, honored as they are by
the confidence of kings in the most redoubtable of
tribunals, loved and sought after by a great number
of our subjects and esteemed even by those who fear
them, they have won for themselves a consideration
which is too general to be disregarded."
" Everything, Sire, pleads with you in favor of the
Jesuits: religion claims them as its defenders; the
Church as her ministers; Christians as the guardians
of their conscience; a great number of your subjects
who have been their pupils intercede with you for
their old masters; and all the youth of the kingdom
pray for those who are to form their minds and their
hearts. Do not. Sire, turn a deaf ear to our united
supplication; do not permit in your kingdom, that in
violation of the laws of justice, and of the Church
and of the State an entire and blameless society
should be destroyed."
488 The Jesuits
The Archbishop of Paris, the famous Christophe do
Beaumont was not satisfied with this general appeal.
He was the chief figure in France at that time ; and every
word he uttered was feared by the enemies of the Church.
He was great enough to be in correspondence with all
the crowned heads of Europe, and Frederick the Great
said of him: " If he would consent to come to Prussia,
I would go half way to meet him." Louis XV had
forced him to accept the See of Paris, but had not the
courage to support him when assailed by his foes.
He was a saint as well as a hero; he lent money to
men who were libelling him, and would give the clothes
on his back to the poor. When a hospital took fire
in the city, he filled his palace and his cathedral with
the patients. Hence, he did not hesitate, after parlia-
ment had condemned the Society, to issue a pastoral
which he foresaw would drive him from his see. " What
shall I say, Brethren," he asks, " to let you know
what I think of the religious society which is now so
fiercely assailed? We repeat with the Council of Trent
that it is ' a pious Institute;' that it is 'venerable,'
as the illustrious Bossuet declared it to be. We spurn
far from us the ' Extraits des assertions ' as a resum6
of Jesuit teaching; and we renew our declaration that
in the condition of suffering and humiliation to which
they have been brought that their lot is a most happy
one, because in the eyes of religious men, it is an
infinitely precious thing to have no reproach on one's
soul when' overwhelmed by misfortune." As he
foresaw he was expelled from his see for this utterance,
not by parliament but by Louis XV whose cause he
was defending.
Perhaps this treatment of the great Archbishop of
Paris explains the silence maintained through all the
uproar by the Jesuits themselves. One would expect
some splendid outburst of eloquence in behalf of the
Choiseul 489
Society from one of its outraged members; but not a
word was uttered by any of them. Their protests
would not have been printed or pubHshed. Even
Theiner who wrote against the Society says: "All
France was inundated with libellous pamphlets against
the Jesuits. The most notable of all was the one
entitled * Extracts of the dangerous and pernicious
doctrines of all kinds which the so-called Jesuits have
at all times, uninterruptedly maintained, taught and
published.' Calumny and malice fill the book from
cover to cover. There is no crime which the Jesuits
did not teach or of which they are not accused. Never
was bad faith carried to such extremes. And yet
there is no book that is so often cited as an authority
against the Society and its spirit."
Meantime, the government had approached the
Pope for the purpose of obtaining for the French
Jesuits a special vicar who should be quasi-independent
of the General. It was harking back to the old scheme
of Philip II and Louis XIV. His Holiness replied
in the memorable words: " Sint ut sunt aut non sint "
(Let them be as they are or not at all.) We find in
a letter of the procurator of Aquitaine that in case a
vicar was appointed every member of the province
of Paris would leave the Order, which under such an
arrangement would be no longer the Society of Jesus.
Again in his letter to the king, after declaring that the
appointment of a French Vicar would be a substantial
alteration of the Institute which he could not authorize,
the Pope says: " For two hundred years the Society has
been so useful to the Church, that, though it has never
disturbed the public tranquillity either in your kingdom
or in any one else's, yet because it has inflicted such
damage on the enemies of religion by its science and
its piety, it is assailed on all sides by calumny and
imposture when fair fighting was found insufficient to
490 The Jesuits
destroy them." Finally, on January 9, 1765, after
the final knell had sounded, Clement XIII issued his
famous Bull " Apostolicum." It is given at length in
de Ravignan's "C16ment XIII ct Clement XIV," but
a few extracts will suffice.
After enumerating the glories of the Society in the
past, and calling attention to the fact that it had been
approved by nineteen Popes, who had most minutely
examined their Institute, Clement XIII continues:
" It has, nevertheless, in our days been falsely and
malignantly described both by word and printed book
as irreligious and impious, and has been covered with
opprobrium and ignominy until even the Church has
been denounced for sustaining it. In order, therefore,
to repel these calumnies and to put a stop to the impious
discourses which are uttered in defiance of both reason
and equity; and to comfort the Regular Clerks of the
Society of Jesus who appeal to us for justice; and to
give greater emphasis to our words by the weight of
our authority and to lend some solace in the sufferings
they are undergoing; and finally to defer to the just
desires of our venerable brothers, the bishops of the
whole Catholic world, whose letters to us are filled with
eulogies of this Society from whose labors the greatest
services are rendered in their dioceses; and also of
our own accord and from certain knowledge, and
making use of the plenitude of our Apostolic authority,
and following in the footsteps of our predecessors, we,
by this present Constitution, which is to remain in
force forever, say and declare in the same form and
in the same manner as has been heretofore said and
declared, that the Institute of the Society of Jesus
breathes in the very highest degree, piety and holiness
both in the principal object which it has continually
in view, which is none other than the defence and propa-
gation of the CathoUc Faith, and also in the means it
Choiseul 491
employs for that end. Such is our experience of it
up to the present day. It is this experience which
has taught us how greatly the rule of the Society has
formed up to our day defenders of the orthodox Faith
and zealous missionaries who animated by an invincible
courage dare a thousand dangers on land and sea,
to carry the light of the Gospel to savage and barbarous
nations Let no one dare be rash enough to set
himself against this my present approbative and con-
firmative Constitution lest he incur the wrath of God."
These splendid approvals of their labors did much
to keep up the courage of the harassed Jesuits, but if
what Father de Ravignan and Cretineau-Joly relate
be true, they had ample reason to keep themselves in
a salutary humility or rather bow their heads in shame.
On December 19, 1761, we are told, the provincial of
Paris, Father de La Croix and one hundred and fifteen
Fathers addressed a declaration to the clergy assembled
in Paris, by order of the king, which ran as follows:
" We the undersigned, provincial of the Jesuits of the
province of Paris, the superior of the professed house,
the rector of the College of Louis Le Grand, the
superior of the novitiate and other Jesuits professed,
even of the first vows, residing in the said houses, and
renewing as far as needs be the declarations already
made by the Jesuits of France in 1626, 1713 and 1757,
declare before their Lordships the cardinals, arch-
bishops and bishops now assembled in Paris, by order
of the king, to give their opinion on several points of
the Institute: (i) That it is impossible to be more
submissive than we are, or more inviolably attached
to the laws, maxims and usages of this kingdom with
regard to the royal power, which in temporal matters
depends neither directly nor indirectly from any power
on earth, and has God alone above it. Recognizing
that the bonds by which subjects are attached to their
\
492 The Jesuits
rulers are indissoluble, we condemn as pernicious and
worthy of execration at all times every doctrine con-
trary to the safety of the king, not only in the works of
some theologians of our Society who have adopted
such doctrines but also those of every other theologian
whosoever he may be. (2) We shall teach in our
public and private lessons of theology the doctrine
established by the Clergy of France in the Four Articles
of the Assembly of 1682, and shall teach nothing
contrary to it. (3) We recognize that the bishops of
France have the right to exercise in our regard what,
according to the canons of the Gallican Church,
belongs to them in their dealings with regulars;
and we renounce all the privileges to the contrary
that may have been accorded to our Society or may
be accorded in the future. (4) If, which may God
forbid, it happens that we are ordered by our General
to do anything contrary to the present declaration,
persuaded as we are that we cannot obey without sin,
we shall regard such orders as unlawful, and absolutely
null and void ; which we could not and should not obey
in virtue of the rules of obedience to the General such
as is prescribed in the Constitutions. We, therefore,
beg that the present declaration may be placed on the
official register of Paris, and addressed to the other
provinces of the kingdom, so that this same declaration
signed by us, being deposited in the official registers of
each diocese may serve as a perpetual memorial of
our fidelity.
Etienne de la Croix, Provincial."
Quoting this document and admitting its genuineness
Father de Ravignan exclaims: " In my eyes nothing
can excuse this act of weakness. I deplore it; I condemn
it; I shall merely relate how it came to pass" (Clement
XIII e*. Clement XIV, I 135). He goes on to say:-
Choiseul 493
" In a personal letter the original of which is in the
archives of the Gesu at Rome, Father La Croix,
provincial of Paris explains to the General the circum-
stances and occasion of this unfortunate affair. He
tells how the royal commissioners came to him with
the aforesaid declaration already drawn up and accom-
panied by a formal order of the king to sign it immedi-
ately. It was a most unforeseen demand, for although
the Jesuits of France had already suffered considerable
trouble about the question of the Four Articles in
1 7 13, and also in 1757, when Damiens attempted to
assassinate Louis XV, they had been compelled on
both occasions to sign only the first article which
dealt with the temporal independence of the king.
Shortly afterwards, a new royal decree had been brought
to their attention. It consisted of eighteen articles,
the fourth of which was as follows: * Our will is that
in every theological course followed by the students of
the Society, the propositions set forth by the Clergy
of France in 1682, should be defended, at least in one
public discussion, to which the principal personages
of the place shall be invited, and over and above that,
the arrangements laid down by the edict of March
1682 shall be observed.'
" While these matters were being debated by the
king and his ministers on one side and by parliament
on the other, a royal order was despatched to the
Jesuits of Paris to affix their signatures to the disgrace-
ful capitulation given above. It is said that Louis
XV imagined that he could mollify the recalcitrant
parliament by this new concession: and, hence. La
Croix and his associates were foolish enough to imagine
that such a result could ensue."
Continuing his indictment of La Croix and his
one hundred and fifteen associates, de Ravignan
informs his readers that "an unpubUshed document
494 The Jesuits
which no writer has so far made mention of, furnishes
important details about the matter. It is entitled
' An exact relation of all that took place with regard
to the interpretation of the decree of Aquaviva in
1610, which was sent to Rome in 1761 and rejected
by the General; and also the declaration which the
General refused to approve.' The author is M. de
Flesselles, who was charged by the commission to
report to Choiseul whose agent he was.
" With regard to the declaration about Gallicanism "
says de Flesselles " the Jesuits, after some difficulties
regarding its form, determined to sign it, and even
when urged by the royal commissioners they undertook
to send it to their General for approbation. Soon
after, when the Jesuits received the reply of their
General, the provincial came to tell me that when the
Pope was made aware of the declaration which the
French Jesuits had made and of the one they proposed
to make, His Holiness angrily reprimanded the General
for permitting the members of the Society in France
to maintain doctrines which are in conflict with the
teachings of the Holy See."
' Now it is unpleasant to contest the authority of such
an eminent man as de Ravignan, but, on the other
hand, his conclusions that this letter was a Jesuit
production or received a Jesuit endorsement are by no
means convincing. In the first place, no Jesuit would
ever sign a paper which began with the words: " We
the Professed, even of the first vows." There is no
such category in the Society. Secondly, no Jesuit or
indeed any one in his senses would ever ask a superior
for a permission to teach error, and say, in the
same breath, that it was a matter of indifference
whether the permission was granted or not. Thirdly,
as all the Jesuits of the province had announced their
intention of leaving the Society if Louis XV imposed
Choiseul 495
on them a commissary General independent of their
superior at Rome — as we recited above from an
extant letter from the procurator of the province of
Aquitaine — it is inconceivable that those same men,
at that very same time should solemnly declare them-
selves rebels against the Father General at Rome.
Fourthly, as no association rewards a man who
attempts to destroy it, one finds difficulty in under-
standing how, after this revolt, the leader in the re-
bellion. La Croix, was not only not expelled from the
Society but was retained in his responsible post of
provincial and later was made assistant general of the
Society.
Moreover, it is difficult to understand why, when
de Flesselles says that " the Fathers determined to sign
the document," de Ravignan should go one step further
and say that " they signed it." Nor does it help matters
to say that this was " un acte de faiblesse,'' when, it
was a wholesale, corporate and deliberate crime of
cowardice and treason; nor will it avail to suggest that
the Pope and General must have been intensely, grieved
— " lis durent ^tre amerement affliges." History does
not deal with conjectures but with facts. The question
is not whether they must have been, but whether they
were really grieved over an act which had really occurred
and which reflected such discredit on the Society?
Again, as one of the greatest glories of the French
Jesuits was their long and successful battle against
Gallicanism, it is inconceivable that they should
suddenly reverse and stultify themselves at the very
moment when all the bishops of France, save one,
had abandoned Gallicanism and had united in eulogiz-
ing the Society; and to do it at a time when the greatest
friend they ever had, Pope Clement XIII, glorified
them for their orthodoxy and pronounced the famous
words: " Let them be as they are or not at all! "
496 The Jesuits
To have declared for Gallicanism would have
stripped them of their priestly functions, it would
have aroused the intense disgust and contempt of the
hierarchy of France and of the world and would have
called down on them the anathema of the Pope. Indeed,
is it likely that Pope Clement XIV would have omitted
to note the defection in his Brief of Suppression, if
they had been guilty? Fortunately, we may refer to
the explicit declaration of the Protestant historian,
Schoell (Cours d'histoire, xl, 53), who says: " These
men who are accused of playing with religion, refused
to take the oath to sustain the principles of the Gallican
Church. Of 4000 Fathers who were in France, hardly
five submitted." If there were " hardly five " GalHcans
in all the provinces of France, it is a justifiable con-
clusion that 116 Jesuits of the provinces of Paris did
not sign the famous " Statement " of de Flesselles.
Louis XV made a feeble attempt to save the situation
by withdrawing the decree of expulsion from the
jurisdiction of parliament, but Mme. de Pompadour
and Choiseul so effectively worked on his fears that
he ignominiously rescinded his order. The Pope had
meantime delivered an allocution in a consistory on
September 3, 1762; and had sent a letter to Cardinal
Choiseul, the brother of the minister, on September 8
of the same year, in both of which he declared that
" by a solemn decree, he had quashed and nullified
the proceedings of the various parliaments against
the Jesuits." He enjoined upon the cardinal " to use
all his episcopal power against the impious act which
was directed against the Church and against religion."
He wrote to other bishops in the same tone of indig-
nation and anger. It was not, however, until the
November of 1764 that Choiseul succeeded in extorting
the royal signature which made the decree irrevocable.
Of course, Mme. de Pompadour was to the fore in
Choiseul 497
securing this shameful surrender of the royal preroga-
tive. The poor king cuts a sorry figure in signing the
document. After making some feeble scrawls on the
paper, he complained that the preamble was too long
and that it would have sufficed to state that " the
Jesuits had produced a great tumult in his kingdom."
He added he did not think the word " punish " should
be used; it was too strong; " he never cordially liked
the Jesuits, yet they had the glory of being hated by
all heretics I send them out of my kingdom
against my will; at least, I don't want people to think
that I agree with everything the parliament said or
did against them." He ended by saying: "If
you do not make these changes, I will not sign, but
I must stop talking. I would say too much and I
do not want anyone in France to discuss it." One
could hardly say of Louis that " he was every inch a
king."
The desire to close the mouths of every one of his
subjects on a matter that concerned them all as
intelligent beings and as citizens was carried out with
extreme rigor. Thus, when two secular priests had
the temerity to condemn the decree, they were promptly
hanged. The audacity of the ministers arid parliament
went still further; and on December 3 the Duke de
Praslin sent a note to Aubeterre, the French ambassador
at Rome to advise him that " under the circumstances,
it would be very futile and still more dangerous for the
Pope to take any measures either directly or indirectly
in contravention of the wishes and intention of his
majesty; and hence His Holiness must, out of zeal for
religion and out of regard for the Jesuits, observe the
same silence which His Majesty had ordered to be
observed in his states." The Pope replied to the insult
by the Bull "Apostolicum," which was a splendid
proclamation of the absolute innocence of the pro-
32
498 The Jesuits
scribed Order. It aroused the fury of the Governments
of France, Portugal, Naples and other countries. In
France it was burned in the streets of several cities
by the public executioner. In Portugal, any one
v/ho circulated it or had it in his possession was adjudged
guilty of high treason; but on the other hand, from the
bishops of the entire Catholic world came enthusiastic
letters of approval and praise for the fearless Pope
who dared to stand forth as the enemy of tyranny and
injustice.
Bohmer-Monod, in their " Jesuites," are of the
opinion that the Pope was " injudicious, and that out
of the hundreds of Catholic bishops, only twenty-
three assured him of their approbation." De Ravignan,
who is better informed, tells us that " almost the whole
episcopacy of the world were a unit in this manifesta-
tion of loyalty to the supreme Pastor. Before the
event, two hundred bishops had sent their appeals to
the Pope, in favor of the Society ; and the Pope himself
says in the Bull: " Ex omni regione sub ccelo est una
vox omnium episcoporum " (From every region
under the canopy of heaven, there is but one voice
from the episcopal body). After the Bull appeared,
other bishops hastened to send him their adhesions
and felicitations. Even in France itself, in spite of the
terrorism exercised by parliament, the assembly of the
clergy of 1765, by a unanimous vote, protested against
the condemnation of the Jesuits, extolled " the integrity
of their morals, the austerity of their lives, the greatness
of their labors and science"; and declared that their
expulsion left a frightful void in the ministry, in
education, and in the sublime and laborious work of
the missions. Not only that, but they wanted it put
on record that " the clergy would never cease to
pray for the re-establishment of the Order and
would lay that plea at the feet of the king."
Jflii
Choiseul 499
The exiles lingered for a while in various parts of
France; for some of the divisional parliaments were
not at one with Paris in their opposition to the Society.
Indeed, in many of them, the proscription was voted
only by a small majority. Thus at Rennes, there was
a majority of three; at Toulouse two; at Perpignan
one; at Bordeaux five; at Aix two; while Besangon,
Alsace, Flanders and Artois and Lorraine pronounced
in their favor and proclaimed " the sons of St. Ignatius
as the most faithful subjects of the King of France
and the surest guarantees of the morality of the people."
On the other hand, Brittany, the country of Chalotais,
author of the " Extraits," was especially rancorous in
its hate. Thus, it voted to deprive of all civil and
municipal functions those parents who would send
their children abroad to Jesuit schools ; and the children
on their return home were to be punished in a similar
fashion. The Fathers lingered for a few years here
and there in their native country employed in various
occupations; but in 1767 a decree was issued expelling
them all from the territory of France.
An interesting manifestation of affection by the
pupils of St. Omers for their persecuted masters occurred
when the parliament of Paris issued its order of ex-
pulsion in 1767. St. Omers was founded by Father
Persons in 1592 or 1593. It was not for ecclesiastics
as were the colleges of Douai, Rome and Valladolid,
but to give English boys an education which they could
not get in their own country. It was twenty-four
miles from Calais and in territory which at that time
belonged to the King of Spain. Shortly after its
transfer from Eu in Normandy where an attempt
had been made to start it, there were one hundred
boys on its register and, thirty years later, the number
had doubled. For years it was a favorite school for
English Catholics and it rejoices in having had twenty
500 The Jesuits
of its students die for the Faith. It continued its
work for a century and a half. When the expulsion
of the Jesuits left the college without teachers it was
handed over to the secular clergy, but when they
arrived there were no boys. They had all decamped
for Bruges in Belgium, and there the classes continued
until the general suppression of the Society in 1773.
Even after that, the English ex-Jesuits kept the
college going until 1794, when the French Revolution
put an end to it. By that time, however, one of the
former students, Mr. Thomas Weld, had established the
Fathers on his property at Stonyhurst in England, so
that St. Omers and Stonyhurst are mother and
daughter.
The buildings and land at St. Omers were handed
over by the French government to the English secular
priests, who were at Douai. Alban Butler, the author
of .the " Lives of the Saints," was its president from
1766 to 1773. At present a military hospital occupies
the site.
In Louisiana, which still owed allegiance to France,
the dismissal of the Fathers was particularly disgrace-
ful. For no sooner had the news of Choiseul's exploit
in the mother-country arrived than the superior
council of Louisiana set to work. " This insignificant
body of provincial officers " as Shea calls them (I, 587),
" issued a decree declaring the Society to be dangerous
to the royal authority, to the rights of bishops, to the
public peace of society " and pronounced their vows
to be null and void. These judges in matters eccle-
siastical, it should be noted, were all laymen. They
ordered all the property to be seized and sold at auction,
though personal books and clothes were exempted.
The name and habit of the Society were forbidden;
the vestments and plate of the chapel at New Orleans
were given by the authorities to the Capuchins; but
Choiseul 501
all the Jesuit churches in Louisiana and Illinois were
ordered to be levelled to the ground. Every Jesuit
was to embark on the first ship that set sail for France;
and arriving there, he was to report to Choiseul. Each
one was given about $420 — to pay for his passage
and six month's subsistence.
There was a deviation in some cases about going to
France, for Father Carette was sent to San Domingo;
and Father Le Roy made his way to Mexico. A diffi-
culty arose about Father Beaudoin, who was a
Canadian. Why should he be sent to France where
he had no friends? Besides, his health was shattered
by his privations on the missions, and he was at that
time seventy-two years old. He was to go to France,
however, but just as he was about to be dragged to
the ship a wealthy friend interceded for him and
gave him a home. Another Father in Alabama did
not hear of the order for several months; and when
at last he made his appearance in New Orleans, he
was arrested like a criminal and packed off to France.
On September 22, a courier reached Fort Chartres,
which was on English territory; and in spite of the
danger of embroiling the government, Father Watron
wjno was then sixty-seven years old was expelled, and
with him his two fellow missionaries. The official
from Louisiana gave the vestments to negro wenches
and the altar-plate and candelabra were soon found
in houses of ill-fame. The chapel was then sold on
condition that the purchaser should demolish it. At
Vincennes, the same outrages were perpetrated and
Father Duvemay, who had been for six months con-
fined to his bed, was carried off with the others to New
Orleans and despatched to France. Two only were
allowed to remain, owing to the entreaties and protests
of friends. One of the exiles was Father Viel, who
was a Louisianian by birth. The most conspicuous
502 The Jesuits
personage enforcing this expulsion was a certain
Lafrenidre, but he soon met his punishment. In 1766
Louis XV made a gift of the entire province to his
cousin of Spain, and when Count Alexander O'Reilly
was sent out with three thousand soldiers to quell the
disturbance that ensued, Lafreni^re and three associates
were taken into the back yard of the barracks and shot
to death. Others were sent in chains to Havana.
Thus the Suppression of the Society in France was
not carried out with the same brutality as in Portugal.
There were no prisons, or chains, or deportation, and
they had not the glory of suffering martyrdom. They
were merely stripped of all they had and told to go where
they wished. Whether they lived or died was a matter
of unconcern to the government. It was merely a
difference of methods; but both were equally effective.
The Portuguese Jesuits were scourged; their French
brethren were sneered at. Perhaps the latter was
harder to bear.
There is a curious sequel to all this. Choiseul,
proud of his achievement in expelling the Jesuits from
France and its colonies, now conceived the magnificent
project of colonizing Guyana on lines quite different
from those followed by the detested Order. He induced
14,000 deluded French people to go and take possession
of the rich and fertile lands of Guyana. They found
one poor old Jesuit there, who because he was not
a subject of France, had refused to obey the decree
of expulsion. His name was O'Reilly, but what could
he do with 14,000 people He simply disappeared
from the scene. Very Hkely, he joined the Indians,
who fled into the forests at the sight of this immense
army of Frenchmen, who now had the country to
themselves without striking a blow. But two years
later. Chevalier de Balzac had to report back to France,
that of the 14,000 colonists only 918 were alive. Thus,
Choiseul 503
expelling 6,000 Jesuits from France, Choiseul had
murdered 13,000 of his fellow-countrymen (Christian
Missions, II, 168).
In 1766, M. de Piedmont, the governor wrote to the
Due de Praslin, that he had already informed the
Due de Choiseul how necessary it was to send priests
to this colony. He then described the destruction of
the mission posts, the flight of the Indians, the growth
of crime amongst the negroes and the rapid ruin of
the colony, and added that religion was dying out
among the whites as well as among the colored races.
For ten years, he kept on repeating this complaint,
but no heed was paid to him. At length, Louis XVI,
who was so soon to be himself a victim of Choiseul's
iniquity sent there, three Jesuits, not Frenchmen,
perhaps he had not the heart to ask any of them,
but three Jesuits, who had been expelled from Portugal
by Pombal, Choiseul's accomplice. They were PadiLla,
Mathos, and Ferreira. They accepted the mission and
the " Journal " of Christopher de Murr says: " The
poor savages beholding once again men clothed in the
habit which they had learned to venerate, and hearing
them speak their own language, fell at their feet,
bathing them with tears, and promised to become once
more good Christians, since the Fathers, who had
begotten them in Jesus Christ, had come back to them."
No doubt, these three holy men remained till they
died with their poor abandoned Indians.
France's folly in this governmental act was summed
up in a letter of d'Alembert to^ Choiseul, just before
the .expulsion. In it he says: " France will resort to
this rigorous measure against its own subjects at the
very moment she is doing nothing in her foreign policy,
and in the chronological epitomes of the future we shall
read the words for the year 1762 : ' This year France
lost aU her colonies and threw out the Jesuits.' "
CHAPTER XVI
CHARLES III
The Bourbon Kings of Spain — Character of Charles III — Spanish
Ministries — O'Reilly — The Hat and Cloak Riot — Cowardice of
Chai ^s — Tricking the monarch — The Decree of Suppression —
Grief of the Pope — His death — Disapproval in France by the Ency-
clopedists — The Royal Secret — Simultaneousness of the Suppres-
sion — Wanderings of the Exiles — Pignatelli — Expulsion by Tanucci.
Spain had begun to deteriorate in the seventeenth
century; it lost all of its European dependencies in
the eighteenth, and in the beginning of the nineteenth
was stripped of almost every one of its rich and powerful
colonies in America. During two-thirds of that period,
it was governed by foreigners, none of whom had any
claim to consideration, much less respect. Until 1700
it owed allegiance to the house of Austria; after that,
the French Bourbons hurried it to its ruin.
Its first Bourbon king, Philip V, had already, in 17 13,
succeeded in losing Sicily, Milan, Sardinia, the Nether-
lands, Gibraltar, and the Island of Minorca; that is
one-half of its European possessions. Meantime,
Catalonia was in rebellion. But Uttle else could be
expected from such a ruler. He was not only consti-
tutionally indolent, but apparently mentally defective.
His queen kept him in seclusion, and he did nothing
but at her dictation; he was professedly devout, but
was racked by ridiculous scruples; " outwardly pious,"
says Schoell, quoting Saint-Simon, " but heedless of
the fundamental principles of religion; he was timid
and hence sporadically stubborn; and when not in
temper, he was easily led. He was without imagi-
nation, except that he was continually dreaming of
conquering Europe, although he never left Madrid; he
504
Charles III 505
was satisfied with the gloomiest existence, and his
only amusement was shooting at game, which his
servants drove into the brush for him to kill." His
conscience often smote him for the sin he said he had
committed when he renounced his claim to the throne
of France; and, in consequence, he made a vow to lay
aside the Spanish crown until what time he should be
summoned by England to be King of France. To help
him keep his vow, he built the palace of San Ildefonso,
which cost the nation 45,000,000 pesos. He appointed
his son Louis, a lad of 17, to reign in his stead, and the
boy, of course, did nothing but enjoy himself, and
died of small-pox in six months' time, having first gone
through the ridiculous farce of making his father his
heir. Philip then began to doubt whether he could
resume his duties as king after having vowed to
relinquish them. Besides being thus troubled with
scruples, he was in constant dread of catching the
disease which carried off his son; he died of apoplexy,
July 9, 1764 at the age ot 53.
Ferdinand VI, who succeeded him, was as indolent
as his father, and with less talent and strength of will ;
he was afflicted with melancholia, and like his father
was haunted by the fear of death. He took no part
in the government of the kingdom, but spent most of
his time listening to the warblings of the male-soprano,
Farinelli, who was so adored by the king that he was
sometimes consulted on state affairs. The queen was
another of his idols, and when she died, he shut himself
in, saw no one, would eat next to nothing; never
changed his linen; let his hair and beard grow, and
never went to bed. An hour or two in a chair was
all he allowed himself for rest. He died at the end
of the year, leaving a private fortune of 72,000,000
francs. He was only forty-seven years old. Like the
king, the queen was dominated by fear, not however
506 The Jesuits
of death, but of poverty. To guard against that
contingency she hoarded all the money she could get;
accepted whatever presents were offered; and let it be
known that the easiest way to win her favor was to
have something to give. It is gravely said that
though she was very corpulent she was extravagantly
fond of dancing.
Ferdinand VI was succeeded by his brother Charles
III, who had been King of Naples for twenty-four
years. He had six sons, the eldest of whom, Philip
Anthony was then twelve years of age, but a hopeless
imbecile. The right of succession, therefore, devolved
on his second son. The third, who was then eight
years old, was to succeed to the crown of Naples,
and was left in the hands of Tanucci to be trained
for his future office. As Tanucci was a bitter enemy of
Christianity, this act of Charles, who had a Jesuit
confessor and was regarded as a pious man, would
imply that he also was mentally deficient. Like his
forebears, he was haunted by a fear of death, a weakness
that revealed itself in all his political acts, notably in
the suppression of the Society. That was one of the
reasons why, long after France and Portugal would
have willingly ended the fight with the expulsion of
the Jesuits, the supposedly pious Charles persisted until
he had wrung the Brief of Suppression from the un-
willing hands of Clement XIV.
The ministers of state who controlled the destinies
of Spain at this period are of a species whose Hke cannot
be found in the history of any other nation. They
begin with the Italian Alberoni who started life as
a farm laborer; then became an ecclesiastic, and
ultimately a cardinal. " He was destined to trouble
the tranquillity of the world for years," says Schoell.
According to Saint-Simon, he prevented the restitution
of Gibraltar to Spain which England was willing to
Charles III 507
grant; he was banned by the Pope; and was subse-
quently turned out of office, chiefly by the intrigues
of two Italian ecclesiastics. The queen's nurse, old
Laura Piscatori, also figures in the amazing diplomacy
of those days, and is charged with an ambition to be as
important as Cardinal Alberoni, who came from her
native village. The next prime minister was the
Biscayan Grimaldi, whose physical appearance Saint-
Simon describes, but which we omit. It will suffice to
say that "he was base and supple when it suited his
convenience, and he never made a false step in that
direction." Following him, came Ripperda, who was
born in the Netherlands and educated by the Jesuits
at Cologne, but became a Protestant in Holland, and
a Catholic in Spain, where he lasted only four months,
as minister. He turned Protestant a second time, on
his return to Holland, and subsequently led an army
of Moors against Spain. It is not known whether he
died a Christian or a Mohammedan.
Patino and de la Quadra followed each other in
quick succession, one good, the other timid and weak.
Enseiiada, though skilful, was greedy of money, and
was considered the head of the French faction in court.
Carvajal is next on the list, and displays the English
propensities which were natural to him, for he belonged
to the house of Lancaster. Indeed, his policy was
entirely pro-English and he was in collusion with
Keene, the British ambassador. Wall, an Irishman,
then flits across the scene, and has with him two
associates : Losada and Squillace, both Italians. When
• Wall quarrelled with the Pope and the Inquisition,
he fell, and then another Grimaldi came to the fore;
not a Biscayan, like his namesake, but a Genoese.
Squillace, apparently from the Italian branch of the
Borgias, was next in order, and then in rapid pro-
cession came the Spaniards: Roda, de Alva, Aranda,
508 The Jesuits
Roda, Monino, Campomanez, either as prime ministers
or prominent in the government, and nearly all of them
under French influence. Finally, the generalissimo of
the army and the most popular man in Spain was an
Irishman, Alexander O'Reilly. The native Spaniards
counted for little; even the king's bodyguard was made
up of Walloons.
O'Reilly was probably not in sympathy with the
free-thinking politicians who then ruled the nation,
for the reason that he was born in Ireland and had aU
his life been a soldier. Moreover, he was hated by
the Aranda faction and retained his post, at the head of
the army, only because the king thought that no one
could shield the royal life as well as O'Reilly. He was
born in 1735, ^^^ when still a youth was sub-lieutenant
in the Irish Regiment serving in Spain. In 1757 he
fought under his countryman de Lacy in Austria, and
then followed the fleur-de-lys in France. He so
distinguished himself, that the Marechal de Broglie
recommended him to the King of Spain. There he
soon became brigadier and restored the ancient prestige
of the Spanish army. He was made a commandant
at Havana, and rebuilt its fortifications, and from there
went to Louisiana to secure it to the Spanish crown.
His only military failure was in Algiers, but that was
not due to any lack of wisdom in his plans, but because
his fleet did not arrive at the time appointed. Even
then, there was no one so highly esteemed as O'Reilly,
and when he died at an advanced age in 1794, the
people all declared that the disasters which fell on the
nation would have been averted if he had lived. He is
credited with possessing besides his military ardor
a sweet and insinuating disposition which may explain
how he could easily win over the mob which so terrified
King Charles at Madrid.
Charles III 509
Meantime, the sinister Choiseul in France had all the
ministers of Spain in his grip, and he then determined
to captur.e the king. He first made him a present of
what up to that time, had been the special pride of
France; the precedence of its ambassadors in public
functions over those of all other countries, the German
Empire excepted. Charles naturally took the gift, but
apparently failed to fathom its significance. The next
move was to get rid of the court confessor; and his
majesty was given a confidential letter from Pombal
of Portugal accusing Father Ravago of having fo-
mented the insurrection of the Indians of Paraguay,
against the Spanish troops at the time of the transfer
of that territory. The plot failed, however, for Charles
knew Ravago too well, and then something more
drastic was resorted to. Squillace was at that time
in power and under him occurred the historic riot
which, in the course of time, assumed such dimensions
in the king's imagination, that it was one of the three
or four things, besides his " royal secret," which he
urged on the Pope as a reason for suppressing the
Society.
The story of the riot is as follows: Squillace was
very energetic in developing the material resources
of the kingdom, but always with an eye to his personal
and pecuniary profit. He promoted public works;
established monopolies even in food stuffs; loaded the
people with taxes; and being intensely anti-clerical,
was very active in curtailing ecclesiastical privileges.
The people and clergy meekly submitted, but something
happened which brought Squillace's career to an end;
though it had much more serious consequences than
that. It scarcely seems credible, but the incident
became one of the serious events of the time. Though
none suspected it, the whole thing had been deliberately
510 The Jesuits
planned, and was the initial step in the plot to expel
the Jesuits from Spain. Squillace objected or pre-
tended to object to the kind of dress especially affected
by the people of Madrid: a slouched sombrero and
an all-enveloping cloak; and he gave orders to change
it. Naturally, this exasperated the people, for although
they had patiently submitted to the imposition of
taxes; the creation of oppressive monopolies; the cur-
tailment of ancient rights and privileges, etc., the
audacity of a foreigner interfering with the cut of
their garments brought about a popular upheaval.
On March 26, 1766, the mob stormed the residence
of Squillace, and he ignominiously took to flight.
All night long, the excited crowds swarmed through
the streets shouting, " Down with Squillace." On
the following morning, they surrounded the palace
of the king himself and he, in alarm, called for O'Reilly
to quell the disturbance. When it was represented to
his majesty that it might entail bloodshed, he depre-
cated that and hurriedly left Madrid. Had he shown
himself to the people, they would have done him no
harm, for reverence for royalty was still deep in the
popular heart, and the age of royal assassinations had
not yet come. But the king was not a hero, and he
thrust his subaltern into what he fancied was a post
of danger. Thereupon, unarmed and unattended,
O'Reilly faced the excited mob.
Delighted by his trust in them, they greeted him
with cheers, but demanded a redress of their grievances.
Unfortunately, while he was keeping them in good
humor, the Walloons, who were guarding another
gate of the palace, got into an altercation with some
of the rioters. Hot words were exchanged, shots were
fired and several persons were killed. The whole
scene changed instantly, and the capital would have
been drenched in blood, and perhaps Charles would
Charles III 511
have been dethroned, had not a number of Jesuits
headed by the saintly Pignatelli, hurried through the
crowd and held the rioters in check. Finally, when a
placard was affixed to the palace walls, granting all
their demands, the mob dispersed, cheering for the
Jesuits — a fatal cry for those whom it was meant to
honor. They were accused of provoking the riot; and,
from that moment, the king's hatred for the Society
began. It was made more acute by the consciousness of
his own cowardice. Thus, a farce was to introduce a
tragedy. Ten years afterwards, the Duke of Alva, a
descendant of the old tyrant of the Netherlands,
confessed that it was he, who had planned the som-
brero and cloak riot to discredit the Jesuits (de Murr,
" Journal," ix, 222).
Towards the end of January 1767, another episode
in this curious history presents itself. Like the
affair of the riot it seems to be taken from a novel,
but unfortunately it is not so. Its setting is the princi-
pal Jesuit residence at Madrid. The provincial and
the community are at dinner, when a lay-brother
enters with a package of letters, which he places
before the provincial. It is not the usual way of
delivering such commiunications in the Society, but the
story is told by de Ravignan in " Clement XIII et
Clement XIV " (I, 186), and he is quoting from Father
Casseda, who is described as "a Jesuit Father of
eminence and worthy of belief." The package was
handed back to the brother, along with the keys of
the provincial's room, where it was left. Immediately
afterwards, an officer of the court arrived, searched the
room and extracted one of the letters, said to be from
Father Ricci, the General of the Jesuits, who among
other things, declared that the king was an illegitimate
son and was to be superseded by his brother, Don
Luis. That such a letter was really written, is vouched
512 The Jesuits
for by several historians: Coxe, Ranke, Schoell,
Adam, Sismondi, Darras, and others ; and it is generally-
admitted to have been the work of Choiseul in France
though he covered up his tracks so adroitly that no
documentary evidence can be adduced to prove it
against him. His intermediary was a certain Abb6
Beliardy an attache of the French embassy in Madrid.
According to Carayon (XV 0pp., 16-23) ^^^ Boero
(" Pignatelli " Appendix) there is a second scene in
this melodrama. Two Fathers are leaving Madrid for
Rome. A sealed package is entrusted to them, pur-
porting to be from the papal ambassador in Spain. On
the road they are held up and searched; the package
is opened, and a letter is found in it reflecting on the
king's legitimacy. Precisely at the same moment,
the trick of the refectory letter was being played in
the Jesuit residence at Madrid, and thus a connection
was established. With this scrap of paper and the
" cloak and sombrero riot " at their disposal, the
plotters concluded that they had ample material to
carry out their scheme, and the next chapter shows
Aranda, the prime minister, Roda, Monifio and
Campomaiiez meeting frequently in an old abandoned
mansion in the country. With them was a number
of boys, probably pages about the court, who were
employed in copying a pile of documents whose import
they were too unsophisticated to understand. Older
amanuenses might have betrayed the secret.
The chain of evidence was finally completed, and
these grave statesmen then presented themselves
before his majesty and, with evidence in hand, proved
to him the undoubted iniquity of the religious order
which up to that moment he had so implicitly trusted.
He fell into the trap, and a series of cabinet meetings
ensued in which information previously gathered or
invented about every Jesuit in France was discussed.
Charles III 513
The result was that on January 29, 1767 a proposal
was drawn up by Campomafiez and laid before his
majesty to expel the Society from Spain, and advising
him, first, to impose absolute silence on all his subjects
with regard to the affair, to such an extent that no one
should say or publish anything either for or against
the measure, without a special permission of the
government; secondly, to withhold all knowledge of
the affair, even from the controller of the press and
his subordinates; and finally to arrange that whatever
action was taken, should proceed directly from the
president and ministers of the extraordinary council.
The advice was assented to by the king, and a
decree was issued in virtue of which silence was passed
on 6,000 Spanish subjects who not only had no trial
but who were absolutely unaware that there was any
charge against them. They had been as a body
irreproachable for two hundred years, had reflected
more glory, and won more territory for Spain than
had ever been gained by its armies. They were men
of holy Hves, often of great distinction in every branch
of learning; some of them belonged to the noblest
families of the realm ; and yet they were all to be thrown
out in the world at a moment's notice, though not
a judge on the bench, not a priest or a bishop, not even
the Pope had been apprised of the cause of it, and, as
we have seen, it was forbidden even to speak of the
act. A more outrageous abuse of ..authority could
not possibly be conceived.
It was arranged that on the coming second of April,
1767, a statement should be made throughout Europe
by which the world would be informed: first, that
for the necessary preservation of peace, and for other
equally just and necessary reasons (though the world
is not to be told what they are), the Jesuits are expelled
from the king's dominions, and all their goods confis-
33
514 The Jesuits
cated; secondly, that the motive will forever remain
buried in the royal heart; thirdly, that all the other
religious congregations in Spain are most estimable and
are not to be molested. The decree was signed by
Charles and countersigned by Aranda and then sent
out. The ambassador at Rome was ordered to hand
it to the Pope and withdraw without saying a word.
The despatches to the civil and military authorities
in both worlds were enclosed in double envelopes and
sealed with three seals. On the inner cover appeared
the ominous words, as from a pirate addressing his
crew: " Under pain of death this package is not to be
opened until April 2, 1767, at the setting sun." The
letter read as follows: " I invest you with all my
authority and all my royal power to descend immedi-
ately with arms on the Jesuit establishments in your
district; to seize the occupants and to lead them as
prisoners to the port indicated inside of 24 hours. At
the moment of seizure, you will seal the archives of the
house and all private papers and permit no one to carry
anything but his prayer-book and the linen strictly
necessary for the voyage. If after your embarcation
there is left behind a single Jesuit either sick or dying
in your department, you shall be punished with death.'*
"I, the King."
The motive that prompted Charles to keep the secret
of this amazing proceeding " shut up in his royal
heart " has been usually ascribed to his intense resent-
ment at the suspicion cast on his legitimacy, and his
fear that even the mention of it would lead people to
conclude that there was some foundation for the charge.
Davila, quoted by Pollen in " The Month " (August,
1902), finds another explanation.
" Charles III," he says, " had become an extravagant
regalist, and was convinced by his Voltairean ministers,
Charles III 515
mostly by Tanucci, whom he had left in charge of his
son at Naples, that in all things the Church should be
subject to the State. It was on that account that he
kept the reasons for the expulsion of the Jesuits
* buried in his royal heart.' The sole cause of this act
was his change of policy; a true reason of state such
as, on some occasions, covers grave acts of injustice —
for it must be always a grave injustice to charge a
religious society with having conspired against the
fundamental institutions of a country, and yet not be
able to point out in any way the object and plan of so
dark a conspiracy. If such be the case," continues
Davila, "it is easy to understand why his majesty
could not reveal this * secret of his royal heart ' even
to the Pope, or perhaps least of all to him, for it would
be a painful avowal that his Catholic Majesty was a
yoke-fellow with the Voltaireans of Europe whose
avowed purpose was to destroy the Church."
Clement XIII was overwhelmed with grief when he
read the king's decree and wrote to him as follows:
" Of all the blows I have received during the nine
unhappy years of my pontificate the worst is that of
which your majesty informs me in your last letter,
telling me of your resolution to expel from all your
vast dominions the religious of the Society of Jesus.
So you too, do this, my son, Tu quoque fill mi. Our
beloved Charles III, the Catholic King, is the one who
is to fill up the chalice of our woe and to bring down to
the grave our old age bathed in tears and overwhelmed
with grief. The very religious, the very pious King of
Spain, Charles III, is going to give the support of his
arm, that powerful arm which God has given him to
increase his own honor and that of God and the Church,
to destroy to its very foundation, an order so useful
and so dear to the Church, an order which owes its
origin and its splendor to those saintly heroes whom
516 The Jesuits
God has deigned to choose in the Spanish nation to
extend His greater glory throughout the world. It is
you who are going to deprive your kingdom and your
people of all the help and all the spiritual blessings
which the religious of that Society have heaped on it
by their preaching, their missions, their catechisms,
their spiritual exercises, the administration of the
sacraments, the education of youth in letters and piety,
the worship of God, and the honor of the Church.
" Ah! Sire! our soul cannot bear the thought of that
awful ruin. And what cuts us to the heart still
deeper perhaps is to see the wise, just King Charles III,
that prince whose conscience was so delicate and whose
intentions were so right ; who lest he might compromise
his eternal salvation, would never consent to have the
meanest of his subjects suffer the slightest injury in
their private concerns without having their case
previously and legitimately tried and every condition
of the law complied with, is now vowing to total destruc-
tion, by depriving of its honor, its country, its property,
which was legitimately acquired, and its establish-
ments, which were rightfully owned, that whole body
of religious who were dedicated to the service of God
and the neighbor, and all that without examining them,
without hearing them, without permitting them to
defend themselves. Sire! this act of yours is grave;
and if perchance it is not sufficiently justified in the
eyes of Almighty God, the Sovereign Judge of all
creatures, the approval of those who have advised you
in this matter will avail nothing, nor will the plaudits
of those whose principles have prompted you to do
this. As for us, plunged as we are in inexpressible
grief, we avow to your majesty that we fear and tremble
for the salvation of your soul which is so dear to us.
" Your Majesty tells us that you have been com-
pelled to adopt these measures by the duty of main-
Charles III 517
taining peace in your states, — implying we presume
that this trouble has been provoked by some individual
belonging to the Society of Jesus. But, even if it
were true, Sire, why not punish the guilty without
making the innocent suffer? The body, the Institute,
the spirit of the Society of Jesus, we declare it in
the presence of God and of man, is absolutely innocent
of all crime, and not only innocent, but pious, useful,
holy in its object, in its laws, in its maxims. It matters
not that its enemies have endeavored to prove the
contrary; all calm and impartial minds will abhor
such accusers as discredited liars who contradict
themselves in whatever they say. You may tell
me that it is now an accomplished fact; that the
royal edict has been promulgated and you may ask
what will the world say if I retract? Should you not
rather ask, Sire, what will God say? Let me tell you
what the world will say. It will say what it said of
Assuerus when he revoked his edict to butcher the
Hebrews. It accorded him the eternal praise of being
a just king who knew how to conquer himself. Ah!
Sire, what a chance to win a like glory for yourself.
We offer to your majesty the supplications not only
of your royal spouse, who from heaven recalls to you
the love she had for the Society of Jesus, but much
more so, to the Sacred Spouse of Jesus Christ, the
Holy Church, which cannot contemplate, without
weeping, the total and imminent extinction of the
Society of Jesus, which until this very hour has rendered
to her such great assistance and such signal services.
Permit, then, that this matter be regularly discussed;
let justice and truth be allowed to act, and they will
scatter the clouds that have arisen from prejudice and
suspicion. Listen to the counsels of those who are
doctors in Israel; the bishops, the religious, in a cause
that involves the interests of the State, the honor of
518 The Jesuits
the Church, the salvation of souls, your own conscience
and your eternal salvation'."
How Charles could resist this appeal, which is among
the most admirable and eloquent state papers ever
given to the world, is incomprehensible. But he did.
He merely replied to the Pope: "To spare the world
a great scandal, I shall ever preserve as a secret in my
heart the abominable plot which has necessitated this
rigor. Your Holiness ought to believe my word, the
safety of my life exacts of me a profound silence."
Not satisfied with writing to the king himself, the
Pope also pleaded with the greatest prelate in the
realm, the Archbishop of Tarragona as follows : " What
has come over you? How does it happen that, in an
instant, the Society of Jesus has departed so far from
the rules of its pious Institute, that our dear Son
in Jesus Christ, Charles HI, the Catholic King, can
consider himself authorized to expel from his realm
all the Regular Clerks of the Society? This is a
mystery we cannot explain; only a year ago, the
numberless letters addressed to us by the Spanish
episcopacy afforded us some consolation in the deep
grief that affected us when these same religious were
expelled from France. Those letters informed us that
the Fathers in your country gave an example of every
virtue, and that the bishops and their dioceses received
the most powerful support by their pious and useful
labours. And now, behold, in an instant, there come
dreadful charges against them and we are asked to
believe that all these Fathers or almost all have com-
mitted some terrible crime; nay the king himself,
so well known for his equity, is so convinced of it,
that he feels obliged to treat the members of that
Institute with a rigor hitherto unheard of."
Addressing himself personally to the king's confessor
he says: " We write to you, my dear son, that you
Charles III 519
may lay this before the prince who has taken you
for his guide, and we charge you to speak in our name
and in virtue of the obligations which the duty of your
office imposes, and the authority it bestows on you.
As for us, we do not refuse to employ measures of the
severest and most rigorous justice against those
members of the Society of Jesus who have inciured
the just anger of the king, and to employ all our power
to destroy and to root out the thorns and briars which
may have sprung up in a soil hitherto so pure and fertile.
As for you, it is part of your sacred ministry to consider
with fear and trembling as you kneel at the feet of the
image of Jesus Christ, to compel the king to consider
the incalculable ruin that religion will suffer, especially
in pagan lands, if the numberless Christian missions
which are now so flourishing, are abandoned and left
without pastors." Evidently the confessor could do
nothing with his royal penitent.
This mad act of Charles did not please some of his
friends in France. Thus, on May 4, 1767, D'Alembert
wrote to Voltaire: " What do you think of the edict
of Charles III, who expels the Jesuits so abruptly?
Persuaded as I am that he had good and sufficient
reason, do you not think he ought to have made them
known and not to 'shut them up in his royal heart?'
Do you not think he ought to have allowed the Jesuits
to justify themselves, especially as every one is sure
they could not? Do you not think, moreover, that it
would be very unjust to make them all die of starvation,
if a single lay-brother who perhaps is cutting cabbage
in the kitchen should say a word, one way or the other
in their favor? And what do you think of the com-
pliments which the King of Spain addresses to the
other monks and priests, and cures and sacristans of
his realm, who are not in my opinion less dangerous
^han the Jesuits, except that they are more stupid and
520 The Jesuits
vile? Finally, does it not seem to you that he could
act with more common sense in carrying out what
after all, is a reasonable measure?"
In spite of the royal order enjoining silence on his
subjects high and low, there was a great deal of feeling
manifested at the outrage. Roda, an agent of the
ministry at Madrid, tried to conceal it and wrote to
the Spanish Embassy at Rome on April 15, 1767:
" There is not much agitation here. Some rich
people, some women and other simpletons are very
much excited about it, and are writing a great deal
of their affection for the Jesuits, but that is due to
their blindness. You would be astounded to find how
numerous they are. But papers discovered in the
archives and libraries, garrets and cellars, furnish
sufficient matter to justify the act. They reveal more
than people here suspect." And yet not one of these
incriminating documents " found in archives and
libraries and garrets and cellars " was ever produced.
Among " the simpletons " who denounced the act
was the Bishop of Cuenca, Isidore de Carvajal, who
told the king to his face, what he thought of the whole
business. The Archbishop of Tarragona did the same,
but they both incurred the royal displeasure. The
Bishop of Terruel published a pamphlet " The Truth
unveiled to the King our Master " and he was immedi-
ately confined in a Franciscan convent, while his Vicar-
general and chancellor were thro\vn into jail. The
Arclibishop of Toledo, Cardinal de Cordova, wrote to
the Pope and the contents of his letters were known
in Spain, for Roda, the individual above referred to,
hastened to tell the Spanish ambassador on May 12,
1767: "In spite of all their tricks, the Archbishop of
Toledo and his vicar-general have written a thousand
stupid things to the Pope about this affair. We
would not be a bit surprised if the Bishop of Cuenca,
Charles III 521
Coria, Cuidad Rodrigo, Terruel and some others have
done the same thing, but we are not sure." A year
and a half after the blow was struck something happened
which again threw the timid Charles into a panic
about his royal Hfe. According to custom, he pre-
sented himself on November 4, 1768, on the balcony
of his palace to receive the homage of his people,
and to grant them some public favor out of his munifi-
cence. To the stupefaction of both king and court,
one universal cry arose from the vast multitude.
"Send us back the Jesuits!" Charles withdrew in
alann and immediately investigations began with the
result that he drove out of the kingdom the Cardinal
Archbishop of Toledo and his vicar on the charge
that they had prompted the demand of the people
(Coxe, " Spain imder the Bourbons," v, 25).
With regard to the supposed letter of Father Ricci
which brought on this disaster, it may be of use to
refer here to what was told thirty years after these
events, in a work called "Du retablissement des Jesuites
et de r education publique " (Emmerick, Lambert,
Rouen). The author says: "It is proper to add an
interesting item to the story of the means employed
to destroy the Society of Jesus in the mind of Charles
III. Besides the pretended letter of Father Ricci,
there were other supposititious documents, and among
these lying papers was a letter in the handwriting of
an Italian Jesuit which had been perfectly imitated.
It contained outrageous denunciations of the Spanish
government. When Clement XIII insisted on having
some proof to throw light on the allegations, this letter
was sent to him. Among those who were commissioned
to examine it, was a simple prelate, who afterwards
became Pius VI. Glancing at the missive he re-
marked that the paper was of Spanish manufacture,
and he wondered why an Italian should send to Spain
522 The Jesuits
for writing material. Looking at it closer and holding
it up to the light he saw that the water-mark gave
not only the name of a Spanish paper-factory, but also
the date on which it was turned out. Now it happened
that this date was two years after the letter was sup-
posed to have been written. The imposture was mani-
fest, but the blow had already been struck. Charles III
was living at the time, yet he was not man enough
to acknowledge and repair the wrong he had done."
(Cret'ineau -Joly, v, 241).
On the day appointed by the king, April 2, 1767,
every ship selected to carry out the edict was in the
harbor assigned to it, in every part of the Spanish
world, where there happened to be a Jesuit establish-
ment. The night before at sundown the captain had
opened the letter which had the threat on its envelope:
" Your life is forfeited if you anticipate the day or the
hour." He obeyed his instructions; and early in
the morning the Fathers in the college of Salamanca,
Saragossa, Madrid, Barcelona and all the great cities,
as well as in every town where the Jesuits had any
kind of an establishment, heard the tramp of armed
men entering the halls. The members of the house-
hold were ejected from their rooms, seals were put
on the doors, and the community marched down like
convicts going to jail. Old men and young, the sick
and even the dying, all had to go to the nearest point
of embarcation. Not a syllable were they allowed to
utter as they tramped along, and no one could speak
in their defence without being guilty of high treason.
When they reached the ships, they were herded on
board like cattle and despatched to Civita Vecchia,
to be flung on the shores of the States of the Pope, |
whose permission had not even been asked; nor had
any notice been given him. It was a magnificent
stroke of organized work, and incidentally very
Charles III 523
profitable to the government, for at one and the same
moment it came into possession of 158 Jesiiit houses,
all of considerable value as real estate and some of
them magnificent in their equipment. How much was
added to the Spanish treasury on that eventful
morning, we have no means of computing.
There was one difficulty in the proceedings, however.
The supply of ships was insufficient, for 2,643 ^^^ had
to be simultaneously cared for; but their comfort
did not interfere with the progress of the movement.
" They were piled on top of each other on the decks or
in the fetid holds," says Sismondi," as if they were crimi-
nals." It was worse than the African slave-trade.
Saint-Priest thinks " it was a trifle barbarous, but the
precipitation was unavoidable." It was indeed a trifle
barbarous and the precipitation was not unavoidable.
In rounding up the victims, the king and the ministers
were naturally anxious about the effect it might have
upon many of the best Spanish families who had
sons in the Order; notably the two Pignatellis, who
were of princely lineage. Inducements were held out
to both of them to abandon the Society, but the offer
was spumed with contempt. Indeed very few even
of the novices failed in this sore trial. As for the
Pignatellis they were the angels of this exodus, par-
ticularly Joseph, whose exalted virtue is now being
considered in Rome in view of his beatification. He
was at Saragossa when the royal order arrived, and
though suffering with hemorrhages, he started out
afoot on the weary journey to Tarragona, and from
there to Salu, nine miles further on, where nineteen
brigantines were assembled to receive this first batch
of 600 outcasts. He was so feeble that he had to be
carried on board the ship.
From there, they set sail for Civita Vecchia, where
they arrived on May 7, but were not allowed to lan4-
524 The Jesuits
Even the generally fair vSchoell describes the Pope's
action in this instance as " characterized by the greatest
inhumanity." On the contrary, it would have been an
act of the greatest inhumanity to receive them. There
were some thousands of Portuguese Jesuits there already,
who had been flung on the shore unannounced, and in
that impoverished region there was no means of
providing them with food or medicine or even clothes
and beds. To have admitted this new detachment of
600 who were merely the forerunners of 4,500 more,
and who, in turn were to be followed by all the Jesuits
whom Tanucci would drive out of the Neapolitan
Kingdom, and those whom Choiseul would hasten to
gather up in France, the result would have been that
ten or fifteen thousand Jesuits without money or
food or clothing, some of them old and decrepit and ill,
would have to be cared for and the native population
in consequence would be subjected to a burden that
would have been impossible to bear. It was " in-
human " no doubt, but the inhumanity must be
ascribed to Charles III who had plundered these
victims, and not to Clement XIII who would have
died for them. His first duty was to his own people
and his next was to proclaim to the world and to all
posterity, the grossness of the insult as well as the
injustice inflicted on the Vicar of Christ by the Most
Catholic King, Charles III. Nor were the " unhappy
wretches," as Bohmer-Monod call them, " received by
cannon shot, at the demand of their own General,
who had trouble enough with the Portuguese already
on his hands;" (p. 274) nor did the Jesuits, as Saint-
Priest adds: " vent their rage against Ricci and blame
his harsh administration, as the cause of all their
woes." Ricci was begging for bread to feed his Portu-
guese sons at that time, and he certainly would not
have received those from Spain with a cannon shot;
Charles III 525
nor would the Jesuits have vented their rage against
him and blamed his harsh administration, especially
as his administration was the very reverse of harsh;
and, finally, Jesuits were not accustomed to vent their
rage against their superior.
Sismondi (Hist, des Frangais, xxix, 372) says that
" many of them perished on board ship, and Schoell
describes them as lying on top of one another on deck
for weeks, under the scorching rays of the sun or down
in the fetid hold." The filthy ships finally turned their
prows towards Corsica where arrangements had been
made for them to discharge their human cargo. It
took four days to reach that island, but Paoli was
just then fighting for the independence of his country,
and French ships which were aiding Genoa occupied
the principal ports. At first the exiles remained in
their ships, but, later, they were allowed to go ashore
during the day. Meantime, a vessel had been de-
spatched to Spain for instructions and when it returned
on July 8, the " criminals " were ordered to go to
Ajaccio, Algoila or Calvi. They reached Ajaccio on
July 24, and as they were then in a state of semi-
starvation. Father Pignatelli went straight to the
insurgent camp, though at every step he risked being
shot or seized and hanged, but he did not care, he
would appeal to Paoli 's humanity. He was well
received, help was sent to the sufferers, and they were
given liberty to go where they chose on the island.
They remained there a month and were then sent
to the town of Saint-Boniface, where they bivouacked
or lived in sheds until the 8th of December, when they
were ordered to Genoa. This time the number of
brigantines in which they embarked had been reduced
from thirteen to five, though the number of the victims
had considerably increased; but that mattered little;
they finally reached the mainland but were not per-
526 The Jesuits
mitted to go ashore. Meantime, other Jesuits had
arrived and they now numbered 2,000 or 2,400. After
a short delay in the harbor, they made their way
separately or in groups to different cities in the Papal
States, chiefly to Bologna and Ferrara.
Their ejection from the Two Sicilies was a foregone
conclusion, for it was ruled by the terrible Bernardo
Tanucci, whom Charles III on his accession to the
throne of Spain had left as regent during the minority
of Ferdinand IV. Tanucci was a lawyer who began
his career in a most illegal fashion by exciting riots in
Pisa against his rival Grandi. They had quarrelled
about the discovery of the Pandects of Justinian. He
next drew the attention of Charles by assailing the
right of asylum for criminals, which he maintained was
in contravention of all law human and divine. " He
attacked the prerogatives of the Court of Rome and
of the nobles of Naples, with more fury than prudence,"
says de Angelis (Biographic universelle). Subse-
quently he showed himself the enemy of the Church
in every possible way, and, meantime, so neglected to
provide for the security of the State that during the
war of the Pragmatic Sanction, King Charles had to
sign an act of neutrality at the mouth of the cannons
of a British man-of-war. His political incapacity con-
tinued to injure the country during the reign of Ferdi-
nand until it was no longer reckoned among the
military powers of Europe. Meantime, he kept the
young king in ignorance of everything so as to maintain
himself in power. He robbed the courts of justice of
their power; drew up the Caroline Code which was
never published; ruined the finances of the country,
as well as its industry and agriculture, and allowed
men of the greatest ability and learning to die in
penury. In brief, says his biographer, " Tanucci 's
reputation both before and after his death is a mystery.
Charles III 527
It is probably due to his prominence as a bitter enemy
of the Holy See. He seized Beneventum and Ponte-
corvo which belonged to the Patrimony of Peter; he
suppressed a great number of convents, distributed
abbeys to his followers, fomented dissensions against
the bishops and, of course, persecuted the Jesuits."
When Charles HI of Spain expelled the Society from
Spain everyone knew what was going to happen in
Sicily, and news was eagerly expected from the pen-
insula. While they were waiting, an eruption of
Vesuvius took place, which the excitable Italians
regarded as a sign of God's wrath. Penitential
pilgrimages were organized to avert the danger and
angry murmurs were heard against the government.
To quell the tumult, Tanucci sent out word that the
Jesuits would be undisturbed, though ships were at
that time on their way to carry off the victims. The
young king's signature to the decree had, however, to
be procured, but he angrily refused to give it until
the official confessor, Latelle, the retired Bishop of
Avellino entreated him to yield, saying that he him-
self would answer for it on the Day of Judgment.
The prelate did not know that he himself was to die
at the end of the month. The expulsion took place
in the usual dramatic fashion. At midnight of
November 3, 1767, squads of soldiers descended on
every Jesuit establishment in the land. The doors were
smashed in; the furniture shattered; all the papers
seized, both official and personal, and then surrounded
by platoons of soldiers, the Fathers were led like
criminals through the streets to the nearest beach with
nothing but the clothes on their backs. The whole
affair was managed with such lightning-like rapidity,
that though the prisoners had been taken from their
houses at midnight, they were out at sea before dawn
and were heading for Ferrara.
528 The Jesuits
At Parma another Spanish prince ruled. He was
still a child, however, but his minister was du Fillot,
a statesman of the school of Tanucci and Choiseul.
The expulsion took place simultaneously on the
night of February 7, 1768 at Piacenza, Parma, San
Domino and Busseto. In the first city, all the avail-
able vehicles of the place had been requisitioned.
At seven o'clock at night a dozen soldiers entered the
house. Later, an officer, two adjutants and a magis-
trate appeared, read the decree, the fourth article of
which declared that any one not a priest or professor
who would take off the habit of the society would be
received among the faithful subjects of his royal
highness. The fifth announced that the innate clemency
of his highness accorded an annual pension of sixty
scudj to the professed and forty to the brothers who
were his subjects. The scholastics were to get nothing.
In a quarter of an hour they were hurried to the citadel
where carriages and carts were waiting and were
driven all night at top speed to Parma, where they
arrived at day break. Passing through the city they
caught up with those who had been expelled from the
other places. Half an hour's rest and a bite to eat
were allowed and then the journey was continued on to
Reggio and Bologna. Not to be outdone in zeal for
the king, the Knights of Malta drove them from the
island on April 22, 1768. The expulsion at Parma was
disastrous not only to the Jesuits but to the Pope.
Parma was his fief, and he protested against the action
of the duke. It was precisely what the plotters were
waiting for. France immediately seized the Comtat
Venaissin, and Naples took possession of Beneventum,
both of which belonged to the Patrimony of St. Peter.
Of course, the Jesuits were immediately expelled and
their property confiscated.
I
Charles III 529
The expulsion in Spanish America meant the seizure
of at least 158 estabhshments belonging to the Jesuits
in Mexico, New Granada, Ecuador, Peru and Chili.
It involved the flinging out into the world of 2,943
Jesuits, some of them old and infirm and absolutely
unable to earn their living. Of those who embarked
at Valparaiso sixty were drowned in the wreck of the
ship " Our Lady of the Hermitage." Carayon gives
some interesting diaries of the journeys of these e'xiles
(Doc. inedits, xvi), while Hubert Bancroft in his
monumental work of thirty-nine volumes about the
Pacific Coast furnishe's abundant and valuable infor-
mation about the exodus from the missions of Mexico.
The victims undeTwent the same sufferings as their
Portuguese brethren in the long journeys over mountains
and through the primeval forests and in the long,
horrible crossing of the ocean to their native land,
which they were thought unworthy to enter.
M
CHAPTER XVII
THE FINAL BLOW
Ganganclli — Political plotting at the Election — Bemis, Aranda
Aubeterre — The Zelanti — Election of Clement XIV — Renewal of
Jesuit Privileges by the new Pope — Demand of the Bourbons for a
universal Suppression — The Three Years Struggle — Fanaticism of
Charles III — Menaces of Schism — Mofiino — Maria Theresa —
Spoliations in Italy — Signing the Brief — Imprisonment of Father
Ricci and the Assistants — Silence and Submission of the Jesuits to
the Pope's Decree.
As early as 1768, the Bourbon courts let it be known
that they would make a formal demand for the sup-
pression of the Society throughout Christendom. On
January 14 of that year, Cardinal Torregiani wrote
to the papal nuncio at Madrid as follows: " His
Holiness is hon;ified at the attitude of the king, and
indignant that the demand should be accompanied
by threats to force his hand, so as to wring from him
a concession which is in violation of divine, natural
and ecclesiastical law. If any mention of it is made
to you again, dismiss immediately the person who
dares to suggest it." That stinging rebuke, however,
did not halt the stubborn Charles, and in the January
of 1769 the coalition began its attack. First came the
Spanish representative who presented himself for an
audience on the eighteenth. The Pope received him
with dignified reserve; gave expression to the intense
pain caused by the request, and then, bursting into
tears, withdrew. On the twentieth and twenty-second
respectively, Orsini, representing Naples, made his
appearance and after him Aubeterre, on behalf of
France. They were both abruptly dismissed. The
French document was especially insulting. It advised
530
The Final Blow 531
the Pope to admit the demand on the ground that It
was based on a sincere and well-informed zeal for the
progress of religion, the interest of the Roman Church,
and the peace of Christendom. The use of the ex-
pression " Roman " Church was an evident hint at
schism.
On January 25, a formal reply was sent to the three
courts, informing them that " the Pope could not
explain the deplorable audacity they had displayed in
adding to the sorrows that already overwhelmed the
Church, a new anguish the only purpose of which
was to torture the conscience and distress the soul
of His Holiness. An impartial posterity would judge
if such acts could be regarded as a new proof of that
filial love which these sovereigns boast of having for
His Holiness personally, and an assurance of that
attachment which they pretend to show for the Holy
See." On January 28, Cardinal Negroni told the
ambassadors: "You are digging the grave of the
Holy Father." The prophecy was almost immediately
fulfilled, for on February 2 Clement XHI died of a
stroke of apoplexy. He had officiated at the ceremonies
of that day, and had shown no sign of illness. The
blow was a sudden one, and there is no doubt that
this joint act of the Bourbon kings had caused his
death. De Ravignan does not hesitate to describe him
as a martyr who died in defence of the rights of the
Church. He is blamed by some for " his lack of
foresight in not yielding to the exigencies of the times."
But there were other " exigencies of the times " besides
those formulated by the men " who knew not the secrets
of God, nor hoped for the wages of justice, nor esteemed
the honor of holy souls," and the Pope's foresight
was not limited by the horizons of Pombal, Choiseul
and Charles HI. " His pontificate," as has been well
said, " affords the spectacle of a saint clad in moral
532 The Jesuits
strength, contending alone against the powers of
the world. Such a spectacle is an acquisition forever."
For it should not be forgotten that those arrayed against
him in this fight were not aiming merely at the anni-
hilation of the Society of Jesus. That was only a
secondary consideration. Their purpose was to destroy
the Church, and in its defence Pope Clement XIII
died.
A new Pope was now to be elected and the alarming
influence wielded by the statesmen of Europe in
ecclesiastical affairs now assumed proportions which
seemed to menace the destruction of the Church
itself. In his "Clement XIII et Clement XIV"
(p. 552) de Ravignan gives an extract from Theiner
which is startling. In 1769, that is before the election,
we find all the cardinals tabulated as " good;" " bad;"
"indifferent;" "doubtful;" "worst;" "null." Their
ages are given ; their characters, their political tendencies.
Among those marked " good " is Ganganelli; Rezzonico,
the nephew of Clement XIII is in the category of the
" worst;" the Cardinal of York is " null." There are
eleven who are labelled " papabili," ten to be excluded
and fourteen to be avoided. It is even settled who
is to be secretary of State. Weekly instructions in
this matter were sent from the court of Spain to its
agents at Rome, whose motto was: " nee turpe est
quod dominus jubet — nothing is base if the king orders
it." They were at that time precisely the kind of
men that the implacable Charles III needed to sustain
him in his iniquitous measure : unprincipled clerics like
Sales, or savages like Monifio, or Aspuru, who could
write: "What matter thart the charges are ncrt
proved ? The accused has been condemned. We have
not to establish his guilt." As for the flippant Bemis
and the infidel Aubeterre, they were good enough for
the royal debauchee, Louis XV. Aubeterre had been
The Final Blow 533
a soldier, was now a diplomat and had lost his faith
by contact with the revolting indecencies of the
regency, while Bemis, says Carayon, was " a dis-
tinguished type of French vanity who talked much,
schemed continually and fancied he controlled the
conclave though he was only a fly on the wheel. He
was not ashamed to admit that he owed his red hat to
la Pompadour."
Bemis' correspondence with his government is
valuable not only in showing how unscrupulous were
the methods of coercion employed but in revealing
the ultimate purpose of the conspirators, viz. the
establishment of state churches in their several king-
doms. He and de Luynes were instructed to insist
that the new Pope should: first, annul the Brief of
Clement XIH against Parma; secondly, recognize the
independent sovereignty of the Prince; thirdly, re-
linquish Avignon and the Com tat Venaissin to France,
and Beneventum to Sicily; fourthly, exile Cardinal
Torregiani, the prime minister of Clement XHI;
fifthly, completely abolish the Society of Jesus;
secularize its members, and expel Father Ricci, the
the General, from Rome. They let it be known that
there would be no backing down on these five points.
It was chiefly to secure the suppression of the
Society that the fight was to be made. The other
matters could be left, if necessary, for future adjust-
ment. If every other means failed, intimidation was
to be resorted to. Indeed, as a preparation, veiled
threats began to be heard from several quarters.
Thus, for instance, Louis XV put his name to the
following insulting letter : ' ' My sincere and constant
wish is," he said, " that the Barque of Peter should
be entrusted to a pilot who is enlightened enough to
appreciate the necessity of having the Head of the
Church remain in the most perfect harmony with all
534 The Jesuits
the sovereigns of the Roman Faith; and of being wise
enough to avoid every inconsiderate measure prompted
by indiscreet and extravagant zeal; in brief, one who
will shape his policy by the rules of moderation,
prudence and sweetness in keeping with divine wisdom
and human politics." Such language from the " Most
Christian King " was an outrage on the memory of
Clement XIII; and the words " Roman Faith "
contained, as on a previous occasion, a threat of schism.
Schoell, the Protestant historian, says that " the
formation of State Churches in the three kingdoms
was clearly the avowed purpose of these plotters."
The " Zelanti " were in the majority, but that
difficulty was soon disposed of by the veto power
which had been granted to the Catholic sovereigns.
Making full use of it, they shamelessly forbade the
consideration of any candidate who was suspected of
being unfriendly to them, with the result that the
number of eligible candidates was speedily reduced
to eleven; and as most of these latter were old or
infirm they could not be even considered by the electors.
At this point, Bemis protested against being excessive
in the eliminations. Finally there were only two
cardinals who could be considered papabili : Ganganelli
and Stoppani.
On March 7, 1769, instructions arrived from Madrid
emphatically insisting that the election of no Pope
would be recognized who would not first bind himself
to grant the five points insisted upon by the Bourbon
kings, but when the two Spanish cardinals at Rome
represented to Charles III that such a proposal to the
electors would involve serious risks, the obstinate
king insisted, nevertheless, that he would yield on
three of the points, but that he would have to exact
absolutely as a condition of election that the new Pope
would promise to cancel the previous Pontiff's action
11
The Final Blow 535
with regard to the Duke of Parma, and also suppress
the whole Society of Jesus. He wanted the conclave
to pass a decree to that effect. Even in the Parma
affair, he was willing to relent, because as Clement
XIII was dead, his ruling might be considered as
having lapsed, but as for the Society of Jesus, nothing
would satisfy him except its absolute extinction. That
much was due, he said, to the three powerful monarchs
on whom the Church depended for support. On the
other hand, as it would not be proper to compromise
the reputation of these kings by letting it be known
that such a deal was being made, for it might happen
to fail; it was thought better not to give any precise
orders, but to leave to the discretion of those who were
on the spot to determine what means should be em-
ployed for bringing about the desired results.
The project of getting a distinct decree from the
conclave in the sense of the King of Spain was
abandoned, but while the political cardinals would
not hear of exacting a written promise, the ambassadors
who were working on the outside, openly avowed that
they had no scruples about it. Indeed, Aubeterre, the
French ambassador, wrote to Choiseul in France
complaining that he and his fellow-diplomats felt hurt
that their proposal should be rejected for moral reasons,
especially as they had secretly consulted an excellent
canonist, who ruled that there would be no harm
in imposing on the new Pontiff the obligation of
fulfilling the contract inside of a year, dating from the
day of his election. Not only was it permissible, he
said, but, in the circumstances, it was imperatively
urgent for the good of the Church. " The excellent
canonist " here referred to was Azpuru, the Spanish
ambassador, but as Cardinals Orsini, Bemis and de
Luynes insisted that such a contract would be
simoniacal, they were informed that if an unacceptable
536 The Jesuits
Pope was elected there would be an immediate rupture
of relations with the Holy See and the representatives
of the three Powers would withdraw from Rome.
They were further told that it was hoped that the
fanatics, or Zyclanti, would not drive them to such
an extremity. D'Aubeterre who voiced the opinion
of his associates went so far as to say, that any election
which had not been arranged beforehand with the
court would not be recognized.
Finally, after the conclave had been in session from
February 13 to May 19, Cardinal GanganelH was
elected Pope and took the name of Clement XIV. He
was considered " acceptable," especially by Spain.
According to Cordara, however, his elevation to the
pontifical throne was not due to the influence or the
manipulations of the Spanish cardinals but was brought
about as follows: — " From the beginning of the con-
clave two or three votes were deposited in his favor, but
he was never seriously thought of as Pope. Indeed,
Cardinal Castelli, whose learning and piety gave
him great influence in the Sacred College, was strongly
opposed to him. Suddenly, however, he changed his
opinion and declared that, having considered the matter
more thoroughly, he was convinced that in the actual
circumstances, no one was better fitted for the post
than GanganelH. From that moment, those who had
been opposed to him regarded him favorably. Even
Rezzonico, the nephew of Clement XIII, who had
many reasons to vote against him said he would take
the opinion of the majority of the cardinals. Hence the
only one against him was Orsini who said that " the
Franciscan was a Jesuit in disguise." He was, there-
fore, after the fight had raged for 100 days, elected by
forty-six out of forty-seven votes. The forty-seventh
was his own, which he cast in favor of Rezzonico.
It is not true that he had made a promise to suppress
The Final Blow 537
the Society in case of election. Azpuru, the Spanish
agent, wrote on May 8: " No one has gone so far as
to propose to anyone to give a written or verbal
promise "; and after May 13, he added: " Ganganelli
neither made a promise nor refused it." Unfortu-
nately some of his written words were interpreted as
implying it.
Ganganelli was born in the town of Sant' Arcangelo,
near Rimini, on October 31, 1705, and was baptised
Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio, but took the name of
Lorenzo when he became a Conventual of St. Francis.
His life as a friar was characterized by piety and
intense application to study. He was noted for his
admiration of everything pertaining to the Society of
Jesus, and, indeed, Pope Clement XHI when making
him a cardinal said, " there is now a Jesuit in the
Sacred College in the habit of a Franciscan," But
" the purple seemed to change him," says Cordara,
" and from that out he was more reserved in his
manifestations of friendship." As Pope he was as
simple in his way of life as when living with his commu-
nity ; he was gentle, affable, kind, rarely ruffled, never
precipitate and never carried away by inconsiderate zeal.
He would have made an admirable Pope in better
times. But when he was given control of the Barque
of Peter a wild storm was sweeping over the world.
Venice, Parma, Naples, France, Spain and Portugal
were arrayed against him — some of them threatening
separation from the Church. Austria, the only Cath-
olic government that remained, observed neutrality at
first, but finally went to the wrong side. In brief,
a fierce and united anti-religious element dominated all
Catholic Europe, and the rest was Protestant.
Of course, immediately after his election, felici-
tations rained upon him, but as de Ravignan expresses
it, " they were like flowers on the head of the victim
538 The Jesuits
that was to be immolated." Indeed, even in the
congratulations harsh notes were heard, as when France
expressed its hope that the Holy See would show more
condescension to the powers than usual, and when
Spain " urgently called the attention of His Holi-
ness to certain petitions which had been presented
to him." The Spanish ambassador, Azpuru, reminded
him in the very first audience that application had
already been made to his predecessor for the suppres-
sion of the Jesuits. The representatives of France,
Portugal and Naples chanted the same dirge. Before
three months had elapsed, there was an explosion that
shook Christendom. Following an accepted custom,
the Pope issued the septennial Brief of indulgences in
favor of the missionaries " to bestow the treasures of
heavenly blessings on those who, to our knowledge,
are laboring with indefatigable zeal for the salvation
of souls. We include among these fervent apostles,
the Religious of the Society of Jesus, and especially
those whom our beloved son, Lorenzo Ricci, is to assign
this year and afterwards, in various provinces of the
Society, to that work; and we most certainly desire to
promote and increase by these spiritual favors the piety
and the active and enterprising zeal of those Religious."
It was a thunderbolt. Fierce protests were made in
Spain, Naples, Parma and France. Choiseul, who, up
to that time, had been suave in his maUce, lost his
temper completely and ordered the Ambassador Bemis
not only to make a public demand for the suppression
of the Society but to order the Pope to begin it inside of
two months. " This Pope is trifling with us," he
said; " and if he does not come to terms he can con-
sider all relations with France at an end." He became
grossly insulting and declared that " he had enough of
this monkery;" he would upset the plans of the Fra/aca;
and annDiilate his Roman finesse. " A monk was
The Final Blow 539
always a monk," he said "and it was very hard for an
Italian monk to be honest and frank in business
matters." Choiseul's varnish of courtesy had been all
rubbed off by the incident, and he wanted to know
"who were going to win in the fight? the kings or
the Jesuits? If I were amabssador at Rome," he
wrote to Bemis, " I would be ashamed to see Father
Ricci the antagonist of my master."
Bernis, Cardinal though he was, meeldy replied:
*' Of course the kings must win, but only the Pope can
make them win. However, he has to do it according to
the prescriptions of canon law, and must save his own
reputation as well as that of the clergy. Moreover,
as he is a temporal sovereign, he has to consider the
courts of Vienna, Turin and Poland, and all that takes
[ time. Personally, he means to keep the promise already
^ given to the three crowns to suppress the Society, and
[has shown his mind on that point by pubUc acts
against the Fathers. He will renew the promise
explicitly and immediately, in a letter written in his
own hand to the King of Spain. He is not feeble or
false as you seem to think. Time will show that such
is his purpose. But, first, the way to lose the battle
with the Jesuit General is to begin now. The Pope
cannot and will not do it without preparation.
Secondly, France and Spain must agree on the time
and manner of arriving at the extinction of the Jesuits.
Thirdly, it would be wiser to restrict the suppression
to the Papal States, and not attempt it in countries
;.that are favorable to the Society. Fourthly, a good
preliminary would be to forbid the reception of novices,
as the Pope has already done in his own dominions.
Marefoschi and I put that into his head. Fifthly, I
also proposed the seizure of the archives, the appoint-
ment of a Vic 
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