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diff --git a/56414-0.txt b/56414-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bdc7101 --- /dev/null +++ b/56414-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14567 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 56414 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + +A CANDID HISTORY OF THE JESUITS + + + + + A CANDID HISTORY + OF + THE JESUITS + + BY + JOSEPH McCABE + + AUTHOR OF + "THE DECAY OF THE CHURCH OF ROME" ETC. + + LONDON + EVELEIGH NASH + 1913 + + + + +PREFACE + + +It is the historic custom of the Church of Rome to enlist in its +service monastic or quasi-monastic bodies in addition to the ordinary +clergy. In its hour of greatest need, at the very outbreak of the +Reformation, the Society of Jesus was formed as one of these auxiliary +regiments, and in the war which the Church of Rome has waged since +that date the Jesuits have rendered the most spirited and conspicuous +service. Yet the procedure of this Society has differed in many +important respects from that of the other regiments of the Church, and +a vast and unceasing controversy has gathered about it. It is probable +that a thousand times, or several thousand times, more books and +pamphlets and articles have been written about the Jesuits than about +even the oldest and most powerful or learned of the monastic bodies. +Not a work of history can be opened, in any language, but it will +contain more references to the Jesuits than to all the other religious +orders collectively. But opinions differ as much to-day as they did a +hundred or two hundred years ago about the character of the Jesuits, +and the warmest eulogies are chilled by the most bitter and withering +indictments. + +What is a Jesuit? The question is asked still in every civilised +land, and the answer is a confusing mass of contradictions. The most +learned historians read the facts of their career so differently, +that one comes to a verdict expressing deep and criminal guilt, and +another acquits them with honour. Since the foundation of the Society +these drastically opposed views of its action have been taken, and +the praise and homage of admirers have been balanced by the intense +hatred of an equal number of Catholic opponents. It would seem that +some impenetrable veil lies over the history and present life of the +Society, yet on both sides its judges refuse to recognise obscurity. +Catholic monarchs and peoples have, time after time, driven the Jesuits +ignominiously over their frontiers; Popes have sternly condemned them. +But they are as active, and nearly as numerous, in the twentieth +century as in the last days of the old political world. + +No marshalling of historical facts will change the feeling of the +pronounced admirers and opponents of the Jesuits, and it would be idle +to suppose that, because the present writer is neither Roman Catholic +nor Protestant, he will be awarded the virtue of impartiality. There +seems, however, some need for an historical study of the Jesuits which +will aim at impartiality and candour. On one side we have large and +important works like Crétineau-Joly's _Histoire religieuse, politique, +et littéraire de la Compagnie de Jésus_, and a number of smaller +works, written by Catholics of England or America, from the material, +and in the spirit, of the French historian's work. Such works as +these cannot for a moment be regarded as serious history. They are +panegyrics or apologies: pleasant reading for the man or woman who +wishes to admire, but mere untruth to the man or woman who wishes to +know. Indeed, the work of M. Crétineau-Joly, written in conjunction +with the Jesuits, which is at times recommended as the classical +authority on the Society, has worse defects than the genial omission +of unedifying episodes. He makes the most inflated general statements +on the scantiest of material, is seriously and frequently inaccurate, +makes a very generous use of the "mental reserve" which his friends +advocate, and sometimes embodies notoriously forged documents without +even intimating that they are questioned. + +Such works naturally provoke an antagonistic class of volumes, in +which the unflattering truths only are presented and a false picture +is produced to the prejudice of the Jesuits. An entirely neutral +volume on the Jesuits does not exist, and probably never will exist. +The historian who surveys the whole of the facts of their remarkable +and romantic career cannot remain neutral. Nor is it merely a question +of whether the writer is a Roman Catholic or no. The work of M. +Crétineau-Joly was followed in France by one written by a zealous +priest, the Abbé Guettée, which tore its predecessor to shreds, and +represented the Society of Jesus as fitly condemned by Pope and kings. + +It will be found, at least, that the present work contains an +impartial account both of the virtue and heroism that are found in +the chronicles of the Jesuits, and the scandals and misdeeds that may +justly be attributed to them. It is no less based on the original +Jesuit documents, as far as they have been published, and the work of +Crétineau-Joly, than on the antagonistic literature, as the reader +will perceive. Whether or no it seems to some an indictment, it is +a patient endeavour to give all the facts, within the compass of the +volume, and enable the reader to form a balanced judgment on the +Society. It is an attempt to _understand_ the Jesuits: to understand +the enthusiasm and fiery attachment of one half of the Catholic world +no less than the disdain or detestation of the other, to employ the +white and the black, not blended into a monotonous grey but in their +respective places and shades, so as to afford a truthful picture of +the dramatic fortunes of the Society during nearly four centuries, and +some insight into the character of the men who won for it such ardent +devotion and such intense hostility. + + J.M. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAP. PAGE + + I. The Origin of the Society 1 + + II. The First Jesuits 27 + + III. Early Storms 55 + + IV. General Francis Borgia 80 + + V. Progress and Decay under Acquaviva 106 + + VI. The Early Jesuits in England 142 + + VII. The First Century of Jesuitism 167 + + VIII. Under the Stuarts 195 + + IX. The Struggle with the Jansenists 220 + + X. The Expulsion from Portugal and Spain 253 + + XI. The Foreign Missions 279 + + XII. In the Germanic Lands 311 + + XIII. The Suppression of the Society 334 + + XIV. The Restoration 364 + + XV. The New Jesuits 390 + + XVI. The Last Phase 424 + + Index 445 + + + + +A CANDID HISTORY OF THE + +JESUITS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE ORIGIN OF THE SOCIETY + + +In the early summer of the year 1521, some months after Martin Luther +had burned the Pope's bull at Wittenberg and lit the fire of the +Reformation, a young Basque soldier lay abed in his father's castle +at the foot of the Pyrenees, contemplating the wreck of his ambition. +Iñigo of Loyola was the youngest son in a large family of ancient +lineage and little wealth. He had lost his mother at an early date, and +had been placed by a wealthy aunt at court, where he learned to love +the flash of swords, the smile of princes, the softness of silk and of +women's eyes, and all the hard deeds and rich rewards of the knight's +career. From the court he had gone to the camp, and had set himself +sternly to the task of cutting an honourable path back to court. +Fearless in war, skilful in sport and in martial exercises, refined +in person, cheerful in temper, and ardent in love, the young noble +had seen before him a long avenue of knightly adventure and gracious +recompense. He was, in 1521, in his thirtieth year of age, or near +it--his birth-year is variously given as 1491 or 1493; a clean-built, +sinewy little man, with dark lustrous eyes flashing in his olive-tinted +face, and thick black hair crowning his lofty forehead. And a French +ball at the siege of Pampeluna had, at one stroke, broken his leg and +shattered his ambition. + +It took some time to realise the ruin of his ambition. The chivalrous +conquerors at Pampeluna had treated their brave opponent with +distinction, and had, after dressing his wounds, sent him to the Loyola +castle in the Basque provinces, where his elder brother had brought the +surgeons to make him fit for the field once more. The bone, they found, +had been badly set; it must be broken again and re-set. He bore their +operations without a moan, and then lay for weeks in pain and fever. +He still trusted to return to the camp and win the favour of a certain +great lady--probably the daughter of the Dowager-Queen of Naples--whose +memory he secretly cherished. Indeed, on the feast of the Apostles +Peter and Paul, he spoke of it with confidence; he told his brother +that the elder apostle had entered the dark chamber and healed him on +the eve of the festival. Unhappily he found, when the fever had gone, +that the second setting of his leg had been so ill done that a piece +of bone projected below the knee, and the right leg was shorter than +the left. Again he summoned the mediæval surgeons and their appalling +armoury, and they sawed off the protruding piece of bone and stretched +his leg on a rack they used for such purposes; and not a cry or curse +came from the tense lips. But the right leg still refused to meet its +fellow, and shades gathered about Iñigo's glorious prospect of life. A +young man who limps can hardly hope to reach a place of honour in the +camp, or the gardens of the palace, or the hearts of women. Talleyrand, +later, would set out on his career with a limp; and Talleyrand would +become a diplomatist. + +Iñigo lay in the stout square castle of rugged stone, which is now +reverently enclosed, like a jewel, in a vast home of the Jesuits. It +then stood alone in a beautiful valley, just at the foot of the last +southern slopes of the Pyrenees, about a mile from the little town +of Azpeitia. The mind of the young Basque heaved with confused and +feverish dreams as he lay there, in the summer heat, beside the wreck +of his ambition. He called for books of knight-errantry, to while +away the dreary days, but there were none in the Loyola castle, and +someone--a pious sister, perhaps--brought him a _Life of Christ_ and a +_Flowers of the Saints_. For lack of anything better he read them: at +first fingering the leaves with the nearest approach to disdain that a +Christian soldier dare admit, then starting with interest, at length +flushing with enthusiasm. What was this but another form of chivalry? +Nay, when you reflected, it was the only chivalry worth so fierce a +devotion as his. Here was a way of winning a fair lady, the Queen of +Heaven, whose glances were worth more than the caresses of all the +dames in Castile: here was a monarch to serve, whose court outshone +the courts of France and Spain as the sun outshines the stars: here +were adventures that called for a higher spirit than the bravado of the +soldier. + +The young Basque began to look upon a new world from the narrow windows +of the old castle. Down the valley was Azpeitia, and even there one +could find monsters and evil knights to slay in the cause of Mary. +Southward were the broad provinces of Spain, full of half-converted +Moors and Jews and ever-flourishing vices. Across the hills and the +seas were other kingdoms, calling just as loudly for a new champion of +God and Mary. One field, far away at the edge of the world, summoned +him with peremptory voice; after all the Crusades the sites in the Holy +Land were still trodden by the feet of blaspheming Turks. The blood +began to course once more in the veins of the soldier. + +During the winter that followed his friends noticed that he was +making a wonderful chronicle of the lives of Christ and His saints. +He was skilled in all courtly accomplishments--they did not include +learning--and could write, and illuminate very prettily, sonnets to +the secret lady of his inner shrine. Now he used his art to make a +pious chronicle, with the words and deeds of Christ in vermilion and +gold, the life of Mary in blue, and the stories of the saints in the +less royal colours of the rainbow, and his dark pale face was lit by a +strange light. There were times when this new light flickered or faded, +and the fleshly queen of his heart seemed to place white arms about +him, and the sunny earth fought with the faint vision of a far-off +heaven. Then he prayed, and scourged himself, and vowed that he would +be the knight of Christ and Mary; and--so he told his followers long +afterwards--the heavy stone castle shook and rumbled with the angry +passing of the demon. He told them also that he had at the time a +notion of burying himself in the Carthusian monastery at Seville, and +sent one to inquire concerning its way of life; but such a design is so +little in accord with his knight-errant mood that we cannot think he +seriously entertained it. + +By the spring the struggle had ended and Ignatius--he exchanged his +worldly name for that of a saint-model--set out in quest of spiritual +adventure. The "sudden revolution," as Crétineau-Joly calls his +conversion, had occupied about nine months. Indeed, friends and foes +of the Jesuits have conspired to obscure the development of his +feelings: the friends in order that they may recognise a miracle in +the conversion, the foes in order that they may make it out to have +been no conversion at all, but a transfer of selfish ambition from the +camp to the Church. Whatever be the truth about Iñigo's earlier morals, +he had certainly received a careful religious education in boyhood, +and he would just as certainly not learn scepticism at the court set +up by Ferdinand and Isabella. His belief that he had a vision of St. +Peter, a few weeks after receiving his wound and before he read the +pious books, shows that he had kept a vivid religious faith in the +camp. Some looseness of conduct would not be inconsistent with this, +especially in Spain, but the darker descriptions of his adolescent ways +which some writers give are not justified. "He was prone to quarrels +and amatory folly," is all that the most candid of his biographers +says. Let us grant the hot Basque blood a quick sense of honour and a +few love-affairs. On the whole, Iñigo seems to have been an officer of +the stricter sort, and a thorough Catholic. Hence we can understand +that, as earth grows dark and cheerless for him, and the casual reading +brings before him in vivid colouring the vision of faith, his fervent +imagination is gradually won, and he sincerely devotes his arms to the +service of Christ and Mary. + +Piously deceiving his brother as to his destination, he set out on a +mule in the month of March. He would go to the shrine of Our Lady at +Montserrat, to ask a blessing on his enterprise, and then cross the +sea to convert the Mohammedans in Palestine. His temper is seen in an +adventure by the way. He fell in with one of the Moors who had put on a +thin mantle of Christian profession in order that they might be allowed +to remain in Spain, and talked to him of Our Lady of Montserrat. Being +far from the town and the ears of Inquisitors, the Moor spoke lightly +of the Mother of Christ, and, when the convert showed heat, fled at +a gallop. Ignatius wondered, with his hand on his sword, whether or +no his new ideal demanded that he should follow and slay the man. He +left the point to God, or to his mule, and was taken on the road to +Montserrat. + +At last he came to the steep mountain, with saw-like peaks, which rises +out of the plain some twenty miles to the north-west of Barcelona, with +the famous shrine of the Virgin on its flank. In the little town of +Iguelada, at the foot of the mountain, he bought the rough outfit of a +pilgrim--a tunic of sackcloth, a rope-girdle, a pair of rough sandals, +a staff, and a gourd--and made his way up the wild slopes, among the +sober cypresses, to the Benedictine monastery which guarded the shrine. +For three days he knelt at the feet of one of the holiest of the monks, +telling, with many tears, the story of his worldly life. Then he went +again to the town, took aside a poor-clad beggar, as Francis of Assisi +had done in his chronicle, and exchanged garments with him, putting the +sackcloth tunic over his rags. It was the eve of the great festival of +Mary, the Annunciation (March 25th), and he spent the night kneeling +before the altar, as he had read of good knights doing before they +took the field. In the morning he hung his sword in the shrine and set +forth. From that moment we shall do well to forget that Ignatius had +been a soldier, and seek some other clue to his conduct. + +The next step in his journey toward Rome is described at great length +in lives of the saint, yet it is not wholly intelligible. Instead of +going to Barcelona, where one took ship, he went to Manresa, and his +pilgrimage was postponed for nearly a year. He did not take the high +road to Barcelona, says his biographer, lest he should meet the people +coming to the shrine: a theory which would not only require another +theory to explain it, but which gives no explanation of the year's +delay. Others think that he heard there was plague in the port; though +the plague would not last a year, and one may question if Ignatius +would flee it. The truth seems to be that the idea of spending his +life in the East was already yielding in his mind to another design: +the plan of forming a Society was dimly breaking on him. He had studied +the monastic life in the Benedictine monastery at Montserrat, and had +brought away with him a book, written by one of their abbots, over +which he would brood to some purpose. He had a vague feeling that the +appointed field of adventure might be Europe. + +However that may be, he took a road that led away from Barcelona, and +as he limped and suffered, for he had discarded the mule and would +make his pilgrimage afoot, he asked where he could find a hospital (in +those days a mixture of hostel and hospital). He was taken to Manresa, +a picturesque little town in one of the valleys of the district, where +he lodged in the hospital for a few days, and then, instead of going to +Barcelona, found an apartment and became a local celebrity. The beggar +to whom he had given his clothes had, naturally, been arrested, and +Ignatius was forced to tell his strange story, in order to clear the +man and himself. The story grew as it passed from mouth to mouth, and +it was presently understood that the dirty, barefoot, ill-clad beggar, +who asked a little coarse bread at the doors, and retired to pray +and scourge himself, was one of the richest grandees of the eastern +provinces. Children followed "Father Sackcloth" about the streets; men +sneered at his uncut nails and his long, wild black locks and thin +face; women wept, and asked his prayers. + +After a few months he found a cavern outside the town, at the foot +of the hills, and entered upon the period of endless prayer and wild +austerity in which he wrote his book, the _Spiritual Exercises_. He +scourged himself, until the blood came, three times a day: he ate so +little, and lived so intense a life, that he was sometimes found +unconscious on the floor of the cave, and had to be removed and nursed; +his deep black eyes seemed to gleam from the face of a corpse. Thus he +lived for six months, and wrote his famous book. I need not analyse +that passionate guide to the spiritual life, or consider the legend of +its miraculous origin. We know from Benedictine writers that Ignatius +had received at Montserrat a copy of the _Exercitatorium_ of their +abbot Cisneros, and anyone familiar with Catholic life will know that +similar series of "meditations" are, and always have been, very common. +There is an original plan in Ignatius's book, and the period during +which the mind must successively brood over sin and hell, virtue and +heaven, Christ and the devil, is boldly extended to four weeks. These +are technicalities;[1] the deeply original thing in the work is its +intensity, and for the source of this we need only regard those six +months of fierce inner life in the cave near Manresa. + +In later years Ignatius claimed that the general design of his Society, +and even the chief features of its constitution, were revealed to +him in that cavern. "I saw it thus at Manresa," he used to say when +he was asked why such or such a feature was included. In this he is +clearly wrong. His Society was, in essence and details, a regiment +enlisted to fight Protestantism, and Ignatius certainly knew nothing +of Protestantism as a formidable menace to the Pope's rule in 1522; +one may doubt if he was yet aware of the existence of Luther. We may +conclude again that he had in mind a vague alternative to his mission +to the Mohammedans. Those who are disposed to believe that the Society +of Jesus was in any definite sense projected by him at Manresa will +find it hard to explain why for five years afterwards he still insisted +that his mission was to the Turks. + +In January 1523 he set out for Barcelona, trimming his nails, combing +and clipping his hair, and exchanging his sack for clothes of coarse +grey stuff. He did not wish to attract too much attention, he said. He +was detained a few weeks at Barcelona, and begged his bread, and served +the poor and the sick, in the way which was to become characteristic of +the early Jesuits. On Palm Sunday he entered Rome, lost in a crowd of +other pilgrims and beggars, and from there he walked on foot to Venice, +whence he sailed in July. Within six months he was back in Venice. The +Franciscan monks who controlled the Christian colony at Jerusalem had +sent him home very quickly, fearing that his indiscreet fervour would +lead to trouble with the Turks. The whole expedition was Quixotic, if +it was really meant to be more than a pilgrimage, as Ignatius knew not +a word of any language but Basque and Castilian. He returned to Venice +in a thin ragged coat, his legs showing flagrantly through his tattered +trousers, and in this guise he crossed on foot to Genoa, in hard wintry +weather. By the end of February he was again in Barcelona. + +For several years yet Ignatius will continue to speak of the conversion +of the Turks as his chief mission, but his actions suggest that the +alternative in his mind was growing larger. The year's experience had +taught him that the knight of the Lord needed education, and he sat +among the boys at Barcelona learning the Latin grammar and startling +them by rising into literal ecstasies over the conjugation of the verb +"to love." He now dressed in neat plain clothes, but begged his bread +on the way to school and took every occasion to preach the gospel. +Once, when he had converted a loose community of nuns, the fast young +men of Barcelona, who were angry at this interference with their +pleasures, sent their servants to waylay him. They nearly killed him +with their staves. Many jeered at him as a hypocrite or a fanatic: many +revered him, and a few youths became his first disciples. With three of +these he went, after two years' study in Barcelona, to the University +of Alcalà, and began his higher studies. But he was so eager to make an +end of this intellectual preparation, and so busy with saving souls and +gaining proselytes, that he tried to take simultaneously the successive +parts of the stately mediæval curriculum, and learned very little. + +His first attempt to found a Society also ended in disastrous failure. +Opinion in Alcalà was divided about "the sackcloth men." Some +picturesque figures were known in the religious life of Spain, but no +one had yet seen such a thing as this little band of youths, led by a +pale and worn man of thirty-two, who went barefoot from house to house, +begging their bread, and passed from the schools in the evening to +the hospitals or the homes of the poor, or stood boldly in the public +squares and told sinners to repent. It was an outrage on the dignity +of ecclesiastical life, and so they were denounced to the Inquisition, +and two learned priests were sent from Seville to examine them. Mystics +were hardly less obnoxious to the Inquisition than secret Jews and +Moors, and then there was this new device of Satan which was said to +be spreading in Germany. Ignatius and his grey-coated young preachers +were arrested and brought before the terrible tribunal. Their doctrine +was found to be sound, but they were forbidden to wear a uniform dress +and were ordered to put shoes on their feet. They dyed their coats +different colours, and returned to their work; as Jesuits have often +done since. + +Four months afterwards, the officers of the Inquisition fell on them +again and put them in prison. Among the women who sought the spiritual +guidance of Ignatius were some ladies of wealth, who wished to follow +his example. It is said that he did not consent, and they set out, +against his will, to beg their bread and tend the sick. This was too +much for respectable folk in Alcalà, and Ignatius was closely examined +to see whether he was not a secret Jew, since Christians did not do +these things. The inquiry ended in the companions being ordered to +dress as other students did, and to forbear preaching for four years. +It is important to notice how from the first Ignatius, relying on his +inner visions, will not bend to any authority if he can help it. He +and his youths walked to Salamanca, and resumed their ways, but the +eye of the Inquisition was on them, and they were imprisoned again. +The authorities now fastened on them a restriction which may puzzle a +layman: they were forbidden to attempt to distinguish between mortal +and venial sin until their theological studies were completed. It +meant, in practice, that they must not disturb the gay sinners of Spain +with threats of hell, and for the time it entirely destroyed the design +of Ignatius. His disciples fell away, and Ignatius fled to a land where +there were no Inquisitors. He crossed the Pyrenees and went the whole +length of France on foot. + +The seven years which he spent at Paris were of the greatest importance +in the life of Ignatius. Of his studies little need be said. He now +took the university courses in proper succession, and won his degree +in 1534. But these studies were only a means to an end, and he never +became a scholar. He discarded books, wrote a very poor Latin, and took +long to master Italian. For secular knowledge he had a pious disdain. +His followers were to be learned just in so far as it was needed to +capture and retain the control of youth and promote the authority of +the Pope. The chief interest of the long stay in Paris is that he there +founded his Society, and the manner of its foundation is of great +importance. + +He had not been long at the University before his strange ways set +up the usual conflict of opinion. Was he a hypocrite, or a fool, or +a saint? From the youths who took the more complimentary view of his +ways he picked out a few to form the little band of disciples he was +always eager to have, and put them through the Spiritual Exercises. +They came out of this fiery ordeal in heroic temper, sold their little +possessions, and began to beg their bread; to the extreme indignation +of their friends in the Spanish colony. In order to save time for +study, Ignatius used to go to the Low Countries in the holidays and +beg funds for his "poor students" among the Spanish merchants. One +year--the year before Henry VIII. set up the Church of England--he went +to London, but we know only that the city was very generous to him. On +these alms Ignatius and his disciples maintained their life of prayer, +austerity, and philanthropy, living in one of the colleges among the +other students and angling prudently for souls. The irritation against +Ignatius among the Spaniards became so great that the Rector was +persuaded to inflict on him a public flogging, the last disgrace of an +unpopular student. He was not flogged, however; nor is there anything +really miraculous, as some think, in the Rector's change of mind. +Ignatius feared the effect on his disciples and had a private talk with +the Rector before the appointed hour. He had a marvellous power of +persuasion and penetration. + +These earlier followers seem in time to have fallen away, or never +been admitted to his secret designs, and it was not until 1530 that he +began to gather about him the men whose names have been inscribed in +the history of Europe. In 1530 Ignatius shared his room with a gentle +and deeply religious youth from Savoy, Peter Favre, a peasant's son who +had already won the doctor's cap and priestly orders, as pious as he +was clever. He had made a vow of chastity in his thirteenth year, and +was now, in his twenty-fifth year, as eager to keep a clean conscience +as to advance in learning. He acted as philosophical coach to Ignatius. +From Aristotle and Aquinas they passed, in their nightly talk, to other +matters, and Favre presently made the Exercises. + +Francis Xavier, a Navarrese youth of high birth, was a friend of Favre, +and, like him, a brilliant student and keen hungerer for knowledge. +He was a young man of great refinement, and his large soft blue eyes +looked with disdain on the eccentricities of Ignatius; he was not a +little vain of his learning, his handsome person, and his skill in +running. Who but Ignatius could have seen the Francis Xavier of a later +day, wearing out his life in the conversion of savages, in this elegant +and self-conscious scholar? Francis Thompson speaks with admiration +of the "holy wiles" by which Ignatius secured this gifted and elusive +pupil. He laid hold of him by his vanity. Xavier taught philosophy and +was ambitious to have his lecture-room full. Ignatius sat at his feet, +brought others to the lectures, and gave them generous praise. After +a time Xavier made the Exercises, and, in a secret conversation with +Ignatius, was won to the plan of devoting his life to the conversion of +the Mohammedans--or to some other religious campaign. + +One by one the early Jesuits were captured by the skilful fisher of +men. To the first two were soon added Diego Lainez, a Castilian youth +of great ability and quiet strength of character, a future General of +the Society; Alfonso Salmeron, a fiery and eloquent youth from Toledo, +then in his twentieth year, who would become one of the most learned +opponents of the Protestants; Nicholas Alfonso, from Valladolid, +commonly known, from his native village, as Bobadilla, a fearless and +impetuous fighter; and Simon Rodriguez, a handsome Spanish youth of +noble birth, who would prove an admirable courtier when kings were to +be won. Many others whom Ignatius sought refused to accept his stern +ideal, and many were kept in the outer courts of his temple, as it +were, and not admitted to share his secret design. The features of the +coming Society were singularly foreshadowed. Only these six out of all +the friends and companions of Ignatius knew anything of the great plan +which filled his mind, and not one of the six knew which of the others +were admitted, like himself, to the inner counsels of the master. Each +was initiated in the strictest confidence, and forbidden to speak of it +to his most intimate friend. It was wholly unlike the foundation of any +other religious body. + +At last, in July 1534, the six youths were permitted to know each +other as comrades in arms. It was time to discuss what form their +crusade should take, and Ignatius proposed that, after a week or +two of increased austerity and prayer, they should make the vow +of self-dedication and decide upon their future. There is the +characteristic impress of Ignatius on every feature of the enterprise. +The ceremony was not to be in one of the churches of Paris, but +away across the meadows in the quiet little chapel of St. Denis on +Montmartre; in fact, in the crypt underneath the chapel. And on August +15th they went out from the city gates in the early morning for what +proved to be the historic foundation of the Society of Jesus. Paris was +still, at that time, a comparatively narrow strip of town on either +bank of the Seine centring upon the island which bore the cathedral and +the palace. A mile or two of meadows and vineyards lay between it and +the green hill of Montmartre, on the slope of which was the old chapel +of St. Denis. Underneath the choir was a small vault-like chapel, and +in this, on the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, the little band +of fervent southerners gathered to hear Peter Favre, the only priest +amongst them, say the Mass of the Virgin. At its close they knelt in +turns before the altar, and each vowed that he would live in poverty +and chastity, and either go out to convert the Turks or go wherever +the Pope should direct. No rumbling of angry devils was heard on this +occasion: the life of Paris flowed on its sparkling way; yet there was +born in that dim vault on that August morning one of the most singular +and formidable forces in the religious life of Europe. + +The Society of Jesus was thus formed, though the seven men did not +know it, or adopt any corporate name. They broke their fast and spent +the day on the slope of the hill, elated with the joy of brotherhood +and the promise of mighty enterprise, talking of the adventurous +future. What should be the next step? Again we find the stamp of the +peculiar genius of Ignatius on their decision: the features which would +degenerate into what is called Jesuitry in the hearts and minds of +less sincerely religious men. They were to return to their studies, +their philanthropy, and their secrecy, for two years, and they would +meet at Venice at the beginning of 1537. Ignatius never hurried. He +lived as if he intended to quit the world very speedily; he acted as +if he were assured of long life. He was founding a body whose supreme +and distinctive aim should be to serve the Pope, yet he concealed his +work from the Pope's representatives as carefully as if he were really +forming an auxiliary troop for Martin Luther. Let it be carefully +noted, too, that they vowed either to go to Palestine _or_ to serve +the Pope in some other way appointed by him. It seems clear that, if +Ignatius had not already abandoned the idea of a mission to the Turks, +he held it lightly. In Paris he had learned that the spirit of the +Reformation was spreading over Europe as fire spreads over a parched +prairie. Men talked much of Luther and Calvin, little of Mohammed. + +They returned to their colleges and their hospitals for two years, +and were known to their companions only as monks who were too ascetic +to enter a monastery. Ignatius practised fearful austerities, and his +followers fasted and scourged themselves. Xavier looked back with such +contrition on his former fame as a runner that he tied cords round +his legs until they bit into the flesh and caused a dangerous malady. +Probably the long delay was proposed by Ignatius in the hope that he +might add to the number of his followers, but he found no more at Paris +worthy or willing to be initiated; though three--Le Jay, Paschase +Brouet, and Codure--were added after his departure. He had gone to +Spain in the spring of 1535. Those of the youths who had property to +sacrifice had talked of going to Spain to arrange their affairs, but +Ignatius took the work on himself. His health was poor, he said, and +he would try his native air; he was also eager to keep them from their +native air and disapproving families. In March he walked afoot from +Paris to Loyola, begging his bread by the way. + +The report of his life had reached the quiet valley at the foot of +the Pyrenees, and he found his brother and many admirers waiting in +the last stage of his journey. He remained three months in Azpeitia, +and, as no one could now interfere with his fiery preaching, he urged +his townsmen to repent and startled the province. His sanctity was now +beyond question, because a woman had recovered the use of a withered +arm by washing his linen. Then he arranged the affairs of his disciples +and went to Venice. Here Hozes and the Eguia brothers were added to the +secret fraternity, and a year was spent in tending the sick and other +work of edification. The year 1537 broke at last, and in its first week +the six disciples, worn and ragged from the long journey, joined their +master. Walking in demure pairs, a staff in one hand and a chaplet in +the other, begging their bread and exhorting all they met to virtue +and repentance, the six learned students of the Paris University had +covered afoot, in the depth of winter, the hundreds of miles that lay +between Paris and Venice; flying before the advances of bold women, +beaming under the abuse of the new heretics, facing the Alps more +bravely than a Hannibal or a Napoleon. Strong efforts had been made to +keep them at Paris. Why abandon their precious work at the University +for an unknown world? They had a secret vow, they said; though they +probably had little more idea than Ignatius of going to Palestine. None +of them learned Arabic or Turkish, or studied the Koran: what they did +learn was the Catholic doctrine assailed by the followers of Luther. + +For a month or two the strange missionaries mystified and edified +Venice. It was known that some of them were nobles, and all brilliant +scholars, yet they performed the most repulsive offices for the sick, +and at times put their mouths to festering wounds. Cardinal Caraffa, +a stern Neapolitan reformer, asked Ignatius to join the new Theatine +order which he had just founded, and Ignatius replied that they had +vowed to go to Palestine. They would remember their refusal when +Caraffa became Pope. At last, in the middle of Lent, Ignatius sent his +followers to Rome to ask the Pope's blessing on their mission. He would +not go himself, as he feared the enmity of Caraffa and of the Spanish +envoy Ortiz, who had opposed them at Paris. There was, in fact, little +danger of Ignatius going without the Pope's blessing, as a new war with +the Turk had broken out, and it would not be unjust to conclude that +the real object of Ignatius was to bring his little troop to the notice +of Paul III. Ortiz himself procured them an audience, and they received +the papal blessing to accompany them to Palestine--if they could get +there, the Pope lightly said. It is singular that Ignatius, after +waiting so long, should choose a time for their departure when the seas +were closed against them. + +They were ordained priests at Venice, and then they scattered over +Northern Italy, to allow a year's grace to the Palestinian mission +and let other cities see their ways. Bologna, Ferrara, Siena, and +Padua--all university towns--now witnessed the strange labours of the +nameless knights of Christ. The years were not far distant when men +would start with suspicion at the coming of a "Jesuit" and wonder +what dark intrigue brought him amongst them, but in those early days +they seemed the plainest and most guileless of ministers. Two soberly +dressed, barefooted youths, their pale faces warmed by the smile which +the master bade them wear under the eyes of men, would enter the gate +one evening, covered with the dust of long roads, and mount some stone +in the busy street or square; and, when men and women gathered round +to see the tricks of these foreign jugglers or tumblers, they would be +startled to hear such fiery preaching as had not been heard in Italy +since the fresh spring-time of the followers of Francis and Dominic. +Then the preachers would beg a crust of bread and a cup of water, and +ask for the hospital, where they might serve the sick. They had no +name, the inquirer learned, and belonged to no monastic body; they +were simple knights-errant in the cause of Christ and the poor. The +one feature by which they might, to some close observer, have given an +inkling of the future was that they hung about the universities and +impressed youths with their learning; or that, while they served the +poor, they were pleased to direct the consciences of noble and wealthy +women. Yet who would suppose that within twenty years these men would +be intriguing for the control of the universities and shaping the +counsels of kings? + +Ignatius, Favre, and Lainez went to Vicenza, and found a lodging in a +ruined monastery near the town. From this they went out daily to beg, +and tend the sick, and startle townsfolk and villagers with explosive +exhortations, in broken Italian, to lay aside their sins. Again the +Inquisition summoned them, and dismissed them. At last, when it was +clear that the road to the East was indefinitely closed, Ignatius +called his followers from their several towns, and a council was held +in the old convent. The events of these early days are known to us +only from Jesuit writers of the next generation, and, discarding only +the miracles with which they unnecessarily adorn the ways of their +founders, we may follow them with little reserve. These men were, +beyond question, in deadly earnest, though we shall see that some of +them sheltered little human frailties under their hair-shirts. But it +is quite plain that, however high and pure their aim was, they formed +and carried their plans with a diplomacy, almost an astuteness, of +which you will not find a trace in the founding of any other monastic +body. One monastic virtue is conspicuously absent from the aureole of +St. Ignatius--holy simplicity. + +It was decided that Ignatius, Favre, and Lainez should go to Rome, and +the others should return to work in their university cities until they +were called to Rome. Before they parted, however, they gave themselves +a name, since people demanded one. We are, said Ignatius, the "Compañia +de Jesu," the "Company of Jesus"; although the prose of a later +generation has translated it the "Society of Jesus." Then Xavier and +Bobadilla went to Bologna, Rodriguez and Le Jay to Ferrara, Salmeron +and Brouet to Siena, Codure and Hozes to Padua, to tend the sick, and +instruct the children, and angle for recruits; and Ignatius and his +companions went on foot, in the depth of winter, to Rome. + +Paul III. occupied the papal throne in the year 1537, and looked with +troubled eyes to the lands beyond the Alps, where the Reformation was +now in full blast. He was by temperament a Pope of the Renaissance, +a man of genial culture and artistic feeling, a man who owed his +elevation to his sister's intimacy with a predecessor, and who +might, if the age had not turned so sour, have carried even into the +papal apartments the graceful vices of his youth. But there was now +no mistaking the roll of the distant thunder; Rome was sobered and +disposed to put its house in order. Paul, knowing that the appalling +corruption of the Vatican, the clergy, and the monks must cease, or +else the Vatican and clergy and monks would cease, had appointed a +commission of the sterner cardinals to examine Luther's indictment of +his Church, and one of the clearest points of agreement was that the +unquestioned degradation of the monks throughout Christendom must be +severely punished. The general feeling was that most, if not all, of +the monastic orders should be suppressed. It was therefore a peculiarly +inopportune time to propose the establishment of a new order. Was +Ignatius more holy than Benedict, or Bruno, or Francis, or Dominic? And +had not every order that had yet been founded fallen into evil ways +within fifty years? + +Ignatius was not more holy than Dominic and Francis, but he was +shrewder and more alert to the circumstances. He did not propose to +rush into the presence of Paul III. He and his companions settled at +the Spanish hospital, and began to tend the sick and instruct the +children. They began also to have influential admirers. "Let us," +Ignatius had said, as they entered Rome, "avoid all relations with +women, except those of the highest rank." In later years he said +of their early work at Rome: "We sought in this way to gain men of +learning and of position to our side--or, to speak more correctly, to +God's side." This identification of "our" side and God's is the clue +to early Jesuitism. Men who were convinced of it might be intensely +earnest and unworldly, yet act as if they were ambitious. In fact, +they were ambitious to win the wealthy and powerful--Ignatius says it +repeatedly--"for the greater glory of God." And the work went forward +with great speed. They received a poor little house in a vineyard at +the foot of the Pincian Hill, and went out daily to minister and to +edify. One of their first friends was Codacio, a wealthy and important +official of the papal court. The better disposition of Ortiz, the +Spanish envoy, was also encouraged. Ignatius put him through the +Exercises in the old Monte Cassino Abbey, and, when the strain nearly +drove him mad, entertained him by performing some of the old Basque +dances: a subject for a painter, if ever there was. After a time the +Pope received Ignatius very affably, encouraged him to preach, and +found academic chairs for Favre and Lainez. Within a month or two +Ignatius had made so much progress that Roman gossip marked him as an +intriguer for the red hat, which he was not wealthy enough to buy. + +Within four months, or at Easter 1538, Ignatius summoned the whole of +his followers to Rome. The poor little house in a vineyard was now +too small, and Codacio gave them a large house in the Piazza Margana. +From this they went out daily to beg and teach and preach, and to +visit "ladies of the highest rank." These eleven eloquent and learned +preachers, these nobles who begged their bread and washed verminous +invalids, soon divided the Roman world into ardent admirers and ardent +critics. An Augustinian friar, in particular, opened fire on them from +his pulpit. Ignatius was "a wolf in sheep's clothing," he insisted; let +people inquire at Alcalà, and Salamanca, and Paris, and Venice, and see +whether he was not wanted by the Inquisition here and there. Friends +at the Vatican were reminded that this sort of thing interfered with +their good work, and the Pope was induced to inquire into the charges; +but even the Pope's acquittal of them did not silence their critics, +and for a time they bore much poverty and anxiety. Half of Rome, if +not half of Catholicism, hated the Jesuits from their first year; and +it would be absurd to think that this was due to their fervour in +denouncing sin. It was due in a very large measure to the diplomatic +character of the work of Ignatius, which we perceive so clearly even in +the discreet narratives of the early Jesuit historians. + +The infant Society was delivered from its perils by returning from +the cultivation of the rich and powerful to the service of the weak +and powerless. We shall constantly find the fortunes of the early +Jesuits vacillating according as they practise one or other of these +incongruous activities, and we can quite understand that their critics +came to see an element of calculation even in their philanthropy. By +their brave ministration to the poor they win the favour of the rich: +by the favour of the rich they rise to political and educational work, +and the poor are almost forgotten until some epidemic of criticism +threatens their very existence. It is quite useless to deny that there +was calculation in their humbler ministration when we find Ignatius +admitting it from the outset; yet it would be equally untrue to deny +that they served the poor with a sincere and often heroic humanity, and +that the favour and power they trusted to obtain by doing so were not +sought for their personal profit, but for the better discharge of what +they conceived to be a high mission. + +So it was in the winter which closed the year 1538, in which their +project ran some risk of being buried under the stones of their +critics. The terrible cold of that winter led to a famine in Rome, +and the followers of Ignatius spent day and night in relieving the +sufferers and begging alms for them. Their house in the Piazza +Margana was converted into a hospital, and no less than four hundred +destitute men found a home in it. The sympathy of the pious slowly +returned to them. "So happy a diversion had to be put to account," says +Crétineau-Joly, and Ignatius began to draw up the rules of his Society +for presentation to the Pope. Night by night the eleven priests sat +in council to determine the broad features of their association: to +say, especially, if they would add a vow of obedience to their vows of +poverty and chastity and thus become a monastic body. In April they +decided that they would have a Superior and vow obedience to him; in +May they resolved to adopt that masterpiece of the "holy wiles" of +Ignatius, the most distinctive and most serviceable feature of the +Society--the vow to put themselves at the direct disposal of the Pope. +Naturally there was, and is, no religious body in the Catholic Church +whose members would not leap with alacrity to obey any order of the +Pope, and think it an honour to be selected for such a distinction; +indeed, we shall see that no other religious ever ventured to defy or +evade the commands of Popes as Jesuits have done. But we must observe +how happily this parade of obedience fitted the circumstances. The +Pope had entered upon a war against half of Christendom. Heresy was, +like an appalling tide, invading even his southern dominions, and it +was inevitable that he should be attracted by the proposal to put at +his service a body of men of high culture and heroic purpose, who +would be ready, at a word, to fly to a threatened point, to penetrate +in disguise into the lands of the heretics, to whisper in the ears +and fathom the counsels of kings, or to bear the gospel to the new +countries beyond the seas. + +This was the beginning of the famous Jesuit Constitutions, which +were not completed and printed until 1558. A short summary of their +proposals was handed by Ignatius, in September, to Cardinal Contarini, +who would present it to the Pope. It was read and approved by one of +the Pope's monk-advisers, and Contarini then read it himself to Paul +III. "The finger of God is here," the Pope is reported to have said, +and he appointed three cardinals to examine the document with care. +Unfortunately for Ignatius, one of the three, Cardinal Guiddiccioni, +was so disgusted with the state of the monastic orders that he would +not even read the document. It seemed to him preposterous to add to +their number at a time when their corruption was ruining the Church. +In that sense he and his colleagues reported to the Pope, and Ignatius +betook himself, by prayer and good works, to a strenuous assault upon +the heavens, that some miracle might open the eyes of the cardinal. +And about a year later, the Jesuit historians say, the hostility of +Guiddiccioni was miraculously removed. He read the document, and was +enchanted with it; and on 27th September 1540 the bull "Regimini +militantis Ecclesiae" placed the Society of Jesus at the service of the +Counter-Reformation. + +It need hardly be added that the "miracle" is susceptible of a natural +explanation. There is a curt statement in Orlandini, one of the first +historians of the Society, that during the year 1540 letters came to +Rome from all the towns where the followers of Ignatius had already +worked, telling the marvellous results of their preaching. Ignatius had +done much more than pray. Many a time in the course of the next few +chapters we shall find a shower of testimonial-letters falling upon a +town where there is opposition to the admittance of the Jesuits, and +they were not "unsolicited testimonials." Contarini, too, would not +lightly resign himself to defeat by his brother-cardinal. Codacio, +Ortiz, and many another, would help the work, under the discreet +guidance of Ignatius. Long before the Society was authorised, the Pope +was induced to employ the Jesuits for important missions. He had chosen +Rodriguez and Xavier, at the pressing request of the King of Portugal, +to carry the gospel to the Indies; he had sent Lainez and Favre, +at the prayer of a distinguished cardinal, to fight the growth of +Protestantism in Parma. Other members of the little group had gone to +discharge special missions, and glowing reports of their success came +to Rome. The Pope was won, and, when the Pope willed, it would hardly +need a miracle to induce Cardinal Guiddiccioni to read a document +which it was his office to read. Indeed, the statement that he refused +for twelve months to read a paper which the Pope enjoined him to read +is incredible; it was a good pretext for a change of mind, and for a +miracle. The Society of Jesus was founded on diplomacy. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: A good study of the controversy as to the indebtedness of +Ignatius to the Benedictines, and even the Mohammedans, from the point +of view of an outsider, will be found in H. Müller's _Les origines de +la Compagnie de Jésus_ (1898).] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE FIRST JESUITS + + +From this account of the influences which shaped the character of the +Society of Jesus before and during its birth we may derive our first +clue to the singular history of the Jesuits. They might not implausibly +make a proud boast of the fact that they have always borne the intense +hostility of heretics and unbelievers, but the very reason they assign +for this--their effective service to the Church--prevents them from +explaining why they have, from their foundation, incurred an almost +equal enmity on the part of a very large proportion of the monks, +priests, and laymen of their own Church. "Jealousy," they whisper; +but since no other body in the Church, however learned or active, has +experienced this peculiar critical concentration of its neighbours, we +are bound to seek a deeper explanation. There are distinctive features +of the Jesuit Society which irritate alike the pious and the impious, +the Catholic and the non-Catholic. + +We begin to perceive these features at the very birth of the Society. +Its founder has the temper of a monk, but the times will not permit +the establishment of a monastic order of the old type; a new regiment +of soldiers of the Church must engage in active foreign service, not +degenerate into fatness in domestic barracks. The success of Ignatius +was due to the fact that he had other qualities than those of the monk, +and he met the new conditions with remarkable shrewdness. It seems +to me a mistake to conceive him as a soldier above all things. He was +pre-eminently a diplomatist. He infused into the Society the energy +and fearlessness of the soldier, but he also equipped it with the +weapons of the diplomatist, or, one might say, of the secret-service +man. He was a most sincerely and unselfishly religious man, but he +used, and taught others to use, devices which the profoundly religious +man commonly disdains. The Jesuits were Jesuits from the start. It is +a truism, a fulfilment of the known command of Ignatius, that they +sought the favour of the rich and powerful; it is a fact lying on the +very surface of their history, as written by themselves, that they +accommodated their ideals to circumstances as no other religious order +had ever done in the first decades of its life; it is the boast of +their admirers that they used "holy wiles" in the attainment of their +ends. This stamp was impressed on them by inheritance from their sire +and the pressure of their surroundings. These things were consecrated +by the undoubted sincerity of the early Jesuit ideal; they wanted +power only for the service of Christ and the salvation of men. What +happened later was that the inner fire, the glow of which sanctified +these worldly manoeuvres in the mind of the first Jesuits, grew dim and +languid, and the traditional policy was developed until even crime and +vice and hypocrisy were held to be lawful if they contributed to the +power of the Jesuits. + +An examination of the rules and the activity of the early Jesuits will +make this clear. The Constitutions of the Society were not completed +by Ignatius until several years after the establishment, and they were +afterwards modified and augmented by Lainez, a less religious man than +Ignatius, but it will be useful to consider at once their distinctive +and most important features. In the main they follow the usual lines +of monastic regulations, and many points which are ascribed to the +soldier Ignatius and usually held to be distinctive of his Society are +ancient doctrines of the monastic world; such are, the duties of blind +obedience, of detachment from family and country, and of surrendering +one's personality. The famous maxim, that a Jesuit must have no more +will than a corpse, is familiar in every monastic body, and is even +found in the rules of Mohammedan brotherhoods. Some writers have +conjectured that Ignatius borrowed much from the Moorish fraternities, +but it is difficult to see how he could have any knowledge of them, and +the parallels are not important. In any case, the story of the Society +will very quickly show us that this grim theory of blind obedience and +self-suppression was not carried out in practice; even the earliest +Jesuits were by no means will-less corpses and men who sacrificed their +affections and individuality. + +Omitting points of small technical interest, I should say that the +most significant features of the Jesuit Constitutions are: the +establishment of a large body of priests (Spiritual Coadjutors) between +the novices and the professed members, the extraordinary provisions +by which a superior gets an intimate knowledge of his subjects, the +stress on the duty of teaching, the distinction between a "house" and +a "college," the deliberate recommendation to prefer youths of wealthy +or distinguished families (_cæteris paribus_) to poor youths, the +despotic power and lifelong appointment of the General, the fallacious +and imposing vow of direct obedience to the Pope, and the absence of +"choir." These primitive and fundamental features of the Society, +taken in conjunction with the special privileges which the Society +gradually wheedled from the Popes, go far toward explaining its great +material success and its moral deterioration. Some of these points need +no explanation, or have already been explained, and a few words will +suffice to show the effect of the others. + +First as to the Spiritual Coadjutors. One who aspires to enter the +Society passes two years of trial as a "novice," then takes "simple" +(or dissolvable) vows and becomes a "scholastic" (student). In the +other monastic bodies, which now have simple vows, the aspirant takes +his "solemn" (or indissoluble) vows three years afterwards, before he +becomes a priest. The peculiarity of the Jesuits is that they defer the +taking of the "solemn" vows for a considerable number of years, and +they thus have a large body of priests who are not rigidly bound to the +Society and cannot hold important office in it. This gives the General, +who has a despotic power of dismissing these Spiritual Coadjutors, a +very lengthy period for learning the intimate character of men before +they are admitted to the secrets of the Society. + +Then there is the remarkable scheme of spying, tale-bearing, and +registering by which this knowledge of men is secured. The aspirant +must make a general confession of his life to the superior, or some +priest appointed by him, when he enters the Society. He is from that +day closely observed and subjected to extraordinary tests, and a +strict obligation is laid on each to tell the faults and most private +remarks of his neighbour. The local superiors then send periodical full +reports on each man to the headquarters at Rome, where there must be +a bureau not unlike the criminal intelligence department of a great +police-centre: except that the good and the mediocre are as fully +registered as the suspects. + +The important place assigned to teaching in the programme of the +Society also leads to serious modifications of the monastic ideal. +Every order has some device or other by which it escapes the practical +inconveniences of its vow of poverty, but the Jesuits have gone beyond +all others. They have drawn a casuistic distinction between a "college" +and a "house of the professed," and have declared that the ownership of +the former is not inconsistent with their vow of poverty. The result is +that they may heap up indefinite wealth in the shape of colleges and +their revenues, yet boast of their vow of poverty. The various devices +of the monastic bodies to, at the same time, retain and disclaim the +ownership of their property are many and curious. This is the one +instance of a monastic body boldly saying that its vow is consistent +with the ownership of great wealth. Hence the mercantile spirit which +will at once spread in the Society. + +The deliberate counsel to prefer rich or noble youths to poor, when +their other qualifications are equal, is a further obvious source of +material strength and moral weakness; we shall soon find them making +wealth, or social standing, or talent, the first qualification. The +exemption from "choir" (or chanting the psalms in choir for several +hours a day) falls in the same category. When we add to these elements +of their Constitutions the extraordinary privileges they secured from +the Popes in the course of a decade or two, we have the preliminary +clues to the story of the rise and fall of the Society. They were +allowed to grant degrees in their colleges (and so ruin and displace +universities); they were declared exempt from the jurisdiction of the +local authorities, spiritual or secular; they might encroach on the +sphere of any existing monastery; and they received many other powers +which enabled them to pose as unique representatives of the Papacy. + +The tendency which we thus detect in the legislation of the Society is +equally visible in much of the personal conduct of its founder, and +soon shows its dangers in the lives of his less fervent followers. We +have seen how the sanction of the Society was secured, and we must +note that Ignatius was not more ingenuous in obtaining control of it. +The conventional account of his appointment to the office of General +is edifying. About Easter 1541 he summoned to Rome, for the purpose of +electing a General, the nine fathers who had taken the solemn vows. +Four were unable to come, but they sent, or had left at Rome, written +votes, and Ignatius was unanimously elected. He protested, however, +that he was unworthy to hold the office, and compelled them to hold +a second ballot. At this ballot he received two-thirds of the votes, +three being cast for Favre. He then consulted his confessor, and was +told to accept the office; and for several days afterwards he washed +the dishes and discharged the humblest offices. + +Orlandini naively confesses, however, that at the election Ignatius +gave a blank vote, and we can hardly suppose that he was so far lost +in contemplation as to be unaware that a blank vote was a vote for +himself. Further, the result of the second ballot plainly suggests +that, if Ignatius had again refused to accept the office, Favre would +have been appointed. It is difficult to doubt that he intended from +the first to hold the office of General, and indeed it would have been +ludicrous for them to appoint any other. But Ignatius knew his young +followers, and he seems to have acted in this way in order that they +might place the authority in his hands in the most emphatic manner. +They are described in the chronicles as little less than angelic, but +we shall presently find that some of them were very human, especially +in the matter of obedience, and that at the death of Ignatius they +quarrel like petty princes for the succession. Ignatius was piously +diplomatic. He would use his power unreservedly in the cause of Christ +and the Pope, but it is important to note how from the start the +founder of the Society employs casuistry or diplomacy in _getting_ +power. + +During the next fifteen years Ignatius remained at Rome, making only +three short and relatively unimportant missions into Italy. They +had moved from the house in the Piazza Margana to the foot of the +Capitoline Hill, where the famous church of the Gesù now is. The old +church of Sta Maria della Strada had been given to them, and Codacio +(who had joined the Society and given his wealth to it) had built +a house beside it for them. When Sta Maria proved too small, they +proposed to build a larger church, and nearly secured the services +of Michael Angelo; but the actual Gesù was begun in 1568 by Cardinal +Alexander Farnese. + +From their house beside the old church the keen eyes of the General +followed the travels of his subjects to the ends of the earth and kept +watch on Rome. He was now approaching his fiftieth year: a bald, worn +man, with piercing black eyes in his sallow face, concealing an immense +energy and power of intrigue under his humble appearance. Under his eye +the novices were trained, and it was characteristic that he used to +protest, when others urged him to expel an unruly brother, that--to put +it in modern phrase--he liked a little "devil" in his novices. One of +the first was young Ribadeneira, a cardinal's page, a noble by birth. +He had come to their house one day when he was playing truant, and had +been caught by the romance of the life. He was only fourteen years old, +yet Ignatius received him and bore his fits of temper and rebellion +until he became a useful and obedient member. Between the fiery Spanish +boy and the aged and simple Codacio, the former papal official, there +was every shade of character to be studied and humoured. The younger +novices--they went down to the age of eleven--were encouraged to +laugh and play, and come to the General's room to have fruit peeled +for them; perhaps on the very day on which he was stirring the Pope +to set up an Inquisition on the Spanish model at Rome or in Portugal. +He loved the flowers of their garden, and tender ladies had no more +sympathetic confidant. Great austerities, of the Manresa type, he +rigorously forbade. The Jesuit was to be neat, clean, cheerful, strong, +industrious, guarded in speech--and obedient. When it was necessary to +strike, he struck at once. One night, when the prefect of the house +came to make his report, it appeared that one of the novices (a young +nobleman) had ridiculed the excessive zeal of another. Brother Zapata +was at once summoned from bed and put out of doors. + +His personal life was simple, to the eye. A Bible, a breviary, and an +_Imitation of Christ_ were the only books in his poor chamber, which is +still shown to the visitor; and of these the breviary was not used, as +he wept so much in reading the office that he endangered his sight, and +the Pope excused him from reading it. He spent the first four hours of +his early day in meditation and the saying of Mass, then worked until +noon, when all dined together, in silence, and afterwards spent an +hour in conversation under his observant eye. Then he returned to his +desk, or took his stick and his sombrero, and limped to the hospital, +or to the houses of the very poor or the rich, or to the chambers of +cardinals or papal officials. Many a jeer and curse followed him as +he walked, in neat black cloak, with downcast eyes and grave smile, +courteous to every beggar or noble who addressed him. Rome was rich +with monuments of his philanthropy--schools, orphanages, rescue-homes, +etc.; but the fierce hostility never died, and at times it rose to the +pitch of a gale. After his round of visits he limped back, grave and +humble, to the house for the silent evening meal. When the novices were +abed, the prefect came to give him a minute account of the day's life +in the house, and, when the prefect was abed, the large eyes still +flashed in the worn, olive-tinted face. He slept only four hours a +night. + +But all these pages of the written biography of Ignatius are of less +interest than the unwritten. To understand his real life during those +fifteen years of twenty-hour workdays you have to study the adventures +of his colleagues far away: to mark how the hostility of bishops +and doctors and princes is disarmed by a papal privilege or a papal +recommendation, how the Protestant plague cannot break out anywhere +but a Jesuit appears, how the most nicely fitted man is sent for each +special mission, how the man disappears when there is, rightly or +wrongly, a cry of scandal, how the long white arms of Ignatius Loyola +seem to stretch over the planet from Sta Maria della Strada, near the +Pope's palace. This vast and obscure activity of the General will be +best gathered from a short survey of the fortunes of the Jesuits during +his reign. + +The first mission of interest to us, though not quite the first in +point of time, was the sending of two Jesuits to the British Isles. It +seemed that England was lost, and all that could be done was to resist +Henry's attempt to stamp out the old faith in Ireland and persuade +James V. to follow his profitable example in Scotland. The mission was +perilous, for, on the word of these Jesuits of the time, nearly every +chief in Ireland had gone over to Protestantism, and in Scotland the +nobles and officials were looking with moist lips at the fat revenues +of the monasteries. The Archbishop of Armagh, who had fled to Rome, +asked the Pope to send two Jesuits to his country, and Codure and +Salmeron were appointed. Codure died, however, during the negotiations, +and Paschase Brouet was named in his place. As usual, Ignatius chose +his men with shrewdness. Brouet, the "angel of the Society," was the +counterpart of Salmeron's vigour and learning. They were granted the +privileges of Nuncii by the Pope, though Ignatius directed them to +mention these privileges only when the success of the mission required. +In fact, he gave them a written paper of instructions as to their +personal behaviour when, on 10th September 1541, they left for Paris +and Edinburgh. They were to travel as poor Jesuits--but the wealthy +young noble Zapata was permitted to accompany and care for them. + +What the precise aim of this mission was we do not know, but it +was from every point of view a complete failure. It is, of course, +represented as a success, and its purpose is said to have been merely +to hearten the suffering Irish people in their resistance and convey +to them indulgences and absolutions. But from the circumstances of +the time and the duration of the mission we may be sure that the two +Jesuits learned very little English, and less or no Gaelic, so that +the idea seems absurd. In Scotland, certainly, their mission was +political. They saw James at Stirling Castle, and easily got from him +an assurance that he would resist the allurements of Henry VIII. What +they trusted to do in Ireland we are not informed, and it seems most +reasonable to suppose that they were to see the chiefs and stiffen them +in their opposition to England. This they wholly failed to do, for the +leading men would have nothing to do with them. The customary Catholic +version of the enterprise is that they happily accomplished their +mission, traversed "the whole of Ireland" (as even Francis Thompson +says), consoling and absolving, and went home to report success. One +fears that this account may be typical of these early Jesuit reports +of missions. To learn Gaelic and traverse the whole of Ireland, or any +large part of it, in thirty-four days (Orlandini), in the sixteenth +century, and in circumstances which compelled them to travel with the +greatest prudence, would assuredly be a miracle, especially when we are +told that for some time even the common folk shrank from them, and it +is hinted that the scattered Irish priests were unfriendly. + +Apparently they travelled a little in disguise, or hid in the +farms here and there, for a few weeks, granting indulgences and +dispensations, probably through some Gaelic interpreter, until the +English officials heard of their presence and put a price on their +heads. The Jesuit narrative credits them with the bold idea of going to +London and bearding the wicked Henry in his palace. Their behaviour was +singularly prudent for men with such exalted ideas. Leaving Ireland, +possibly at the entreaty of the Irish, as soon as the search for them +grew hot, they returned to Scotland, and finding that country also +aflame, they went on at once to Paris. There they received orders to +return to Scotland and discharge a secret mission similar to that +they had had in Ireland. They "hesitated and informed the Pope of the +state of things in Scotland," says the Jesuit historian; in fact, they +remained in Paris until the Pope allowed them to return to Rome. If any +be disposed to criticise their conduct, he may be reminded that Brouet +and Salmeron had spent several weeks in Ireland at the risk of their +lives. However, it is plain that we have to look closely into these +early Jesuit accounts of missions which covered the infant Society with +glory. A prudent examination of them discovers features which have been +carefully eliminated from later Jesuit, or pro-Jesuit, works on the +subject. + +As Henry VIII. died in 1547, and Edward VI. in 1553, it may seem +singular that Ignatius did not, when the Catholic Mary acceded to the +throne, at once dispatch a band of his priests to help in restoring the +old faith. Neither Orlandini nor his discreet follower, Crétineau-Joly, +throws any light on the mystery, but a few important hints may be +gathered from the more candid early Jesuit historian Polanco, a close +associate of Ignatius, and the full solution is indicated in Burnet's +_History of the Reformation_ (ii. 526, in the Oxford edition). This +rare discovery of an independent document suggests that the early story +might read somewhat differently in many particulars if we were not +forced to rely almost entirely on Jesuit authorities. + +From the brief statements scattered over the various volumes of +Polanco's _Historia Societatis_ it appears that from 1553 until his +death Ignatius made the most strenuous efforts to secure admission into +England. Cardinal Pole, it seems, asked the prayers of Ignatius for +his success when he was summoned to England, and, when Ignatius died +and Lainez again approached Pole, the cardinal pointedly replied that +the only way in which the Jesuits could aid him was by their prayers. +In the meantime (1554) Ignatius pressed Father Araoz, who was in great +favour at the Spanish court, to urge Philip, and induce ladies of the +court to urge him, to take Jesuits to England. In 1556 he sent Father +Ribadeneira, a courtly priest, to join Philip in Belgium and press the +request, but the reply was always that Pole was opposed to admitting +the Jesuits. Polanco makes it quite clear that Pole resisted all the +efforts of Ignatius from 1554 to 1556. + +Burnet supplies the solution of the mystery. A friend of his discovered +a manuscript at Venice, from which it appears that Ignatius had +overreached himself and aroused the hostility of the cardinal. He +had written to Pole that, as Queen Mary was restoring such monastic +property as had fallen to the throne, it would be advisable to +entrust this to the Jesuits, since the monks were in such bad odour +in England; and he added that the Jesuits would soon find a way to +make other possessors of monastic property disgorge. Pole refused +their co-operation and left the Jesuits angry and disappointed. The +historian cannot regard an anonymous manuscript as in itself deserving +of credence, but the statement very plausibly illumines the situation. +I may add that in 1558 Father Ribadeneira was actually smuggled +into England in the suite of Count Gomez de Figueroa, who had gone +to console the ailing Queen.[2] The count was a warm patron of the +Jesuits, but Queen Mary died soon after his arrival, and the last hope +of the Jesuits was extinguished. + +We cannot examine with equal freedom all the chronicles of early Jesuit +activity, and must be content to cull from the pages of the _Historia +Societatis Jesu_, the first section of which is written by Father +Orlandini, such facts as may enable us to form a balanced judgment +of the Society under Ignatius. Italy was, naturally, the first and +chief theatre of their labours, and in the course of a few years they +spread from the turbulent cities of Sicily to the foot of the Alps. +I have already described the work of Ignatius at Rome, and need add +only that, as Orlandini tells us, he was one of the most urgent in +pressing the reluctant Pope to "reform" the Roman Inquisition, or to +equip it with the dread powers of the Spanish tribunal. At the very +time when he was devising pleas for toleration in Protestant and +pagan lands, he was urging that in Italy and Portugal there should be +set up the most inhuman instrument of intolerance that civilisation +has ever known. The psychology of his attitude is simple; he was +convinced that he was asking tolerance for truth and intolerance for +untruth. The liberal-minded Romans were not persuaded of the justice +of his distinction, and the opposition to the Society increased. The +hostility, which at times went the length of breaking Jesuit windows, +is ascribed by his biographers chiefly to his zeal for the conversion +of prostitutes. He founded a large home for these women, and would +often follow them to their haunts in the _piazze_ and lead them himself +to St. Martha's House. On the whole, his great philanthropic services +and personal austerity secured respect for his Society at Rome, and it +prospered there until his later years. + +In the south of Italy the Society met little opposition in the early +years. Bobadilla had done some good work in troubled Calabria before +the Society was founded, and within the next ten years colleges were +opened at Messina (1548), Palermo (1549), and Naples (1551). The poet +Tasso was one of the first students of the Naples college. It was in +the north that the more arduous work had to be done. The seeds of the +Reformation were wafted over the Alps and found a fertile soil in the +cities of the Renaissance. Hardly anywhere else were monks and clergy +so corrupt and ignorant, and nowhere was there so much familiarity +with the immorality of the Vatican system. Rome itself lived on this +corruption and regarded it with indulgence, but in the university +towns of the north educated men, and even women, who almost remembered +the lives of Sixtus IV., Innocent VIII., Alexander VI., Julius II., and +Leo X., were but provoked to smile when they were exhorted to cling to +the "Vicar of Christ." + +To tear these prosperous seedlings of heresy out of the soil of +northern Italy was the congenial task of the early Jesuits, and Lainez, +Brouet, and Salmeron, with some of the new recruits, went from city +to city, challenging the Protestants to debate, strengthening the +Catholics to resist, and founding colleges for the sound education +of youth. Their procedure, and the resentment it constantly excited, +may be illustrated by their experience at Venice. Lainez was sent by +the Pope to Venice in 1542, at the request of the Doge. An honourable +apartment awaited him in the Doge's Palace, but he humbly declined +and went to live among the sick at the squalid hospital, varying his +learned campaign against the Lutherans with the lowliest services +to the poor and ailing. Many were edified, especially one Andrea +Lippomani, an elderly and wealthy noble. Presently there came an +instruction from Ignatius that Lainez must accept the hospitality +offered him by Lippomani; and a little later the noble's heirs were +infuriated to learn that he had assigned a rich benefice of his at +Padua to the Jesuits. They appealed to the Venetian Council, and lost, +for Lainez and Salmeron were ordered by the General to defend the +donation. So the first college of the Society was founded, at Padua, +and Lippomani afterwards enabled them to found one at Venice. Whatever +view one takes of it, this was the normal procedure: tend the sick and +beg your bread until "men of wealth and position" open their purses, +then throw all your energy into the founding of colleges and the +securing of novices. It was unquestionably a most effective method of +serving the Church; it also had an aspect which attracted critics. + +In the Catholic atmosphere of Spain and Portugal the Society might be +expected to grow luxuriantly, as it eventually did, but its fortunes +in the Peninsula are rather due to the General's policy of securing +influential patrons than to any popular welcome. As early as 1540 +Ignatius had sent his nephew Araoz into Spain, and one reads--between +the lines--that he had little success. At last a college was founded +at Alcalà, to the anger of many of the University professors. One +professor maintained his opposition so long and so violently that +Father Villanueva, the Jesuit rector, fraternally informed him that +the Inquisition proposed to put him a few questions, and the professor +sullenly withdrew. Then a learned ex-rector of the university itself +was won by Ignatius, during a visit to Rome, and was sent back, a +Jesuit, to found a college at Salamanca. It was, as usual, founded in +poverty; the fathers had not even a crucifix to put over their altar, +and one of their number had to draw the figure on a sheet of paper. +From the general laws of these phenomena one might deduce that the +story brought a shower of crucifixes. However, the favour of the King +of Portugal and the influence of Rome smoothed their paths, and little +colonies were soon planted at Valladolid, Toledo, Saragossa, and other +towns. + +It was in Spain that the Society encountered the most virulent of its +early Catholic antagonists, Melchior Cano. He was a very learned and +sober Dominican monk, and a professor at the university: an enemy +of mysticism and eccentricity. He knew of the early penances and +"visions" of Ignatius, and had seen him at work in Rome. When the pale, +black-robed, mysterious youths walked demurely into learned Salamanca +and set up a college for the instruction of youth, the monk erupted. +They were hybrids--neither the flesh of the secular clergy nor the +fish of the regular clergy: they were leeches, fastening on wealthy +saints and sinners; and so on. Miguel de Torres, the rector, called +upon the irate friar, and told him of the great privileges the Pope +had bestowed on the Society and the high missions he had entrusted to +its members. This inflamed him still more, and he flung at them Paul's +fiery warnings against the hypocrites who would come after him. He +exaggerated heavily, especially in regard to the personal character +of the Jesuits, but he saw very clearly those dangerous features and +practices of the early Society which I have indicated. The struggle +came to a diplomatic close. Melchior Cano was appointed Bishop of the +Canaries, and the Jesuits invite us to admire the way in which Ignatius +returned good for evil. It may be added that Cano afterwards recognised +the ruse, laid down his mitre, and returned to plague his benefactors. + +In the midst of this conflict the Jesuits made a most important +convert, and their future in Spain was assured. Francis Borgia, Duke of +Gandia, one of the leading nobles of the kingdom, met and was enchanted +by Favre in 1544, when the King of Portugal brought that gentle and +persuasive Jesuit on a visit to the Spanish court. He was conducted +through the Exercises by Favre, one of the most lovable and sincere of +the early fathers. When Favre died two years afterwards, prematurely +worn by his labours, Borgia wrote to ask Ignatius to admit him to the +order. Observe the procedure once more. He was secretly initiated, not +even the Pope knowing his name: which enabled him to remain in the eyes +of men the Duke of Gandia, and shower his wealth and his patronage on +the Society. It really matters little what lofty purposes are alleged +for such sinuous procedure; it was a new policy in the history of +religious founders. When, a few years later, the Pope offered a +cardinal's hat to the Duke of Gandia, and the King of Spain insisted +that he should accept it, the truth had to come out. Ignatius had +sternly enjoined that no dignity should ever be accepted by any member +of his Society, yet, to avoid giving offence to the king, he said that +he left the decision to Borgia. + +Under Borgia's patronage the net of the Society spread over Spain, many +blessing and some cursing. At Saragossa, where they had built a chapel, +the Augustinian friars complained that it encroached on their sphere. +To prevent unedifying conduct on the part of rival friars, the Church +had decreed that no order should establish itself within five hundred +feet of a house belonging to a different order. When the Jesuits +who had broken this law, refused to yield, they were excommunicated +by the Vicar-General, and a pleasant procession was arranged by the +townsfolk, in which effigies of damned Jesuits were propelled toward +their destination by little devils. The Augustinians were popular. But +the long arm of Ignatius was extended once more, and the Papal Nuncio +intervened in favour of the Jesuits. Before many years the Jesuits won +from the Pope a declaration that the law did not apply to them, and +they might build where they pleased. They prospered, and were hated. + +An incident of the same significance occurred at Alcalà. The college +obtained many pupils, though little wealth, and the Jesuit fathers +began to be very active. In 1551 they were surprised to hear that the +Archbishop of Toledo had suspended the whole of them from priestly +functions for daring to hear confessions without his authorisation. +The Jesuits produced their privileges, and persuaded the Governor of +Toledo, and even the Royal Council, to explain to the prelate that the +Pope had exempted them from the jurisdiction of bishops. He refused to +recognise such extraordinary privileges, and maintained the suspension. +Ignatius then laid the matter before the Pope, and the Archbishop was +directed from Rome to withdraw his opposition. + +When we turn to Portugal we find an interesting illustration of the +early effect of great prosperity on the Society. On the throne at the +time was John III. from whose reign all historians date the downfall of +what had become one of the most brilliant and wealthy Powers in Europe. +Blind to the gross administrative corruption in his kingdom, and to the +decay of the stirring patriotism which had borne the Portuguese flag +over the globe, John was concerned only about the religious needs of +his country and his new colonies. He had invited Xavier and Rodriguez +in 1540, intending to send them to the Indies, but he was so charmed +with them that he wished to keep them in Portugal. Ignatius allowed +Rodriguez to remain, and Xavier set out on his historic mission to the +far east. In this Ignatius showed his usual discernment: Rodriguez +proved as supple and graceful a courtier as Xavier proved a fiery +missionary. John then wished to entrust the tutorship of his son to +Rodriguez, and Ignatius consented. His own followers were puzzled at +times to know which _were_ the dignities that they were forbidden to +accept. When John asked for a Jesuit confessor, Rodriguez refused, but +Ignatius overruled him. The next step was to set up the Inquisition, +through the mediation of Ignatius, and Orlandini admits that when, in +1555, the king wished to make Father Merin, his confessor, head of the +Inquisition, Ignatius seriously considered the proposal. He did not +refuse, as is sometimes said; the negotiations broke down. + +In this genial atmosphere the Society flourished. Its chief college was +at Coimbra, the great university centre, where the Jesuits rapidly ran +their course. At first they shocked staid Catholics with the excesses +of their zeal. A youth in the college confessed to temptations of the +flesh, and was ordered to walk the streets at mid-day without a hat +or a cloak, holding a skull in his hand. Another student went forth +almost naked in a cold wind, begging from door to door; and, finding a +crowd of folk dancing and singing in a church, he mounted the pulpit +to admonish them, and was dragged out and severely chastised. At +nights Father Simon would send out a procession of youths to cry in +the ears of indignant sinners or quiet wine-bibbers some such doggerel +as: "Hell, hell, hell, for those in grave sin"; or long processions +of children with masks and lanterns paraded the streets and squares. +We gather that the boys of Coimbra had a pleasant time during these +exhibitions. But the college flourished; there were in a few years +a hundred and fifty pupils in it, and it supplied large numbers of +missionaries. + +In 1546 Favre visited Coimbra, and reported to Ignatius that prosperity +had flushed the veins of his brothers. Nicolini and other anti-Jesuit +writers speak of the college as having become a place of "debauch," +but this is not stated in the chronicles. Frivolity and good-living +are the only vices charged, whatever we may suspect. The students +stooped to writing sonnets, and the King's money provided plenty of +good cheer. Ignatius felt that Father Simon had lost his fervour at +the court, deposed him from office--he was Provincial (or head of the +province)--and ordered him to go either to Brazil or Aragon. The piety +of Rodriguez had evidently deteriorated, and he made a struggle to +hold his place. He was a handsome and comfortable man, much liked for +his liberality. He went to Coimbra, where Ignatius had appointed a new +rector, and the liberals tried to induce the court to protect them. +The King was alarmed, however, and Father Simon had to submit, and the +college to mend its ways. Numbers of students left or were expelled, +and for the rest, when the new rector piously walked the streets of +Coimbra, laying the bloody lash on his own bare shoulders, they fell to +tears and went out in a body scourging themselves under the eyes of the +townsfolk. The story ends in Orlandini with Simon Rodriguez submitting +in holy joy and kissing the rebuking letters of his General. But when +we turn to Sacchini, the Jesuit writes of the next section of the +"Historia Societatis Jesu," who does not always carefully notice what +his predecessor has said, we learn that Rodriguez smarted for years +under the humiliation, and awaited an opportunity to undo it. However, +the province returned to piety, and before the death of Ignatius we +find the Jesuits capturing, after a long siege, the famous University +of Coimbra. + +In France the Society wholly failed under Ignatius. He placed students, +supported by wealthy patrons, at the University of Paris, and sent +fathers after a time to gather their neophytes under one roof. Then the +outbreak of war with Spain drove most of them abroad, and even when the +war was over the colony made slow progress, amid poverty and hostility. +In 1549 Ignatius won the favour of Cardinal Guise de Lorraine and, +through him, of the French court. The King issued letters authorising +the Jesuits to live and teach at Paris, and Brouet was sent to +conciliate the Parisians. Then began a long and famous struggle between +the Parlement and University of Paris and the court and Jesuits. +Parlement bluntly refused to register the King's letters, and they +were of no effect until this powerful legal body had accepted them. +Henry ordered his Privy Council to examine the Jesuit Constitutions and +approve them; Parlement retorted by inviting the Archbishop, who was +very hostile, and the theological faculty of the university to advise +it, and the issue was a violent condemnation of the Jesuits in the vein +of Melchior Cano. It was said that they admitted all sorts of aspirants +to their ranks, and that the extraordinary privileges they professed +to have were insulting to the spiritual and temporal authorities and +opposed to the interests of the other orders and the university. + +In the main, it was undoubtedly the privileges of the Jesuits which +made the greater part of Paris and of France hostile to them. Bishops +were not to look at them, civic authorities were not to tax them, +universities were to be opposed by free classes, and were to respect +degrees granted by Jesuits to any whom they thought fit. The hostility +was quite natural, and it was fed by indiscretions on the part of the +Jesuits. They received a nephew of the Archbishop, against the uncle's +will, and they first turned the brain (with their Exercises) of, and +then put out of doors, a very learned ornament of the university +named Postel. The Archbishop bade them leave Paris, and they remained +helpless outside the city, at St. Germain aux Prés, until after the +death of Ignatius. He pressed the case at Rome, and doctors of the +Sorbonne went there to exchange arguments with Jesuit doctors, but +nothing was done until years afterwards. + +During the war the Spanish Jesuits had gone from Paris to Louvain and +began to teach there. Here again the university scorned and opposed +them, and for many years (until they secured the interest of the +Archduchess) they made no progress. Ribadeneira, who was in charge, +used to break down and retire from the room to weep. In Germany they +had a different and more spirited struggle, but they seem to have had +little influence in the various conferences and diets at which attempts +were still made to reconcile the parties. Favre was at the Diet of +Worms in 1540, then at the Ratisbon Conference, where Bobadilla and +Le Jay succeeded him. They were restricted to an effort to reform the +Catholics themselves, and found it difficult. The letters of these +early Jesuits make it quite impossible for any historian to question +the appalling corruption of priests, monks, and people in every part +of Europe at the time of the Reformation. From Worms Favre wrote to +Ignatius that there were not three priests in the city who were not +stained by concubinage or crime. At Ratisbon the Catholics threatened +to throw Le Jay into the river. "What does it matter to me whether I +enter heaven by water or land?" he said. They knew very little German, +generally preaching in Latin, and had slight influence for some years. + +In time, as they learned German, and confined themselves to the +Catholic provinces, their work was more successful. They fastened +especially on Cologne, and assailed the Archbishop, a very worldly +prelate of the old type, who was annoyed to find these Jesuit wasps +buzzing about him, and their house was closed for a time by the +authorities. But they had the favour of the Emperor, and the Archbishop +was deposed. In 1545 the Council of Trent opened, and Lainez and +Salmeron appeared there as the Pope's theologians, together with +Peter Canisius (an able German student whom Favre had attracted to +the Society) as theologian of the new Archbishop of Cologne. It need +only be said of the earlier sittings of the famous Council (in 1545 +and 1551) that the Jesuits had little influence, and this they used to +oppose any concession to the Protestants and magnify the authority of +the Pope. This will be plainer in connection with the later sittings. + +The work in Germany was afterwards thwarted by the zeal of the fiery +Bobadilla. It had at last come to war with the Protestants, to the +satisfaction of the Jesuits, and Bobadilla marched with the troops and +was severely wounded at Mühlberg. In 1548, however, Charles published +his _Interim_, or provisional concession of certain Protestant claims +(such as the marriage of the clergy) until the Council of the Church +should decide the points at issue. It may be recalled that the general +Council of Trent was first intended as a common meeting of Protestant +and Catholic divines, and the hope of reconciliation was not yet +dead. Reconciliation, however, could mean only concession, and the +Jesuits were resolutely against concession. Whatever influence they +had in Germany, apart from their effort to reform the morality of the +Catholics, was reactionary and mischievous in the highest degree. +Bobadilla overflowed with wrath at the _Interim_, and denounced it +fiercely by pen and tongue. Charles angrily ordered him to leave the +Empire, and he returned to Rome; and it is recorded that Ignatius so +warmly resented his "indiscretion" that he refused at first to admit +him to the house. Thus did the saint vindicate the majesty of kings, +says M. Crétineau-Joly. The outbreak did unquestionably hamper the +progress of the Jesuits for a time, but before the death of Ignatius +they were firmly established in Vienna, Prague, Cologne, and a few +other cities. At Vienna the court demanded that Canisius should accept +the office of archbishop, and Ignatius compromised by allowing him to +administer the see and refuse its revenue. In the same year a Jesuit +was made "Patriarch of Abyssinia." It was just seven years since +Ignatius had induced the Pope to decree that no Jesuit should ever +accept an ecclesiastical dignity. + +Of the foreign missions it is impossible to speak here at any length. +In 1540 Francis Xavier had come for his leader's blessing as he started +for the Indies. His cassock was worn and patched, and Ignatius took off +his own flannel vest and put it on the young priest before dismissing +him with the usual: "Go and set the world on fire." It was a different +Xavier from the one he had seen, a vain and brilliant teacher, at the +University of Paris, and it is well known how he did set the world on +fire. He was a handsome, blue-eyed man of thirty-six, and no Portuguese +sailor ever fronted the unknown with more courage and heroism than +Xavier displayed in his famous travels from India to Japan. After a +year's work at Goa, where his first need was to convert the Christians +and the Portuguese priests, he went on to Malabar, to the Moluccas, +to Malacca, and on to Japan, ending his life, in 1552, in an attempt +to reach China. What the result of his mission was it is difficult +to estimate soberly. The Jesuit chronicler forgets the confusion of +tongues, and makes Xavier leap from land to land, preaching to and +converting thousands everywhere, as if they all spoke Portuguese. In +Japan he clearly failed, although the Portuguese merchants were greatly +anxious for success, and the Japanese, of their own high character +and out of respect for the great king (of Portugal), his friend, were +extremely polite. + +The other foreign missions of the early Jesuits were less irradiated +with miracle, or with heroism. Lainez went in the wake of the Spanish +troops to Tunis, said mass there, and left no trace behind. Nuñez, +the "Patriarch of Abyssinia," went out with two others to take over +his diocese, but found a "Patriarch" there already, who made a lively +opposition, and the Jesuits had to retire to Goa. Four Jesuits were +sent to the Congo. Two died at once, and the other two became so +interested in commerce that the king was alarmed. Ignatius recalled +and replaced them, but the king expelled the newcomers. In Brazil they +made more progress, penetrating the forests and winning the favour of +the natives by their medical and other material aid. They tried to save +the intended dinners of the cannibals, and, when they failed, sprinkled +the poor men with holy water; but the cannibals found that it made +them less succulent and forbade the practice. They did useful work in +Brazil, and laid the foundation of a great mission. + +Such were the labours of the first Jesuits during the generalship +of Ignatius, and it remains only to close the career of their able +leader. The varied story of success and failure, the showers of glowing +testimonials and bitter diatribes, the heroism of some and the frailty +of others, kept him alternately elated or depressed to the end. He +must have seen that the first fervour could not be maintained, and +that opposition became more serious as the Society grew. It had now +nearly a thousand members scattered over the world, and a hundred +houses and colleges. The figures are misleading, however, as there +were only thirty-five professed fathers and only two professed houses; +many of the so-called colleges had no pupils and were little more than +names. Ignatius had twice attempted to resign his office in the last +few years; and there was much to distress him. He had hardly composed +the trouble in Portugal, in 1552, when Lainez gave him anxiety. +Lainez, who was made Provincial of Italy when Brouet was sent to Paris, +complained that the general was robbing his colleges of their best +teachers for the sake of Rome. Ignatius dictated to his secretary an +angry letter. "He bids me tell you," says the scribe, "to attend to +your own charge ... and you need not give him advice about this until +he asks it." + +In the next year (1553) he had a grave quarrel with Cardinal Caraffa. +The Jesuits of Sicily had admitted a youth against his parents' +wishes, and Caraffa, to whom the mother appealed, ordered Ignatius to +give up the youth. He appealed to the Pope, and got Caraffa's verdict +cancelled. When, two years afterwards, Caraffa became Pope Paul IV., +Ignatius remembered his momentary triumph with concern, and there +were grave faces in the Jesuit house. Paul III. had died in 1549. His +successor Julius III. had been, as the previous record shows, very +generous to the Jesuits, though funds had fallen very low in Rome, +owing to the Reformation, and Ignatius had great work to keep alive +the German college he had founded. Julius died in 1555, and it is said +by the Jesuit writers that five cardinals voted for Ignatius himself +at the next conclave. Marcellus, the next Pope, lived less than a +month, and then Caraffa occupied the see. To Caraffa the Spaniards were +"barbarians," and the Jesuits were Spaniards. But he postponed the +struggle which he was to have with the Society, and received Ignatius +courteously. + +Work, austerity, and anxiety had at length seriously impaired the +strong frame of Ignatius, and he began to prepare for the end. It is +marvellous how he lived to see his sixty-fifth year, and continued +to control the mighty struggle of his Society against its various +enemies. With the opening of 1556, however, he retired to a great +extent from the labours of his office, and spent his days chiefly +in prayer. He died in the early morning of 31st July 1556, and the +struggle for the succession began. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 2: See Ribadeneira's _Historia Ecclesiastica del Scisma del +Reyno de Inglaterra_ (1588), L. ii. ch. xxii.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +EARLY STORMS + + +For the events of the next ten years, which will be narrated in this +chapter, we still rely almost entirely on Jesuit writers. The statement +may sound like an insinuation of dishonesty, but it is merely a +reminder that our authorities are panegyrists rather than historians. +Their purpose was wholly different from that of the modern historian, +and their selection and treatment of documents correspondingly +differed. It would be ingenuous to imagine that they loaded the scales +of good and evil, success and failure, with impartial hand. Here and +there, however, some scandal was so widely known in their day, and so +eagerly pressed by their opponents, that it were wiser to put a bold +gloss upon it than to ignore it, and thus we of the later date can just +discern the human form under the thick veil of panegyric. It becomes +more and more apparent after the death of Ignatius. Father Sacchini, +who takes up the pen laid down by Orlandini, is just as loyal to his +order, but it becomes more frequently necessary to excuse and explain, +and at times he candidly censures. The Society is shaken by "very +fierce storms," and one of these breaks upon it in his earliest pages. + +The Constitutions provided that at the death of a General there should +be a Vicar-General appointed, and he should proceed to summon the +leading fathers of every province for the election. Now, Ignatius had +appointed a Vicar to assist him in his last years, and it was generally +felt that this Father Natalis would be Vicar-General and control the +election. Natalis was in Spain, however, and Lainez, although very ill, +was in Rome. We remember Lainez as the learned and masterful Castilian +who had once provoked Ignatius to use very plain speech. There were +only five fathers at Rome, including Lainez, who were entitled to vote +for the Vicar-General, and Lainez helped to simplify the issue by +casting a blank vote, like Ignatius, or "leaving the matter to God." He +was appointed, and he fixed the more important election for November. +For this he had to summon the Provincials, Assistants, and two Prefects +from each of the twelve provinces of the Society. One imagines a large +and varied body, but in point of fact there were only about twenty +voters; those in Brazil and the Indies could not be expected, while +the "province of Ethiopia" (or Abyssinia) existed only on paper. It +happened, moreover, that as the Pope was at war with Spain, the Spanish +fathers could not come, and Lainez dare not proceed without them. +They were of opinion that Natalis ought to have been recognised as +Vicar-General. + +Thus the election had to be postponed for two years, and Lainez +continued, on the strength of four votes, to act as General. The +remarkable events of those two years are of great importance in +studying the character of the early Society. Two very serious conflicts +arose, one between the Jesuits themselves, and one with the Pope, and +it is in such conflicts that the real character appears. Crétineau-Joly +suppresses the one altogether and grossly mis-states the other; he is +not only less candid, but far less truthful, even than the original +Jesuit authorities. If we wish to form a just estimate of the early +Jesuits, not merely to admire the many virtues they possessed, we must +consider these conflicts with care, as they are recorded by Sacchini in +the "Historia Societatis." + +Lainez at once presented himself, as temporary head of the Society, +to the Pope, and prepared for a struggle. Ranke's fine picture of +Caraffa, who had now become Paul IV., will be remembered. A dark and +stormy Neapolitan, an ardent Italian patriot, he would, as he sat +over his fiery southern wine, express the fiercest disdain of the +Spaniards, and trust to see them swept out of the Italian peninsula. +He had disliked Ignatius and, Sacchini says, spoken slightingly of +him after his death. On the other hand, he was a deeply religious +man and sincere reformer, and he recognised that there was precious +stuff, from the Church's point of view, in this new Society. Should he +fuse it with the Theatines, or merely clip its outrageous privileges, +and bring it nearer the common level of the religious orders? He was +known to hesitate between the two policies, and Lainez was determined +to resist both, implacably, and teach the papacy the real value of +the famous fourth vow. And Lainez was a cold, resolute, clear-headed +man of forty-five: Caraffa a nervous and impetuous old man of eighty. +The conflict was postponed, however, until the Society had a properly +constituted authority. Paul was content to warn Lainez that the Jesuits +must be careful of their ways, and to remind him that what a Pope had +given a Pope might take away. + +A few months later the domestic conflict opened. The spirited Bobadilla +protested that Diego Lainez had usurped authority over the Society; +the proper thing to do in these unforeseen circumstances was to divide +the leadership between the five survivors of the ten original Jesuits. +Rodriguez, who still smarted under his humiliation, Sacchini says, was +persuaded to take this view; Cogordan a "stiff-necked" brother whom +Lainez had ventured to correct, joined them; and even the meek and +gentle Brouet was drawn into the revolt. For many months the austere +silence of the Roman house was enlivened with the singular quarrel. +The rebels wrote lengthy indictments of Lainez and secretly circulated +them among the brethren; and somehow, says the historian, copies of +their _libelli_ always reached the hands of Lainez, while he himself +wrote nothing. Then Cogordan told two cardinals, who were to tell the +Pope, that Lainez proposed to hold the election in Spain, so that they +might pass their Constitutions without the Pope's interference. The +idea was certainly entertained, and we can easily believe that Lainez +favoured it. Paul angrily ordered that no Jesuit was to quit Rome, and +closed his door against Lainez. A union of this powerful and casuistic +body with the King of Spain was one of the last things Paul wished to +see; and he looked forward to the passing of their Constitutions as +his opportunity to clip their wings. At last Lainez severed Rodriguez +and Brouet from the rebels, and Bobadilla made a direct application to +the Pope for his share in the administration of the Society. To the +scandal or the entertainment of Rome, Cardinal Carpi was appointed to +arbitrate on the domestic quarrels of the children of St. Ignatius. +His decision--that Lainez should remain Vicar-General, but consult the +older fathers--did not put an end to the unseemly quarrelling, and +Lainez in turn appealed to the Pope, secured the appointment of another +cardinal, and silenced the rebels. We can imagine the feelings of Paul +IV. When a cardinal told him that Lainez had charged Bobadilla with an +honourable mission at Foligno, and had sentenced the wicked Cogordan +to say _one_ Pater and Ave, he crossed himself: as a Neapolitan does +when the spirit of evil is about. He was astonished at the obstinacy +of the rebels, says Sacchini; but there are those who fancy that what +really impressed him was the astuteness of Lainez. He was to have more +painful experience of it anon. + +While the leaders quarrelled for the mantle of the master at Rome, +there was grave trouble in the provinces. In that year (1557) John III. +died in Portugal, many valuable workers were lost, and the judgment of +the University of Paris and the scalding indictments of Melchior Cano +were translated into every tongue in Europe. There was no possibility +under Paul IV. of countering these things by conversation at the +Vatican. It was imperative to hold the election as soon as possible and +return to the field. The end of the war came in 1558, and by May the +twenty voters were assembled in the Roman house. They were to elect a +general and endorse the Constitutions, now completed by Lainez. + +There was friction at first because Lainez issued to the fathers +certain orders which aimed at preventing canvassing, but in July they +proceeded to the election. To their dismay Cardinal Pacheco entered +the room, on the election day, and said that the Pope had sent him +to preside. He genially assured them, however, that he would not +interfere, and they cast their votes. Lainez was elected by thirteen +votes out of twenty. They then held a number of sittings on the +Constitutions, and prepared for a struggle with the Pope. This struggle +is not without some humour when we reflect that the Society of Jesus +was, so to say, the Pope's private regiment, the one order that made +a special vow of obedience to him, the most exaggerated champion in +Christendom of his authority. It was the first occasion on which the +Vatican was to realise that it might count on the abject obedience of +the Jesuits as long as the Jesuits dictated its decrees. Lainez and +his colleagues were determined by every means in their power to thwart +the will of Paul IV. and suffer no interference with their own will. +They quietly endorsed their Constitutions, and prepared to go to their +provinces. It is impossible to find what precise order the Pope had +given them to alter their Constitutions, but he had certainly done so +in some form, and his anger broke out stormily. He sent a cardinal to +say that they must reconsider the question of chanting in choir, as +other religious bodies did, and of appointing a general only for a term +of three years. + +The Jesuits were "surprised," but obedient. They "reconsidered" the +points, and drew up a report to the effect that they were unanimously +opposed to change. Lainez and Salmeron were directed to wait on the +Pope and present this report, and some brave language--such language +as a Pope rarely heard, and must have been amazed to hear from a +Jesuit, if it were really spoken--is put into the mouth of Lainez at +the audience by Sacchini. The historian admits, however, that they +did not present the report. Paul sternly told them that they were +"contumacious," indeed not far removed from heresy (which was true), +and he cut short their defence with a peremptory command to do as +they were bidden. With an eye on the gray hairs of the octogenarian +Pope they retired to mend their rules and order the chanting of the +office. It now appeared that of their hundred establishments only +two were "houses," and they contented themselves with ordering that +vespers should be chanted in these houses--until Paul IV. died. They +had secretly asked the opinion of a learned cardinal on the value of +the Pope's command. Cardinal Puteo was not merely an expert on such +matters; he was Dean of the Rota, and in a position to dissolve the +Pope's order, as he eventually did. He told them that it was a "simple +command," and that, as the decree of his predecessor, excusing them +from choir, was not expressly abrogated, it would come into force again +at the death of Paul IV. With this assurance they meekly submitted to +the Pope, and scattered to their respective missions. + +I have narrated this curious story at some length, relying entirely +on the Jesuit Sacchini, because it is of extreme significance for one +who would judge the character and history of the Society. Catholic +historians, who suppress it entirely or give a very misleading version +of it, are clearly of opinion that the mere record of the facts will +disturb their readers, while anti-Catholic writers enlarge on it with +pleasure. Those who desire to have an intelligent and just estimate +of the Jesuits can neither ignore nor misinterpret such facts. That +Lainez was personally ambitious, that his eagerness for power had not +entirely the unselfish character of such ambition as we may recognise +in Ignatius, can hardly be doubted. But Brouet and Salmeron shared and +supported his conduct, and in those two, at least, one is disposed to +see the first spirit of the Regiment of Jesus in its original purity. +The clue to the seeming inconsistency or hypocrisy of such men defying +or evading the Pope's commands I have already indicated. The Society of +Jesus had consecrated diplomacy to the service of God. If a Pope would +strip their order of those distinctions and privileges which, in their +conviction, peculiarly fitted it to carry on the holy war, he was not +acting as the Vicar of Christ, and his commands must be evaded. It did +not occur to them that this was, in the end, the Protestant principle +of private judgment, against which they thundered the doctrine of +papal authority. They were the children of Ignatius, who had always +felt that _his_ private judgment was the judgment of God. So Jesuitism +moved slowly toward its inevitable goal. + +One other incident at Rome may be recorded before we distribute the +events of the next seven years in their national departments. A little +more than a year after the election, on 18th August 1559, Paul IV. +died. How the Romans, stung by the misery they had suffered during +his war with Spain and the brutalities of his Inquisition, burst +into the streets with wild rejoicing, and attacked the palace of the +Inquisitors, and how the new Pope surrendered the criminal nephews of +his predecessor, including a cardinal of the Church, to the scaffold, +must be read in general history. The fact that the Jesuits were called +to sustain Cardinal Caraffa in his last hours is of no significance. It +is more pertinent to tell that Lainez returned to the learned Cardinal +Puteo, and the odious command of Paul IV. was declared to have died +with him. + +It is said that Lainez himself was proposed for the papacy after the +death of Paul IV. The conclave of cardinals on such an occasion is, +as is known, as isolated as a jury-room, but a cardinal might summon +his confessor, and it is not only stated by Sacchini, but confirmed by +Cardinal Otho years afterwards, that Lainez was called in by Otho and +told that his name would be proposed. We have no just ground to doubt +this statement, but we have very good reason to refuse to regard it as +a serious proposal. The papal election of 1559 lasted three months, +and was marked by a bitter struggle of France, Spain, and Italy. It +engrossed the attention of Europe, yet not a single Roman ambassador +or prelate of the time mentions the name of Lainez. Even the words +used by Cardinal Otho years afterwards are known to us only in a Jesuit +version. + +Cardinal Medici, who now became Pius IV., proved to be one of the +most generous patrons of the Society. Although he was a Pope of the +cultured and liberal type, and would have little personal inclination +to favour them, he seems to have concluded that the Jesuits were the +most formidable champions of his authority, and he gave them many +privileges. It was he who, in 1561, gave them permission to build +within the sphere of other orders, and to grant academic degrees in +their colleges, and he directed his local representatives everywhere +to protect and aid them. With such an auxiliary the vigorous and +gifted general was enabled to conduct the affairs of his Society with +a success which will appear as we review its life in the various +provinces. Only one further personal detail need be added in regard +to Lainez. Although the orders of Caraffa had been declared void, he +professed a scruple when he had held the generalship for three years, +and proposed to resign. In view of his behaviour at the election one is +not disposed to look for sincerity in this scruple, nor does the issue +suggest it. His confessor told him that he must consult his councillors +(or assistants). They resisted his proposal, but he still affected +qualms, and sent a circular letter to all the professed fathers, in +which he purported to place before them, for their guidance, all the +pros and cons of his design. The letter is, however, a transparent plea +for power. The electors unanimously insisted that he should retain +office, and he returned to his task with firmer authority. + +The British Isles still remained a dark and almost inaccessible +territory on the Jesuit map, but Englishmen, flying from the penal laws +of Elizabeth, began to enter the Society on the continent, and one or +two secret missions were sent out. Thomas King was sent from Louvain +to England, but he died in the following year (1565), and is merely +stated to have made a few converts. Another refugee in Belgium, an +Irishman named David Woulfe, had been sent in 1560 to his native land +with the position of Nuncio. He was so effectively disguised that in +France he was arrested as a Lutheran. His early reports represent him +as an austere spectator of the general corruption of the Irish clergy, +monks, and people. He speaks of giving absolution, in one year, to +a thousand penitents who had contracted "incestuous marriages," and +describes the people coming to his retreat in their shirts and bare +feet. Father Woulfe seems to have caught the taint, however, as he was +some years later ignominiously expelled from the Society. William Good, +a Somersetshire man, and "Edmund the Irishman," joined him in 1564, +distributing to the peasantry the dispensations and indulgences which +England proscribed, to the grave inconvenience of the papal treasury. + +The mission to Scotland was not less adventurous. It was the year +1562, when Mary Queen of Scots had returned from France, full of sad +foreboding, to the land of John Knox. Nicholas Gouda was sent from +Louvain, in the secret character of Nuncio, to console and assist +her, and two Scottish students, Hay and Crichton, accompanied him. +They were dressed as gentlemen of quality, who would see the world. +Unfortunately, Crichton betrayed the secret to an acquaintance at +Leith, and the fiery cross passed from pulpit to pulpit in the city of +Edinburgh. Gouda sent Crichton back to Louvain and went on himself to +Edinburgh. After many fruitless attempts to see Mary, he was at last +admitted one night, by a postern gate, to the presence of the beautiful +and distracted young queen, but there was nothing to be done. He +asked that the bishops might be assembled somewhere to meet him, and +it appeared that there was only one bishop, on one of the islands, who +would venture to receive him, if he were well disguised. It seems that +the least remarkable dress to don on visiting his lordship was that +of a money-lender, and Father Nicholas, so habited, traversed wild +and stern Caledonia. The rumour of his presence got about, and the +Covenanters kept watch at Edinburgh for his return. A French merchant +coming in from Aberdeen was sorely beaten by them before he could prove +his identity. But two of the faithful met Gouda outside Edinburgh, and +they sailed, with a small band of Scottish aspirants, for Belgium. + +In Italy the story is one of much progress and bitter hostility. By +1561 there were two hundred and sixty Jesuits (in the broadest sense +of the word) in Rome, of whom a hundred and ninety were students in +the Roman college. They were prospering in the sunshine of the Pope's +favour. Elsewhere in Italy, however, they received hard blows. No less +than four serious storms broke on the Society in various parts of Italy +in the year 1561. + +First it was reported from the Valtellina that the fathers had been +expelled, and forbidden the whole territory of the Grisons, on the +ground that they had shown an undue eagerness in securing an old man's +money. Next there was trouble in Montepulciano. The good fathers +had, Sacchini says, induced so large a proportion of the women of +Montepulciano to lead proper lives that the men were infuriated. They +bribed a loose woman to attempt to seduce one of the Jesuits, and they +engaged a man to dress as a Jesuit and let himself be seen coming from +a disorderly house. The Montepulciano version of the matter is, of +course, that one Jesuit accosted a woman and another was seen leaving +an unbecoming house. To make matters worse, a woman accused the Jesuit +rector, Father Gambar, of intimacy with her sister. It was an act of +jealousy, as the two sisters had competed for the rector's smiles; it +is, however, admitted that Father Gambar had been "indiscreet" in his +letters to the lady, which were made public. The civic authorities +took the darker view, and requested the removal of Gambar. When Lainez +refused, the townsfolk threatened to talk to the rector themselves, +and he fled. Lainez held that he was innocent, but expelled him from +the Society for running away without permission. He sent some of the +older Jesuits to restore order in Montepulciano, but it was no use. The +citizens withdrew the pension they had hitherto given the Jesuits, for +teaching, and refused to give them alms or house. Lainez fought, with +his ablest men and subsidies from Rome, for a year or two, but he was +beaten and forced to dissolve the college. + +Then Venice reported difficulties. The new Archbishop, Trevisani, +detested the Jesuits, and assured his friends that the _chiappini_ +("humbugs," to translate it politely) would not remain long in Venice +under his rule. Incidents multiplied, and in 1561 the Senate fell to +discussing the fathers and did not spare them. The gist of the charge +was that they were foreigners meddling with the affairs of Venice; +they confessed all the noble ladies of Venice, called on them in their +homes, and through them learned the official secrets. The debate ended +with words, though the Doge summoned Father Palmio and warned him to be +prudent; and the men of Venice, quoting Montepulciano, used a little +domestic authority to keep their wives away from Jesuit confessionals. + +From Naples, in the same year, came news of hostility and obloquy. +Salmeron had been recalled from Naples to Rome, and offensive observers +began to form theories of the recall. When the legend had grown to +its full proportions, it ran that Father Salmeron had extorted four +thousand pounds from a dying woman, before he would absolve her, and +had, when the Pope heard and asked an explanation, fled to Geneva and +turned Protestant. The boys sang ballads in the street about Father +Salmeron and his four thousand pounds, and the college had troubled +experiences. Why Salmeron was not sent down to refute the legend, and +whether there really was some little difficulty about a sum of money, +we cannot say. But the incident shows that Catholic Naples was largely +hostile to the Jesuits. The Pope had to intervene and use the authority +of the Viceroy. + +A few years later a more serious storm broke out in the north. In +all these cases of charges against the early Jesuits it is extremely +difficult to ascertain the truth; the case is always stated for us by +the defence. It happens that in the case of the trouble at Milan in +1563 we have one independent document, and I state the facts a little +more fully. It matters little whether the various Jesuits were guilty +or not in these local disturbances, and most people will conclude, +roughly, that they were probably not all immaculate and impeccable. But +it is worth while ascertaining if all this violent hostility to the +Jesuits, among Catholic peoples, is really founded on disappointed vice +or idle calumny, and we may take the Milan affair as a type. + +The famous Cardinal-Archbishop of Milan, Carolo Borromeo, was a nephew +of the Pope. He received his position in 1560, at the early age of +twenty-two, and was soon under the influence of the Jesuits. It was +reported to the Pope that Charles was giving large sums of money to +the Jesuits, and seemed to have an idea of joining the Society. Then +the young archbishop's Jesuit confessor, Father Ribera, was accused +of unnatural vice with a page in the establishment of Donna Virginia, +Charles's sister-in-law. Sacchini says that Charles investigated the +charge and found it false, and that a bishop who insisted on it (and +accused other Jesuits besides Ribera) was brought before Cardinal +Savelli at Rome, produced his witnesses--a number of discharged or +former students at the Jesuit college--and was himself punished for +libel. It is added that Charles continued to entrust his seminary to +the Jesuits, and would not have done so if they were guilty. Ribera, it +is acknowledged, was sent to the Indies by Lainez, but only because the +Pope disliked his influence on Charles. + +The Jesuit case is, as usual, plausible, but does not satisfy a close +inquirer. To send a distinguished and fashionable Jesuit to the Indies +because he is making his penitent more pious than the Pope likes, +especially at a time when he is charged with vice, is hardly the kind +of action we should expect in so prudent a man as Lainez. It was a +very drastic measure to put five thousand miles between Ribera and +his saintly penitent. As to Cardinal Savelli's inquiry, we can quite +believe that the Pope would be willing to draw a veil over a scandal, +which might ruin the Society in Italy, once Lainez had sent the chief +culprit on the foreign missions; Cardinal Savelli was, moreover, the +patron and protector of the Jesuits, and he seems to have dismissed the +witnesses unheard on the ground that they were expelled or seceding +students of the Society. We can further understand that Charles might +remain friendly with the Jesuits if he believed that one man only +was guilty, and that man was punished; but we shall see in the next +chapter that the relations of Charles and the Jesuits _were_ disturbed, +and that in 1578 they made an extraordinarily insolent attack on the +cardinal in his own city. + +But the chief point is that an almost contemporary writer, Caspar +Schoppe, maintains on the highest authority that the Jesuit schools at +Milan were deeply tainted with vice. Schoppe is an ardent anti-Jesuit, +and must be read with discretion when his authority is remote. In +this case he calls God to witness that Cardinal Frederic Borromeo, +the nephew and successor of Charles, said in his (Schoppe's) presence +that he had himself found the Jesuit college at Braida so corrupt that +he would not suffer any Jesuit to come near him, would not allow any +student of his seminary to approach a Jesuit teacher, and would, if he +had the power, forbid any Jesuit to teach.[3] Crétineau-Joly replies +that Schoppe is evidently lying, since the known date of his birth +makes it impossible that he should ever have conversed with _Charles_ +Borromeo. This confusion of Frederic and Charles is originally due +to Quesnel, who makes that mistake in quoting Schoppe, but it is +very singular that the French apologist for the Jesuits should not +know that Schoppe spoke of _Frederic_ Borromeo, not Charles, as is +pointed out in later editions of Quesnel. It is still more singular +that Crétineau-Joly assures his readers (who are not likely to make an +arduous search for Schoppe's ancient work) that the statement is made +"sous forme dubitative," when he must know that it is the most solemn +and emphatic statement in Schoppe's book. The impartial student must +conclude that there is grave evidence against the Milan Jesuits, and +that hostility to the Jesuits had at times a more respectable ground +than they are willing to admit. + +The Pope did not stint his patronage of the Society on account of +these accusations. When the Cardinal-Protector of the Society died in +1564, Pius IV. undertook that office himself, as if to intimidate its +critics; though the critics were not in the least intimidated. Shortly +afterwards he appointed a commission of cardinals and prelates to +consider the establishment of a seminary at Rome, and they recommended +that the Jesuits should have charge of it. The proposal inflamed the +Roman critics of the Society, and Montepulciano and Milan and all the +other scandals were fiercely discussed. The Pope held firm, however, +and the struggle had not ended when Lainez died. + +In Spain and Portugal the Society continued to make material progress +and, in the same proportion, morally to deteriorate. Favoured by the +genial clime of the Peninsula, the Society ran quickly through its +normal course of development and bore precocious fruit. The college at +Coimbra had, as we have seen, needed purification even under Ignatius. +It now prospered again, and maintained about a hundred and fifty +novices and priests. But the most notable feature of the Portuguese +province was the early interference of the Jesuits in politics. The +primitive design of avoiding politics and forbidding Jesuits to +frequent the courts of princes had first been set aside by Ignatius +himself, and was quite inconsistent with the general idea of obtaining +the favour of the rich and powerful. In Portugal the court was now +dominated by Jesuits; Father Miguel de Torres was confessor of the +Queen-Regent Catherine, Father Gonzales da Camara confessor of the +young King Sebastian, and Father Leo Henriquez confessor of Cardinal +Dom Henry, the King's grand-uncle. It may be read in any history +of Portugal how the Cardinal began, at the instigation and with the +assistance of the Jesuits, to intrigue for the Regency, and in 1562 +forced Catherine to abdicate. In a letter, dated 8th June 1571, which +Catherine afterwards wrote to General Borgia, we are plainly informed +of the intrigues of the confessors. "Everyone knows," says the Queen, +"that the evils which afflict this kingdom are caused by some of your +fathers, who are so misguided as to advise the King, my grandson, +to displace me and expel me from my State." She had dismissed her +confessor Torres, who advised her to submit to the intrigues of her +brother and Father Gonzales, but after a five years' struggle she was +forced to retire from Spain. Father Gonzales then became the most +powerful man in Portugal, and made his brother Prime Minister, until, +as we shall see, Sebastian became old enough to put an end to their +intrigues. + +In Spain the Society was less prosperous. The historic struggle at +Alcalà had ended in the capture of the university by the Jesuits, +but at Seville, Valladolid, and other towns there was persistent +opposition, and at Grenada a dangerous agitation arose because a Jesuit +confessor compelled a penitent to name her accomplice in vice. Borgia +himself had many enemies at court, and the opposition to him culminated +at length in an attack which compelled him to fly to Portugal. Two +works of piety which he had written in earlier years were denounced +to the Inquisition and condemned. It is said by the Jesuits that the +suspected passages in his books were interpolated by the man who +published them, and the point is of little interest. Borgia did not +remain to face the questions of the Inquisitors, and the King became so +angry with him that, when he was invited by Lainez to the metropolitan +house at Rome, the Spanish fathers warned Lainez that if any dignity +were conferred on Borgia it would be deeply resented at the court. + +This trouble had hardly ended in the disgrace and flight of Borgia when +a very grave domestic quarrel arose in the Castilian province. Lainez +had sent Father Natalis from Rome to inspect the province, and the +Castilian Provincial, Father Araoz (nephew of Ignatius), discovered +that Natalis had secret instructions to destroy his position at court. +Araoz, the oldest Jesuit in Spain, and a favourite at court, had won a +position of comfort and power which was certainly not consistent with +the personal ideal of the Society. When, however, they endeavoured +to dislodge him, he took a drastic revenge on the Roman authorities. +Natalis was collecting and sending to Rome a good deal of money, when +an instruction was suddenly issued from the court pointing out that +it was against the laws of the kingdom to send money abroad or send +men to study in other countries. This order was openly attributed by +the Jesuits to the influence of Father Araoz. An angry quarrel ensued, +and one of the friends of Araoz produced the secret instructions +which Lainez had given to Natalis and some father had stolen. We need +not enlarge on this quarrel. It is more interesting to note that the +Jesuits urged that their action in sending money to Rome did not come +under the royal order since the Church has no frontiers. For some +years the affairs of the Society in Spain remained in a very troubled +condition, in spite of their great prosperity. + +In France we naturally find the sternest struggle of the decade, as +the large Protestant population was supported by the majority of the +Catholics in opposition to the Jesuits. The early effort to woo Paris +by austerity of life and humble care of the sick had wholly failed. +The Archbishop, the university, and the lawyers of the Parlement +had observed that these humble ministers had the most formidable +privileges in their reserved baggage, and they had put the Jesuits out +of the gates. They remained in the meadows of St. Germain for five or +six years, and then, in 1560, Lainez ordered a fresh campaign. His +representative at Paris was the astute intriguer, Father Cogordan, who +had given Lainez painful proof of his ability at Rome. France was on +the eve of a terrible struggle of Catholics and Huguenots, and Cogordan +had little difficulty in persuading the Queen that the Jesuits were the +appointed force for checking Protestantism. The Parlement was ordered +to register the letters of Henry II., authorising the Jesuits. The +courageous lawyers refused once more, and the whole of the faculties of +the university joined in an emphatic condemnation of the Jesuits and +their privileges. + +The next move of the Jesuits is noteworthy. Cogordan was instructed +to reply that the Jesuits would sacrifice, in France, any privileges +which were opposed to the laws of the country or the rights of the +French Church. Their opponents were quite aware that the sacrifice +was insincere and temporary, but the manoeuvre greatly weakened the +position of the Archbishop. As a last resource he stipulated that they +should also abandon the name "Society of Jesus," which many Catholics +considered offensively arrogant, and again Cogordan assented. The +Parlement, however, still refused to register the royal letters, and +threw the decision upon a Council which was to be held at Poissy, where +Catholics and Huguenots were to meet in a dialectical tourney. + +Francis II. had died at the close of 1560, and Catherine de Medici, +the virtual ruler, was entirely won to the Jesuit view. But the +Huguenots, led by the Prince de Condé and Admiral de Coligny, were so +powerful that sober Catholic opinion favoured concession to them in +the interest of peace: a policy which the Jesuits ruthlessly opposed +wherever the Catholics were still in the majority. The Colloquy at +Poissy was, therefore, doubly interesting to the Jesuits, and Lainez +went in person, in the train of the Pope's legate, Cardinal d'Este, to +secure their aims; he was to obtain the recognition of the Society and +to prevent the reconciliation of Catholics and Huguenots. Unhappily he +succeeded in both designs. The Colloquy opened in July, when a small +group of the abler Huguenot divines confronted six cardinals and forty +bishops and archbishops, under the eyes of the King and Queen. When, +after a few sittings, it was seen that concessions must be made to the +heretics, Lainez delivered a fiery and eloquent discourse against this +proposed sacrilege. Catherine de Medici trembled, and would attend no +more sittings. The Colloquy ended in a futile wrangle of Lainez and the +Huguenots, and France, thanks very largely to Lainez, went on her way +toward St. Bartholomew. + +The sincerity of Lainez in this fanatical gospel of intolerance +cannot be doubted, but it is in piquant contrast to the second part +of his mission, in which he equally succeeded. He brought with him +testimonials to the work done by his Society in a hundred places, +confirmed the promise that they would lay aside their privileges and +their very name (until it was safe to resume them), and thus secured +the right of entry into Paris for this nameless body of priests. +This was done, of course, by quiet activity among the prelates, +without any public discussion. Lainez remained several months in +France, strengthening the new foundation and--at the very time when +he was urging Condé, in a friendly correspondence, to induce the +Protestants to join in the Council of Trent--using the whole of his +great influence over the Queen and court to prevent any concession of +churches or other normal rights to the Huguenots. As a result of his +success, the Jesuits moved into Paris and took possession of the hotel +which the Bishop of Clermont had bequeathed them some years before. We +can hardly suppose that they were following the advice of the sagacious +Lainez when they inscribed over the door the words "College of the +Society of the Name of Jesus." This flippant evasion of their promise +to abandon their name did not tend to conciliate Parisians. When they +succeeded in a short time, with their free classes and ablest teachers, +in drawing some hundreds of youths from the university, they became +bolder and announced that the "Clermont College" was incorporated +with the university. The rector, Marchand, indignantly challenged +their claim, and they produced letters of incorporation which they had +secretly obtained from his predecessor two years before. They could +not insist on the validity of this irregular diploma, and the close of +the generalship of Lainez saw them once more in a position of grave +insecurity and unpopularity. + +A somewhat similar struggle was taking place in Belgium. The university +and civic authorities at Louvain resisted them, and their college +remained so poor that we find its rector complaining to Rome of the +burden of supporting Father Ribadeneira, who, as we have previously +seen, had been sent to further Jesuit interests at the court of Philip +in Belgium. Even when Margaret of Austria, whom they easily secured, +bade the States of Brabant admit the Jesuits, they refused, and they +yielded only to the direct intervention of Philip in 1564. + +On the other hand, the able and devoted Jesuit Canisius was laying +the foundation of his Society very firmly in the Catholic provinces +of Germany. Canisius is the greatest figure in the second decade of +the Society's life, and seems to have been a more deeply religious +and conscientious man than Lainez. He maintained to the end the more +austere standard of life, travelling afoot from city to city, from +Rhineland to Poland and Austria, and inaugurating everywhere the +effective system of education which Ranke has declared superior to that +of the Reformers. The University of Dillingen was entrusted to the +Jesuits, the frontiers of the Society were extended to Poland in 1554, +and the laity were identified with its interests in the Catholic cities +by being drafted into the numerous sodalities or confraternities which +the Jesuits controlled. The historian can dwell with more sympathy +on their generally enlightened struggle with Protestantism and with +Catholic corruption in Germany, where heresy provided them with a +bracing atmosphere and a healthy incentive to work. Even here, however, +we find them at times stooping to tactics which we cannot admire, and +the next chapter will introduce them to us in some singular adventures. +Their conduct in Bavaria, especially, does not invite close scrutiny. +Albert V. was heavily burdened with debt, and it is something more than +a coincidence that, the moment he admitted the Jesuits, the Vatican +made him a large grant out of ecclesiastical funds; it is even clearer +that the Jesuits were chiefly responsible for the persecution of +Protestants which followed their settlement in Bavaria. + +Lainez had made a tour of these provinces after establishing his +Society in France. From Paris he had passed to Belgium, where the +Duchess of Parma was ruling in the name of her brother. Margaret had +heard Lainez preach at Rome, and he easily secured her interest for his +struggling brethren in Flanders. He then went on to Trent, where, in +1562, the Council resumed its sittings. There was no longer the least +hope of persuading the Reformers to attend, and it now remained for the +Church to decide what modifications it would adopt in order to meet the +Protestant indictment. The northern monarchs, confronted with the task +of reconciling large Catholic and Protestant populations, were disposed +to make concessions, and their clergy were at least eager to check the +arrogant claims and moderate the extravagance of the papal court. This +policy was opposed by Italy, Spain, and the Papacy, and the Jesuits +were the most violent partisans of the ultramontane attitude. It would, +perhaps, be an error to ascribe to Lainez a preponderant rôle in the +unhappy councils that were adopted at Trent, but whatever influence his +learning and eloquence gave him was used for the purpose of magnifying +the papal authority. Even the wealth and luxury of the Roman court, +which had been so largely responsible for the schism, found in him an +eloquent defender. He was able to return to Rome with an assurance that +the Catholic States made no concession, while the northern prelates had +to retire to their seats with grave foreboding of bloody struggle. + +Of the Jesuit missions beyond the seas during this decade little need +be said. In India alone some material progress was made, and it was +largely due to tactics which promised no permanent result. Writers +like Crétineau-Joly deliberately omit the most significant details in +regard to these early missions, and give a most misleading impression +that tens of thousands of natives were gathered into the fold by the +spiritual teaching; and exalted labours of the missionaries. The early +Jesuits themselves are more candid. They tell, for instance, how in +1559 they made a descent, with an accompanying troop of soldiers, on +an island whose inhabitants had long resisted baptism. The natives were +held up by the troops, and their leaders were put in irons and told +that they were to be deported. In the circumstances they professed +themselves eager to be baptized, and the sacred rite and a good dinner +were at once bestowed on five hundred "converts." The Portuguese +authority was the chief agency on which the missionaries relied. The +most tempting privileges were granted to converts; the administrative +offices which the Hindoo clergy had exercised for ages were transferred +to the Jesuits; and in 1557 even the tribunal of the Inquisition was +set up by them in India. + +In other lands the missionary record was singularly barren during the +decade. In Brazil the fathers still wandered in the forests, slowly +winning the confidence and allegiance of the natives by medical and +other humane services. Abyssinia was once more invaded, and some of the +fathers entered the Congo, but both missions were destroyed after a few +years. In Egypt an attempt was made to induce the Copts to recognise +the authority of the Pope. Rich presents were made to the Patriarch, +and the Papacy was flattered for a time by reports of success; but +the adventure ended in the painful and ignominious flight of the +missionaries from the country. The Japanese missions also were almost +destroyed in the course of the decade, and two ingenious attempts to +enter China proved unsuccessful. In 1556 Father Melchior Nuñez was +permitted to reach Canton, but his very diplomatic account of his +object did not convince the mandarins and he was politely expelled. In +1563 a further attempt was made. The mandarins were informed that an +embassy had arrived from Europe with valuable presents for the Emperor. +The cautious mandarins asked to see its credentials, and, when they +were told that these had been accidentally destroyed on the voyage, +they again amiably conducted their visitors to the frontier. There were +three Jesuits, in disguise, among the "envoys," and it is clear that +the whole expedition was a fraudulent attempt of the merchants and +missionaries from Goa to break the reserve of the Chinese. + +Such were the fortunes of the Society of Jesus during the decade which +closed with the death of Lainez in 1565. The hundred establishments +which Ignatius had bequeathed to him in 1556 had now increased to a +hundred and fifty; the thousand subjects had become three thousand. +From Portugal to Poland the Jesuits were the most ardent soldiers in +the war against the advancing heretics, and there was hardly a Catholic +court in Europe that did not welcome the children of Ignatius and bow +in secret to their advice. Yet a keen observer like Lainez must have +perceived that this prosperity was less solid than it appeared, and his +last years were saddened by announcements of hostility and defeat. In +France and Belgium the gain was wholly disproportionate to the exacting +struggle they had maintained; in Portugal the material success and +political action were lowering the ideal of the Society; in Spain the +Catholic monarch, the Inquisition, and the higher clergy were hostile; +and England kept its doors sternly closed against the Jesuits. The +future was still uncertain, and another Caraffa might at any time +accede to the papal chair. With a last glance at the ex-Duke of Gandia, +as if to intimate that Borgia was the fittest to take up the burden +he laid down, the second General of the Society, able, energetic, and +high-minded to the last, sank wearily to his rest. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 3: _Relatio ad Reges_, by Alphonsus de Vargas (Caspar +Schoppe), 1636, p. 40.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +GENERAL FRANCIS BORGIA + + +The election which followed the death of Lainez was not marred +by any of the painful incidents which we frequently find on such +occasions in the Jesuit chronicles. When the leading fathers of the +Society reached Rome in the early summer, to compare their stories +of warfare in every clime of Europe and consult about the future +of their great organisation, there was one amongst them who had +so natural a pre-eminence that his election was assured. This was +Francis Borgia, ex-Duke of Gandia and Viceroy of Catalonia. There +were in the distinguished gathering many of far greater ability +and service--indeed, there was probably none of less ability than +Borgia--but his high birth, his friendship with half the kings of +Europe, his venerable person and austere life marked him clearly for +the supreme command. Philip of Spain had outgrown his hostility, and, +at the death of Lainez, Borgia was appointed Vicar-General. So plain +was the intention of the electors that he sincerely begged them not to +impose on him so heavy a responsibility. They disregarded his protest, +and on 2nd July he became General of the Society. + +He was then a feeble and venerable man of sixty-five, worn with +austerity, profoundly sincere and religious. In his person he +singularly illustrated the change that had come over Catholicism. The +name of Borgia at once suggests the groves of pleasure or the chambers +of crime out of which the Papacy had been startled by the voice of +Luther: his father had been a son of Pope Alexander VI., his mother +an illegitimate daughter of the Archbishop of Saragossa, who in turn +had been a natural son of Ferdinand V. But with his hair-shirts, his +bloody scourges, and his long fasts, Francis belonged to the new age, +and seemed to have taken on himself the expiation of the scarlet sins +of the Borgias. He had been Viceroy of Catalonia from 1539 to 1543, and +had then suffered for some years a mild and obscure disgrace. During +this enforced retirement to his duchy he had met, and fallen under +the charm of, Peter Favre, and he was, as we saw, secretly admitted +to the Society. Although he had been driven from Spain only a few +years before, the Pope had restored his prestige, and his election was +acclaimed throughout the Society and the Church. + +We may, perhaps, see a reflection of his religious spirit, as well as +an indication that grave abuses had crept into the Society, in the long +series of decrees which the Congregation proceeded to pass. No Jesuit +was henceforward to live at a royal court--at least, "not for more than +two or three months": Jesuit communities were not to own and manage +large farms, and sell their produce in the public markets; lawsuits on +behalf of legacies were to be avoided; salaries for teaching were to be +abandoned when a teacher joined the Society. These and other commands +give us an authoritative assurance that there was much disorder. Even +in the Congregation the liberals or casuists were represented. When, in +the discussion of the impropriety of going to law to secure legacies, +one of the sterner brethren quoted the Sermon on the Mount, another +plausibly argued that it was wrong to yield to worldlings funds which +might be used in the service of God. The Puritans won, and their +decrees went forth; but the farms were not abandoned, as we shall see, +nor the lawyers impoverished. + +In view of the despotic power which a General had, it may seem strange +that the electors should venture to entrust the office to a man of such +mediocre ability as Borgia. We must remember that the General had a +council of four able assistants, and it could safely be trusted that +the humility of Borgia would leave the power in their hands. Nor was +it long before their statesmanship was put to a severe test. Their +princely benefactor, Pius IV., died before the end of 1565, and a +Dominican monk, Pius V., occupied the chair. He was a personal friend +of Borgia, but he belonged to a rival order, and Rome was greatly +agitated by the hope that he would strip the Society of its excessive +privileges. To the relief and delight of the Jesuits, Pius V. took the +earliest opportunity to show his friendliness. As he drove in solemn +procession past their church, he summoned the General to his carriage, +and talked affectionately with him for a quarter of an hour under the +eyes of his officers. When he went on to nominate Jesuits for certain +important offices, it seemed that they had found another protector. + +In 1567, however, they were dismayed to receive an amiable, but firm, +suggestion from Pius to chant in choir, as other religious bodies did, +and abandon the "simple" or temporary vows which enabled them to keep +priests in the Society for years without being solemnly pledged to +it.[4] A commission of cardinals was at the time engaged in discussing +the reform of the monastic world, and the Jesuits submitted to it a +lengthy and skilful memoir in defence of their institutions. Ought +not a regiment of light horse, ready to fly at a moment's notice to +any part of the Pope's dominions, to have special characters? Would +those hundreds of men who had joined the Society in its actual form +not have ground to complain if it were made more onerous? Would the +benefactors who had built their homes and chapels be indifferent to +the changes? Nay, what would the heretics say when the decisions of +a whole series of Popes, to say nothing of the revelations made to +Ignatius, were ruled improper? These ingenious considerations were then +orally impressed on the Pope by Borgia and Polanco, and they flattered +themselves that they had once more evaded the commands which it was +their chief business to see respected by the rest of Christendom. The +Pope had agreed to postpone the question of choir until his new edition +of the Breviary was published, and he did not seem to insist on the +reform of the vows. A few months later, however, they heard that the +Pope was about to decree that in future no member of a religious body +should be admitted to the priesthood until he had taken his final vows. + +The details of the struggle need not be repeated here, but we must +assuredly see a significance in these repeated conflicts with the +Pope. In the whole history of the monastic orders of the Catholic +Church there is no example of persistent opposition to, or determined +evasion of, the commands of the Pope to compare for a moment with this +behaviour of the men who took a special vow to obey him. Moreover, +the Jesuit writers of the time frankly confess that they resisted the +Pope's wish in their own interest. If the solemn vows were to be taken +in a youth's early twenties, they would have to examine much more +closely the characters of aspirants to the Society, and their numbers +would shrink. It was one of the most constant charges against them +in every country, that in the admission of novices they sacrificed +spiritual quality to quantity or social distinction; and certainly the +number of priests who abandoned, or were expelled from, the Society was +large. Pius V. knew this, and, to their great mortification, insisted +on the reform of their system. They sullenly abandoned one of the most +characteristic of their institutions--until Pius V. should go the way +of his predecessors. There was much rejoicing in Rome, and it was +rumoured that this was only the beginning of reform; but Pius hastened +to reassure Borgia and his colleagues. + +In 1571, Borgia was requested by the Pope to undertake an important +mission. The steady advance of the Turks upon a divided Christendom +alarmed the Pope, and he wished to unite the Catholic monarchs for the +purpose of defence. His nephew, Cardinal Alessandrini, was to visit +the courts of Spain, Portugal, and France, and Borgia was invited +to accompany him. He was now advanced in years and tormented with +gout, but he accepted the mission, and we may make our survey of the +provinces of the Society by following his travels. + +Spain endeavoured by an honourable reception to atone for the disgrace +it had formerly put upon him. The King promised his aid against the +Turk: the Inquisition permitted the publication of Borgia's books: the +Jesuits everywhere took courage at sight of their venerable leader and +the honour paid him. The Spanish province had continued, since the +death of Lainez, to have a very chequered record. The father of the +province, Araoz, had resisted every effort of the Roman authorities to +dislodge him from his comfortable nest at the court, and his conduct +had alienated many from the Society. On the other hand, the devoted +exertions of the Jesuits during the epidemics of 1565, 1568, and +1571, had won back much of the early respect for them, and many new +missions had been established. Most of the countries of Europe were +repeatedly ravaged by pestilence during that decade, and the Jesuits +distinguished themselves everywhere by the bravery with which they +exposed, and frequently lost, their lives in the service of the sick. +Yet there was a persistent feeling in Spain that they were over-eager +to secure legacies, and nearly every year witnessed a violent outbreak +of hostility to them. + +A typical instance is found in the Jesuit chronicles in the earlier +part of the year of Borgia's visit. The Jesuits of Alcalà had received +into their ranks a youth named Francesco d'España, the son of a wealthy +and distinguished lady of Madrid, who strongly opposed his entrance +into the Society. He had the disposal of a large fortune, of which he +was heir. The mother appealed to the Royal Council, at the head of +which was Cardinal Spinosa, and the Jesuits were ordered to restore +the youth. In the meantime, they had secretly sent the youth to their +house at Madrid,--to be prepared to give evidence, Crétineau-Joly +audaciously says,--and when the Vicar of the Archbishop of Toledo +came to their house at Alcalà to enforce the order, they would tell +him only that d'España was not there. A very lively dispute followed. +The angry prelate roundly abused the Jesuits, who flourished their +privileges in his face; and some zealous brother rang the bell of the +college to summon the students to the defence of their rector. When +at length the Vicar threatened to have the Jesuit Provincial dragged +to prison, and the students drew their knives to protect him, the +rector promised to produce d'España within twenty-four hours. He was +summoned, and his mother tried to persuade him to return, or at least +to leave his fortune to his family instead of leaving it to the +Jesuits. He refused, until the Provincial, foreseeing a great outburst +of indignation, advised him to relinquish his fortune. The feeling +engendered by such incidents was not removed by the visit of Borgia. In +the following year, 1572, the civic authorities of Madrid appealed to +the Royal Council to close the Jesuit school, on the ground that the +lessons were merely "bait" for young men of wealthy families. + +In Portugal, Borgia found the remarkable spectacle of one of +his subjects virtually ruling the kingdom. Portugal had fallen +lamentably from its earlier greatness. The vast frame of its Empire +was undiminished, but the spirit necessary to sustain it had died, +and it was doomed to decay. No serious historian questions that the +Jesuits had, at least by setting up the Inquisition and pursuing the +Jews and Moors, greatly accelerated its fall, and under the rule of +Father Gonzales da Camara and his brother, in the name of the young +King, the temporal interests of Portugal steadily declined. A stern +French critic of the Jesuits, Pasquier, says that he was told by the +Marquis de Pisani, the French ambassador at the Spanish court, that +the Jesuits were bent on obtaining control of the kingdom of Portugal. +Their apologists invite us to be amused at this incredible fiction of +the anti-Jesuit, yet it is hardly more than a strong expression of the +historical facts. Pasquier expressly says that the Jesuits meant to +rule, not without a king, but through a king of their own choice, and +they had done this for ten years when Borgia came to visit them. They +had, as we saw, helped to replace Catherine by Cardinal Henry, and they +had in 1568 displaced the Cardinal by declaring Sebastian of age (in +his sixteenth year). + +That they promoted the interests of the Society in Portugal and its +colonies need hardly be said, but there is ample evidence that they had +a larger influence. The King's mother wished him to marry the daughter +of the Emperor Maximilian, but papal policy preferred a marriage with +the sister of the French King; and we have a letter from Borgia to +Gonzales, as confessor of Sebastian, enjoining him to promote the +French marriage. Even Borgia could overlook the decrees of his Society +at times, or convert temporal matters into spiritual. We may, however, +regard it as a strained and fanciful conjecture of certain critics that +the Portuguese fathers tried to deter Sebastian from marriage, and +pressed him to undertake his fatal mission to Africa, in order that the +crown might fall into their hands. But this belongs to a later date. +Father Gonzales was still the virtual head of the State when Borgia +visited Portugal, and the Society flourished there and in the Indies. +Although Borgia had lately received an angry protest from Catherine +against the interference of the fathers in political matters, he left +Gonzales at the court. + +Alessandrini and Borgia next went to France; and when we reflect +that the historic massacre of the Huguenots occurred a few months +afterwards, we feel that it is important to study the visit and the +position of the Jesuits with some care. Let us first see how the +Society had fared in its ceaseless struggle with its opponents at Paris. + +In 1565 a fresh attack had been made on the Jesuit college, and a +fruitless appeal against it was made to the Royal Senate. The Jesuits +then arraigned the University, which refused to recognise their +college, before the Parliament, and a fresh opportunity was offered +to the Parisian lawyers to draw up their scathing indictments of the +Society. In the meantime, Father Possevin, rector of the college +they had recently opened at Lyons, was sent to see the young King +and Catherine de Medici at Bayonne, and induce them to throw their +power and command into the legal scale. The conference at Bayonne, +at which Possevin assisted in some measure, is of grave importance in +the history of Europe. On the pretext of making Charles acquainted +with his kingdom, Catherine was bringing him into the neighbourhood of +other Catholic princes and conferring with them. At Bayonne she met the +wife of Philip of Spain, and in the Queen's suite was the grim Duke of +Alva. We can only conjecture what was discussed at this conference, but +no one doubts that the chief subject was the growth of Protestantism +in Catholic lands. Protestant historians frequently suggest that the +St. Bartholomew massacre was actually projected at Bayonne, but we +are hardly justified in thinking that there was anything more than a +general discussion of the brutal policy which was afterwards adopted +by Alva in the Netherlands and Catherine in France. In any case, it is +most unlikely that Possevin had any share in these secret counsels. +He was a new man, hardly known to the court in 1565. He discussed the +affairs of his Society with the Spanish Queen, and revealed to her +the smuggling of Protestant books into her country; and he returned +to Paris with letters, commending the suit of the Paris college, from +Catherine, Charles, and the Cardinal de Bourbon. + +When the President of the Parlement found these weighty and irregular +documents thrown into the scale, he temporised. The suit was suspended; +the Jesuits were provisionally allowed to teach. In the following +year, however, the University appealed to the Constable of France, +complaining that the professors were unable to keep discipline, as +a pupil went to the Jesuits the moment he was reprimanded. Then two +singular discoveries were made by the Jesuits, and they had the effect +of disarming many of their patriotic opponents. In 1567, Father Oliver +Manares, the Provincial, informed the court and the civic authorities +of Paris that the Huguenots had concerted a plot to sack and burn the +city; he had learned it from a Polish noble, who was visiting Paris and +had been warned to leave in time.[5] Paris flew to arms and scared the +supposed plotters; it was also grateful to Father Manares, and incensed +against the Huguenots. In the same year, Father Auger was fortunate +enough to discover a similar plot at Lyons. There is evidence of a +conspiracy at Lyons, but the historian must regard the "discovery" +of Manares with grave suspicion. The effect of the discoveries was +that the grateful King at once ordered that all opposition to the +Jesuits must cease, and all legacies to the Society must be valid in +law; and that the Catholics were soon ranged against the Huguenots in +open field. The ablest of the Jesuits, Auger and Possevin, ardently +stimulated the Catholics, accompanied the troops, and were even seen in +the thick of the battles. + +A peace was arranged in 1570, to the disappointment of the Jesuits; +and the country still enjoyed this precarious peace when Alessandrini +and Borgia reached the court, at Blois, in the first month of 1572. In +regard to the discussions which took place we know only that France +declared itself unable to join in the crusade against the Turk, and +Charles's sister, Mary of Valois, was promised to Henri de Béarn +instead of to Sebastian of Spain, as the Pope wished. Alessandrini and +Borgia went back to Rome, to announce their failure to the dying Pope. +And on 24th August of that year took place the horrible massacre which +lays an eternal stain on the memory of Catherine de Medici. We have, +fortunately, neither to linger over the revolting details of that +outrage, nor to enter the larger controversy as to the responsibility +for it.[6] The general feeling of historians is that the massacre was +deliberately planned by Catherine; and, since the Jesuits had influence +with Catherine, we have to consider whether they may have been +implicated in the barbaric slaughter. + +Since General Borgia conferred with her at Blois some months before +the massacre, it has been thought by many that he was initiated. A +careful consideration of the character of Borgia disposes one to acquit +him confidently of this suspicion; it seems incredible that he should +approve, or that Catherine should expect him to approve, so inhuman a +measure. It is a common mistake to suppose that there was a fixed type +of Jesuit, and that almost any member of the Society may be regarded +as a man who would sanction criminal means for the attainment of a +good end. Our narrative has already shown us that Jesuits differed +considerably in character, and that individual features were not, as is +sometimes thought, obliterated by the impression of a corporate stamp. +Borgia was cruel only to himself, and he does not seem to have been +much of a casuist. + +The real question is how far such men as Auger, Possevin, and Manares +were responsible for that general mood and temper of Catherine which +culminated in the Bartholomew massacre. It does not seem probable that +any of them were actually initiated to the plot. They were not the +keepers of the royal conscience in France at that time, and were not +at all constantly consulted by Catherine. But since the days when, at +and after the colloquy at Poissy, Lainez had sternly forbidden her +to grant an elementary freedom of worship to the Huguenots, they had +impelled her toward that harsh and intolerant policy which at length +took this criminal form in her diseased mind. Their intellectual +campaign against the Huguenots was a failure. They made few converts +from it, and they urged coercion to prevent it from spreading. Then, +when the Huguenots stirred under this unjust treatment, they were +very zealous in warning the court of "plots." It seems to me a grave +circumstance that in 1567, Father Manares "discovered" on the part of +the Huguenots of Paris a design not unlike that which the Catholics +afterwards perpetrated against them; it is probable that this was the +germ of Catherine's bloody enterprise. Whether she ever discussed her +plan with any of the leading Jesuits we have no evidence whatever +to determine. At a later date, when their house is raided and their +preachers are bolder, we shall find the Jesuits of Paris expressly +advocating crime in the interest of religion. At this stage we can +only say that they pressed a policy of violence and injustice, and +Catherine's crime, in which they acquiesced, was an extreme deduction +from it. + +Simultaneously with the trouble in France, Alva was engaged in +"pacifying" the Netherlands. Here the Jesuits had miscalculated the +strength of the Catholics, and, in encouraging the policy of violent +repression, led to their own undoing. Only the favour of princes +had secured some shelter for them in Belgium, and their houses now +disappeared in the flames of the civil war. Their college at Douai had +been interdicted by the university authorities in 1567, but relieved by +papal authority. As the Spaniards proceeded, however, in the drastic +and bloody policy which the Jesuits were known to favour, the crowds +stormed their residences, and by 1570 they were almost driven from +the country. They returned in the wake of Alva, but there was bitter +hostility to them, and they were generally accused of rebuilding their +house at Antwerp out of the loot of Flemish towns. Father Sacchini +is moved to lament the perversity of men who could entertain such a +suspicion, though, as their sardonic critic Steinmetz observes, "it +would have been better to supply the place of this moral maxim by +stating whence the funds were obtained for building or beautifying the +house at Antwerp." + +When we pass to Germany we naturally find that the Jesuits are apostles +of toleration, charity, and calm intellectual discussion of differences +of creed in the north, fanatical intolerantists in the south, and +advocates of every conceivable compromise between the two extremes in +the intervening or mixed States. Canisius still maintained his great +work and his austere standard. Appointed Legate of the Pope in 1565 he +traversed the whole of Germany on foot, and strengthened the loyalty +of the Catholic rulers to the Council of Trent. In the following year +we find him, at the Diet of Augsburg, helping to unite Protestants and +Catholics against the Turk. Many new colleges were founded by him, +including three in Poland, before the death of Borgia. On the other +hand, grave reports had to be sent to Rome from the more Catholic and +prosperous centres. The University of Dillingen, which the Jesuits +controlled, was found in 1567 to be permeated with heresy, and a +rigorous scrutiny ended in some of the Jesuits (including an English +refugee, Edward Thorn) going over to the Protestants. In 1570 the +Jesuit rector of Prague College became a Protestant and married. In +Bavaria the cry was raised that they mutilated boys in their colleges. +A most extraordinary trial resulted in their acquittal, but there +was a deep and widespread prejudice against them. In the same year, +1565, they were fiercely assailed in Austria. Their college at Vienna +was raided by an angry mob; and the nobles, who had been convoked by +Maximilian, refused to give their aid in the campaign against the Turk +unless the Emperor expelled the Jesuits. + +In Italy the chronicles of the Society tell of slow advance chequered +by fits of hostility. By the year 1567 the Roman college had more than +a thousand pupils, but the provinces were beginning to murmur at the +burden of supporting this establishment, and the next congregation +would restrict its growth. In Genoa, Siena, and other cities, the +fathers struggled with poverty; in one place a college had to abandon +the struggle and die. In most parts, however, the Society flourished +and adapted its work to the circumstances. At Palermo we hear, in 1567, +of a weird pageant, known as "The Triumph of Death," arranged by the +Jesuits. Sack-clothed men bearing candles, a huge figure of Christ in +a coffin, and two hundred flagellants, stimulated to their ghastly +exercise by a troop of choristers dressed as hermits, went before a car +containing a monstrous skeleton, higher than the roofs of the houses, +with a mighty scythe in its hand. In the north the appeal was to +princes. Borromeo still favoured the Society at Milan, while at Ferrara +and Florence the Jesuits directed the consciences of princesses. The +daughters of the Emperor who had married the Duke of Ferrara and +Francis de Medici insisted on retaining their Jesuit confessors; +and, when Borgia would refuse permission, the confessors themselves +pleaded that the fair ladies could not possibly be abandoned to strange +influences. Borgia reluctantly consented. He saw, and regretted, that +one of the sternest rules of the Society was being sacrificed to +expediency, but his counsellors seemed to have overruled him. Ignatius +had sanctioned the first royal confessor: now there were four. + +From his survey of the provinces, in which he saw much to distress his +austere feelings, Borgia returned, exhausted, to Rome. He died a few +weeks afterwards (1st October 1572), and Polanco, one of the ablest +administrators at the Roman centre, was appointed Vicar-General. He +fixed the election for April, and in the early spring the most famous +officers of the army began to come in from their remote battlefields. +Auger was occupied in so congenial a task in France that he would not +come to Rome; he was with the Catholic troops besieging the Huguenots +in La Rochelle. But there was an impressive gathering of the veterans +of the Society. Salmeron and Bobadilla were still there to tell the +story of their humble beginning on the flanks of Montmartre thirty +years before; Ribadeneira, Miguel de Torres, Canisius, Possevin, +Manares, Leo Henriquez, Miron, Polanco, and other fathers, before whom +kings would bow, came in from the frontiers to the eternal city, as the +commanders of legions had done before them. And of this brilliant group +one of the lowest in ability and distinction, Father Everard Mercurian, +was chosen to be General. + +The new Pope, Gregory XIII., had intervened. "How many Spanish Generals +have you had?" he asked, when the older Jesuits came to greet him. +All three had been Spaniards. "How many votes have the Spaniards +amongst you?" he then asked. Quite enough to elect a Spaniard once +more, as they were bent on doing; and the man on whom they had fixed +their thoughts was the gifted and energetic Polanco. But Polanco +was descended from converted Jews, a class disliked by high-born +Spaniards, and Kings Philip and Sebastian had written to ask the Pope +to prevent him from being elected. The fathers respectfully protested +that the Pope, who was Protector of their Society, ought not to coerce +their decisions. "Are there no able men amongst you except Spaniards?" +he went on; and he suggested Everard Mercurian. Gregory knew that the +blind obedience of the Jesuits to the Pope was not of the kind which +hastens to carry out the slightest wish of the ruler, and on the +morning of the election he sent a cardinal to tell them that they must +not elect a Spaniard. They still expostulated; but Gregory insisted, +and Mercurian, a mild and mediocre old man, was made General. Being a +Belgian, he was at least a subject of Spain; and he was sixty-eight +years old. + +Then the conscript fathers assembled, day after day, to discuss the +mass of secret reports from every centre, and pass those instructive +decrees--forty-eight were issued on this occasion--which tell us so +plainly the decay of the original spirit. Ignatius had taught them to +seek power and wealth for God: it had proved a dangerous lesson. The +Congregation dispersed in June, and Mercurian entered upon his seven +years' generalship. The real control was openly entrusted to Father +Palmio, the Italian assistant, until Father Manares ousted him, and +secured the chief place and the hope of succession. There was, at this, +some unedifying language; we shall see presently that Manares, at +least, undoubtedly sought the generalship. But the various provinces +were now under the command of such able men that the progress of +the Society was not retarded. Let us glance at the more significant +happenings in the provinces, and then sum up the work of the Society in +its first four decades. + +In the case of Spain we need note only that the Pope's interference +in the election was bitterly resented, and a feeling spread among the +fathers which we shall find breaking into the most singular expression +under the rule of Acquaviva. In spite of the stern design of Ignatius +and the emphatic rule of the Society that the Jesuit was to benumb +every patriotic fibre in his heart, and know himself only as a citizen +of the city of God, the Spaniards cherished their national pride in +an alarming degree. Under the ambitious and masterful Philip II., who +dreamed of world-empire and was willing to include the Jesuits in his +diplomatic corps, they prospered and were the most important body in +the Society. They were annoyed that the generalship passed out of their +hands, and they began to meditate secession from the Roman authorities. +When the papal Nuncio died at Madrid in 1577 a memoir written in this +sense was found amongst his papers. We shall see later how the feeling +developed, and how the war with Rome brought into notice the degenerate +character of the Spanish province. + +Italian affairs in that decade are chiefly remarkable for a violent +quarrel with St. Charles Borromeo at Milan. He had continued for +some years to patronise and employ them. Father Adorno remained his +confessor; and in 1572 he gave them the Abbey of Braida for a college, +and in 1573 entrusted to them the College of Nobles at Milan. They +were already in charge of the seminary of the diocese, and the trouble +seems to have begun with the transfer of this institution to the +Oblates (a religious body founded by Charles) in 1577. Crétineau-Joly +explains that the Jesuits were now controlling so many institutions in +Milan that they were overworked, and they begged to be relieved of the +seminary. He appeals to Giussano, the saint's biographer; but Giussano +merely says that Charles "gave the seminary to the Oblates, with the +consent of the Jesuits," which is a polite way of saying that they were +dismissed. We shall see, in fact, that Charles was convinced that the +Jesuits were in a lax and degenerate condition. + +In the following year, 1578, the cardinal quarrelled with the Governor +of Milan, and the Jesuits divided in allegiance. Adorno and a few +others were faithful to Charles, but a courtly and fashionable Jesuit +preacher, who was appointed to preach the Lent, attacked and ridiculed +the cardinal-archbishop from one of the chief pulpits of his own +city, before a crowded audience of wealthy Milanese. This preacher, +Mazzarino, uncle of the famous minister, was the confessor and friend +of the governor. Charles protested against the unseemly attack, but the +Jesuit provincial appointed Mazzarino again to preach the Lent in 1579, +and he attacked Charles more virulently than ever. All the less austere +ladies of Milan, for whom he made smooth the paths of rectitude, +flocked to his chapel, and listened with pleasure to his ridicule of +the ascetic prescriptions of their saintly archbishop. Charles drew the +attention of the Provincial to the fact that Mazzarino was preaching +moral principles of scandalous laxity, and his attacks on the chief +clerical authority were very injurious. The Provincial would not +chide Mazzarino, and Charles appealed to the General. The only reply +of the General was, at the request of a certain countess, to direct +Mazzarino to preach all the year round. Charles threatened to suspend +the preacher, and he was defied from the pulpit; he threatened to bring +his principles to the notice of the Inquisition, and the Jesuits sent a +courier to Rome to defend their preacher. Then Charles instructed his +Roman agent, Spetiano, to lay the case before the papal court, and +Mazzarino was recalled by his General and suspended from preaching for +two years by an ecclesiastical tribunal. + +This quarrel is of interest for two reasons. In the first place, it +illustrates the value of Crétineau-Joly's history of the Jesuits. +The French writer ignores the attack in 1577, and says that, as soon +as Mazzarino began to misbehave, "the Milan fathers hastened to +disapprove of the imprudent orator," and the General recalled him. It +is, of course, true that Charles's confessor, Adorno, "disapproved" +of his brother Jesuit, but the Mazzarino faction retorted that he +was jealous, because Mazzarino had larger audiences for his sermons; +and Crétineau-Joly suppresses the fact that the Provincial, and for +a time the General, defiantly supported Mazzarino. We know this from +Borromeo's letters to his agent.[7] The further interest of the +quarrel, which is entirely suppressed by the French historian, is that +in these letters Charles passes very severe strictures on the Jesuits +as a body. Instead of finding fault with one man only, Mazzarino, he +found fault with all except one, his confessor, to whom he remained +attached. "I confess," he writes to Spetiano, "that for some time I +have felt the Society to be in grave danger of decadence unless a +prompt remedy be applied." The Jesuits, he explains, admit clever +youths without regard to their character, and they grant extravagant +liberties to their literary colleagues. They are inflated by the favour +of the nobility and the crowds of wealthy women who flock to lax +moralists like Mazzarino. We may also recall here the grave statement +of Charles's nephew and successor, Archbishop Frederic Borromeo, who +was educated by the Jesuits: a statement repeated, in the most solemn +terms, by a writer to whom he made it. + +I have enlarged on this quarrel because we have here the rare advantage +of an impartial and unimpeachable witness, and we see how serious a +ground there is at times, when independent evidence can be found, +for reading Jesuit and pro-Jesuit writers with caution. We must not, +however, pass to the opposite extreme and conclude that the Italian +Jesuits generally were the favourites of ladies who appreciated +indulgence in their confessors and preachers. This is the only serious +scandal of the Italian province under Mercurian. + +In France, as in Spain, the story is one of preparation for the +stirring events of the next chapter. The hostile Archbishop of Paris +died, and Pierre de Gondi, who succeeded him, was an Italian of the +Medici suite, and favourable to the Jesuits. Charles IX. gave place to +Henry II., and the new king chose Auger for his confessor, and gave +the Jesuits everything they cared to ask. There was now no question +of suppressing their name and privileges in France. A third powerful +patron was the Cardinal de Bourbon, who obtained for them a "house +of the professed" at Paris, and tried to force the university to +incorporate their college. The Parlement and University still made +every effort to check their triumphant advance, but they now began to +send pupils of their own to graduate in the university and weaken its +opposition. Their college in Lorraine was erected into a university, +and royal pupils sat at their feet. When the famous Catholic League was +formed they flung themselves into its work with great ardour, and we +shall see the terrible issue in the next chapter. + +Two incidents in the permanent quarrel with the Paris University should +be noticed. One of the Jesuits, Maldonat, shocked the professors of +the Sorbonne by teaching that the immaculate conception of Mary was a +matter of free opinion,[8] and Rome upheld the Jesuit. More interesting +is a memoir which the doctors of the Sorbonne submitted to the papal +court when, in 1575, Cardinal de Bourbon was trying to secure the +incorporation of the Jesuit college. Amongst heavy charges of avarice +and of seizing the property of other religious bodies, we find the +quaint accusation that the Jesuits taught that souls were delivered +from purgatory after ten years of suffering. The point seems academic +to the layman, and very consoling to the faithful. What it really +meant, in practice, was that the Jesuits claimed that they might, after +ten years, divert to other purposes the large funds bequeathed to them +to say masses for the dead. + +In Belgium the record was still one of trouble and vicissitude. They +had, when Alva had "pacified" the province, opened a number of houses, +which the townsfolk (as at Antwerp and Liège) threatened to burn. +Then, when Don John, Philip's half-brother, was defeated in 1578, +the Jesuits refused to take the oath imposed by the States and were +expelled from Antwerp and other centres. They began to recover to some +extent under the Duke of Parma, but had to witness the secession of +the northern provinces and the formation of a new Protestant power, +Holland, which was destined to give them trouble. At Louvain they +maintained a struggle with the university similar to that at Paris. +They at last tripped up the celebrated Michel de Bay (Baius), rector of +the university, and sent their brilliant young theologian, Bellarmine, +who was then only thirty years old, to enter into a prolonged duel with +him. When, at last, they induced Rome to take a serious view of the +errors of Baius, and Father Toledo was sent by the Pope to secure his +submission, they began to rise from the lowly position in which the +university had kept them. + +The Catholics of Austria and Southern Germany continued to oppose and +intimidate them in spite of the devoted exertions of Canisius. They +were fiercely assailed at Gratz, Prague, Innsprück, and Vienna. The +Emperor Maximilian was even induced to forbid their Vienna college +to grant degrees or compete in lectures with the university, though +the Jesuits soon got the restriction removed. It appears that they +announced lectures on the same subjects and at the same hours as those +of the university, and, as always, charged no fees. This was one of +the chief grievances of the universities, especially as the Jesuits +palpably trusted to obtain control of the universities themselves. +Another grievance, which we have noticed in the Parisian indictment, +is that they somehow acquired the property of older religious orders. +One of many instances of this occurs in the present period. They opened +a college at Freiburg, and were invited to work in the Swiss cantons. +For the beginning of their mission the Pope assigned them the revenues +of the abbey of Marsens, and Canisius soon had a centre for attacking +Calvinism in Switzerland. The Polish colleges continued to flourish, as +we shall presently realise, under King Stephen Bathori. + +The most interesting adventure under the rule of Mercurian is the +attempt to penetrate Sweden. The principles of the Reformation had +been cordially received in Sweden, and it seemed to King John III. +that peace could be secured only by some kind of compromise between +the old faith and the new. John was, however, married to the sister +of the Queen of Poland, and the Jesuits, who were sternly forbidden +to enter the kingdom, saw in this a means of outwitting the vigilant +Protestants. The combination of women and Jesuits was the supreme +agency in checking the progress of the Reformation in Europe. + +In 1574 an envoy came to Stockholm to convey the compliments of Anne of +Poland to her sister Catherine. One could not close the gates against +an envoy, though it was known that the fine clothes of the ambassador +were a thin disguise of the Polish Jesuit Father Warsevicz, and the +secret instructions of the envoy were to correct the liberalism of John +and offer him an alliance with Spain. John knew theology and wrangled +with the envoy for a week in the palace. The mission was fruitless, +and in 1576 John was persuaded to countenance an even more romantic +adventure. A young Norwegian presented himself to the Protestant clergy +of Stockholm, and said that, having spent some years at southern +universities, he would like a place as professor in the new college +they were forming. He begged that they would recommend him to the +king, and they did, so that he secured the appointment. It was the +Jesuit Father Nicolai, who had, as John knew, been sent from Rome with +instructions to perpetrate this amazing fraud. Nicolai must certainly +have lied to the Protestant authorities about his beliefs, in order to +obtain a place as teacher of theology in a Protestant college. When we +reflect that he acted on instructions from Rome, and that no Jesuit or +pro-Jesuit writer seems to see anything reprehensible in his conduct, +we feel that Jesuit diplomacy had already reached a stage which it +would be impolite to characterise in plain English. + +Nicolai seems to have held his chair of Lutheran theology for a +considerable time. There were those who scented heresy in his lectures, +but they were promptly expelled, and Nicolai even became rector +of the college. One would give much to have to-day a copy of the +Lutheran-Jesuit's lectures. The masterful Possevin was next dispatched, +in the quality of Legate, with the Irish Jesuit, William Good, for +companion. He was to prevent a union of Sweden and Holland, and to +correct the king's errors. Possevin went first to Prague, where he +induced the widow of Maximilian to name him her ambassador to Sweden, +and then, dressed for the part, with a sword dangling at his side, he +boldly entered Stockholm, where Professor Nicolai was still teaching +Lutheran theology in his subtle way. The counter-Reformation had +different methods from those of Luther. John was willing to return +to the faith and enter the Spanish alliance, if Rome would grant +the marriage of priests, the mass in Swedish, and other claims of +the Reformers. Possevin hastened to Rome, leaving his sword by the +way, and stormily pressed the commission of cardinals to grant these +concessions. It is (apart from certain remarkable indulgences later +on the foreign missions) the only occasion on which a Jesuit pleaded +for compromise, but Possevin was ambitious. Failing to obtain the +concessions, Possevin hurried to the Duke of Bavaria, the Emperor, and +the King of Poland, in order that he might at least be able to offer to +John the material alliances he had promised him, if he would break with +England and Holland. But he had little to offer, and the Protestants +were now alarmed; and Possevin, Good, Warsevicz, and Professor Nicolai +were politely ushered from the country. + +Of the foreign missions which will enrage us more fully when the +Jesuits are firmly established, a few words must suffice. In India the +use of the civil power to support their preaching continued to augment +the number, and restrain the quality, of the converts. The Japanese +mission made slow progress, and was extinguished in some of the large +towns. The gates of China were politely opened to admit a Portuguese +legation (containing disguised Jesuits), but, after an interview at +Canton, politely closed again by the wary mandarins. The settlement in +Brazil was deeply injured by the diseases which European Christians +brought to South America, terrifying the natives; and a serious loss +was sustained in 1570, when a ship conveying forty Jesuits to Brazil +was captured by "Huguenot pirates." They were all slain. Florida, +Mexico, and Peru were visited for the first time in this decade, and +a few fathers laid the foundations of new missions. On the whole, +the missionary record under Borgia and Mercurian does not fulfil the +earlier promise. + +Mercurian died in the summer of 1580, just forty years after the +establishment of the Society. Assuredly a remarkable advance had been +made in those four decades. The ten Jesuits had become a formidable +army of 5000 _socii_ (including novices and lay-brothers), fighting +heresy in the boudoirs of queens and the market-places of Germany, +educating hundreds of thousands of youths, all over Europe, in a +fanatical zeal for the papacy, extending its influence through the +laity by means of sodalities and confraternities, pouring out a vast +literature, from the blistering pamphlet to the ponderous folio volume, +relating to the great religious controversy, wearing the garb of the +beggar or the silk of the noble as occasion needed, speaking a hundred +tongues, and sending scores of men yearly to lands whence they would +never return and where fever or the axe awaited them. They were the +backbone of the counter-Reformation, formidable alike by the simple +and austere devotion of some, the brilliance and learning of others, +and the unscrupulousness of yet others in the service of the Church. +And every man, and every movement of every man, was registered in +that central bureau at Rome, where four sagacious heads directed the +strategy and tactics of this planet-scattered regiment. + +Our survey of the growth and evolutions of this spiritual army warns +us to avoid generalisations. It is not true that from the start the +Jesuits were avaricious, ambitious, and unscrupulous: it is not true +that they maintained their spirit untainted for half a century, and +then degenerated. No epithet will apply to them as a body, except that +they differed, corporately, from all other religious bodies in the +diplomatic nature of their action. Every variety of man was found in +their ranks: the austere flagellant and the genial courtier, the man +who served the poor because they were poor, and the man who served them +in order to edify the rich; the man who flung himself with a smile into +the arms of death, and the man who loved disguises and the adventurous +evasion of death, the saint and the sinner, the peasant, the noble, +and the scholar. No uniform stamp effaced their individual characters. +The weak or sensual or casuistic degenerated in the first decade: +the strong maintained their idealism to the last. But that original +tendency to consecrate worldly devices to a high end, to regard the +effectiveness rather than the intrinsic propriety of means, to seek +wealth and power because they procured speedier success, was running +its inevitable course, and from the recommendation of lying in the +cause of Christ we shall soon see some of them go on to the condonation +of vice and the counsel of crime. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 4: I have previously explained the distinction between simple +and solemn vows, and the advantage which the Jesuits had in confining +the latter to a chosen few of their body. See p. 30. These "simple" +vows are now admitted in other orders, but they were for centuries +peculiar to the Jesuits, and were very distasteful to the older orders.] + +[Footnote 5: It will appear later that Manares was a man of robust +conscience, and later incurred the censure of his brethren for improper +conduct.] + +[Footnote 6: I may draw attention to a curious illustration of the +difficulty of reaching a verdict on the St. Bartholomew massacre. In +the same volume of the _Cambridge Modern History_ we are told (p. 20) +that "Gregory XIII. is said to have expressed dismay," and (p. 285) +that he heard the news with "triumphant acclamation." There is surely +no serious doubt that the second statement is correct.] + +[Footnote 7: See a selection in the _Annales de la Société des +soi-disans Jésuites_ (1764), vol. i. pp. 132-159.] + +[Footnote 8: It did not become a dogma of the Church until 1854.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +PROGRESS AND DECAY UNDER ACQUAVIVA + + +The older of the fathers who obeyed the summons to a new election, and +converged upon the Eternal City, must have wondered whether it would +pass without a fresh exhibition of the very human passions which the +occasion so frequently revealed amongst them. Father Oliver Manares +had been appointed Vicar-General, and had announced the election for +the spring of 1581. We remember Manares as the fortunate discoverer +of Huguenot plots at Paris, and then as successfully ousting Father +Palmio from the position of chief assistant to Mercurian. He had made +his way to the steps of the throne, and the more religious brethren +were now startled to find him shamelessly canvassing for votes, in +spite of the stern prohibition in their Constitutions. Four of the +older fathers were at once appointed to investigate the charge against +him. Bobadilla, impetuous and masterful still in his old age, was one +of the four, but he expressed his resentment of the charge against +his friend so strongly before the inquiry opened that they had, with +great difficulty, to remove him from the commission; and, when the +commissioners found Manares guilty, he made very sore trouble in +the house. In the end Manares was persuaded to forego his right of +nomination, and Father Acquaviva was elected. + +Claude Acquaviva was one of the youngest of the electors. Though +strenuous work had already begun to whiten his dark southern hair, +he was only thirty-seven years old; but he was distinguished for his +high birth, his great ability, his integrity, and a happy combination +of resolution and cold equanimity that recalled Lainez. He was a son +of the Neapolitan Duke of Atri, and was destined to rule the Society +during thirty-four years of that dangerous period when its desire for +wealth and power, in the service of God, led it into the dark ways of +political intrigue and the accumulation of earthly treasure. We shall +now find the seeds of decay spreading over larger areas and germinating +rapidly. We shall witness a singular eruption of the worldly spirit in +the Spanish peninsula, and the development of the political Jesuit as +he is known in the history of England, which I reserve for a special +chapter, and of France. + +The first few years of the generalship of Acquaviva were peaceful. A +friendly Pope, Gregory XIII., occupied the Roman see, and the Society +increased in numbers and prestige. The Gesù, the famous metropolitan +church of the Jesuits, was opened by the Pope in 1583; the Gregorian +calendar was very largely framed by one of their members, the learned +Clavius of Bavaria. But Gregory died in 1585, and Acquaviva prepared +for a struggle with the papacy. The stern, despotic Sixtus V. had now +received the tiara, and all Rome expected him to clip the wings of the +soaring Society. Acquaviva thought it would be prudent to disarm the +Pope and disavow the thirst for power. He offered to resign control +of the Roman seminary. Sixtus refused the offer, and awaited his +opportunity; and in the following year, 1586, the flash and roar of the +gathering clouds in Spain led him to intervene. + +The Spanish fathers had, as I said, looked upon the generalship almost +as an hereditary right, and had resented the election of Mercurian and +Acquaviva. But this feeling is so wholly opposed to the religious +ideal of the Society that we at once suspect a serious decay of the +character of the Spanish Jesuits, and we find some remarkable evidence +of it. The official history of the Society in Spain does not attempt +to conceal that under Borgia and Mercurian there had been widespread +decadence,[9] and I have shown how this was due to material prosperity +and the lack of serious work and heretical neighbours. We have, +however, a more singular and ample account of this decadence. One of +the most brilliant of the Spanish Jesuits, Mariana, the famous advocate +of regicide, was moved to discredit the Roman authorities by showing +the corruption into which they had allowed his own province to fall, +and his _Tratado del Govierno de la Compañia de Jesus_ gives us a +very candid picture of the Spanish houses. The work was, naturally, +not published by Mariana. Like so many documents in the Society, it +was intended for private circulation in manuscript, but it was found +amongst his papers by a bishop whom the king appointed to examine them, +and the only ground for the claim of certain Jesuits that it is partly +spurious is that they dislike its revelations. The decrees of the +Society itself confirm the substance of its charges, and the temper and +spirit of the book are quite in keeping with its Jesuit authorship. + +It complains, chiefly, of the low state of culture and the great +comfort of life among the Spanish fathers. Of the 540 Jesuits in +Spain 230 are lay-brothers: a circumstance that must be borne in mind +when we read that there are so many thousand members of the Society. +The lay-brother is merely a servant of the priests, and the enormous +proportion of these lay-brothers in Spain means that the fathers own +large farms and vineyards, sell the produce in the markets (as we learn +from the decrees of the Society), and live cheerfully on the income. +Mariana does not speak openly of vice--a sufficient proof that the book +was not written, even in part, by an anti-Jesuit--but he says that the +"enjoyments" of his colleagues are "excessive and scandalous." They +further add materially to their incomes by managing the affairs of +their penitents; in Valladolid alone there are twelve of these steward +chaplains. They dress in expensive cloth, travel in carriages or on +mules, and overrun their ample incomes. The whole province is loaded +with debt, yet at Mariana's own house at Toledo the expenditure per +head is about £50 a year: a very comfortable sum for the time and +place, for a community pledged to poverty. Discipline is thwarted by +favouritism and flattery, and the constant spying and reporting cause +bitter quarrels in the houses. + +This grave account of the Spanish province--sober and convincing, yet +grave in contrast with the primitive life and the high profession--is +written solely for the purpose of showing that a distant authority +cannot maintain discipline, and the Spanish Jesuits must have local +autonomy and less despotic rulers--home-rule and democracy, in a word. +This is the note of the remarkable struggle which now opens between +the Spaniards and the Italians. Acquaviva wanted to maintain the stern +Ignatian ideal of destroying nationality, and to keep Jesuits as much +as possible away from their native countries; but he made the mistake +of removing old and long-settled fathers and substituting for them +young men who shared his own ideas, and, in spite of his ideal, he +favoured the Italians. + +In 1586 one of the chief Spanish malcontents, Father Hernandez, applied +to Acquaviva for permission to quit the Society. When Acquaviva +refused, Hernandez gave notice to the Inquisition that the General +would not let him leave the Society lest he should betray a certain +secret which the Jesuits were hiding from the Inquisitors. We have +seen how little the Inquisitors and leading prelates of Spain loved +the Jesuits. They at once forced Hernandez to tell the secret. One of +the Jesuits, it seems, had seduced a lady-penitent--a crime from which +only the Inquisition could absolve--yet the Provincial Marcenius had +absolved him and transferred him to another town. A great sensation was +caused when the Inquisitors at once put the Provincial, the Rector of +Salamanca, and two other Jesuits, in their prison, and demanded copies +of the Constitutions, Privileges, and other documents of the Society. +To the delight of Spain and the dismay of Acquaviva, they were going to +make a general inquiry into the character and life of this semi-secret +Society. + +Acquaviva adroitly suggested to the Pope that this was one of those +occasions, which he loved, of asserting his supreme authority, and set +Sixtus and the Spaniards at loggerheads. The Pope instructed his Nuncio +at Madrid to intervene, and Acquaviva sent a Jesuit to win Philip II. +Philip, however, was quite willing to see the Society reformed, and +the Inquisitors went on to arrest other Jesuits and demand further +documents. The insurgent Spaniards were now openly demanding that they +should have a local commissary, independent of Acquaviva, and the +General was, as quickly as possible, removing fathers from Spain and +filling their places with foreigners. The Inquisition decreed that no +Jesuit was to leave Spain. Nothing so fiercely awakened the energy +of Sixtus V. as a quarrel with local prelates, and he now angrily +threatened to depose the cardinal at the head of the Inquisition if +the whole case were not at once remitted to him. So the Jesuits were +released and the documents sent to Rome, in 1588. We, of course, hear +no more of the wicked confessor from that time, but Acquaviva had not +counted on this scrutiny of the documents of the Society by the keen +eye of Sixtus V., and he dreaded the outcome. "Company of Jesus!" +Sixtus used to mutter, as he meditatively stroked his long white beard; +"Who are these men whom we must not name without bowing our heads?"[10] +He at once issued two preliminary decrees. The first forbade the +Jesuits to receive illegitimate sons; their own rule forbade this, and +the decree only confirms the charge that the Jesuits looked mainly to +wealth or ability in admitting novices. The second decree reserved to +the general or to a provincial congregation the right to admit novices. +Acquaviva opposed this, and it was modified--and would die at the death +of Sixtus V. + +Meanwhile the struggle was renewed in Spain. One of the French +Jesuits whom Acquaviva had put in place of a rebel proved worse +than his predecessor. He asked the opinion of the Inquisition on a +letter written by Ignatius himself on obedience, and it was promptly +condemned. Acquaviva again had the case transferred and re-tried at +Rome, and, although Sixtus spoke some plain unofficial language about +the letter, the Roman Inquisition absolved it, and the audacious +Father Vincent ended in a papal prison for going on to question the +Pope's authority. At the same time an imprudent step on the part of +the Society's critics united the Spanish Jesuits with their General +and put an end for a time to the struggle. The King appointed a bishop +to inquire into the state of all the religious orders in Spain and +deal with their irregularities. Neither the local Jesuits nor the +General wanted a "royal visitator" peeping into their wine-cellars, +and Acquaviva again appealed to the Pope: not forgetting to remind +Sixtus, who supremely abhorred clerical "bastards," that this Bishop of +Carthagena fell into that category. At the same time he sent to Madrid +the English Jesuit, Father Parsons, who was then, as we shall see, +helping Philip to annex England to the Spanish crown. He was allowed to +choose his own "visitator," and the Spanish fathers were sufficiently +absorbed in this new infliction for the next year or two. + +Sixtus had meantime brooded over the singular mass of Jesuit documents +submitted to him, and in 1590 he intimated that he was going to make +a drastic and comprehensive reform. The name of the Society must be +changed; the date of taking the vows and the classification of the +members of the Society must be altered; the regulations in regard to +"fraternal correction" (the euphemism in the Jesuit rules for spying +and tale-bearing) and obedience must be modified; and the directions +which virtually compelled novices to leave their property to the +Society, while nominally advising them to leave it to the poor, must +be abolished. Acquaviva entered upon this desperate struggle--there +never was the slightest question of Jesuits yielding to Popes on any +point--with that cold and dogged resolution which alone could thwart +the fiery energy of Sixtus V. At first he tried long and respectful +argument with the Pope, and induced the Emperor, the King of Poland, +and the Duke of Bavaria to pray that there should be no alteration +in the character of the Society. Sixtus smiled grimly, and ordered +Cardinal Caraffa to proceed with the revision of their Constitutions. +They then fastened on the cardinal, and Sixtus was infuriated to find +that Caraffa made no progress. He knew that they were hoping to see +him die before he could formulate his reforms, and he entrusted the +work to four theologians, whose sentiments he knew. They drew up a +formidable indictment of the Constitutions, but it had to pass the +Sacred College--and Acquaviva took care that it did not pass. + +We need not enter into all the details of this fourth attempt in half +a century to evade the most positive and sincere commands of the Pope. +It was a race with death, and the most determined and unscrupulous +efforts were made by the Jesuits to prevent the Pope from reaching his +goal before death overtook him. Sixtus had to punish one Jesuit for +making a very pointed eulogy of Cardinal Cajetan, his rival and enemy, +and to arrest another for regretting in public that they had not a +Gregory on the throne in such troubled times. The dying despot fiercely +concentrated his sinking energy on his last task. When Bellarmine's new +book _De Summi Pontificis Potestate_ appeared, he put it on the Index, +although he liked Bellarmine, and the book really magnified the papal +power so much that it was afterwards condemned as seditious at Paris. +As the cardinals still thwarted him, he sent a stern personal order to +Acquaviva to change the name of his Society. He was not far from death, +but the General was told that there could be no more shiftiness; he +might, however, ask for the change instead of having it imposed on him. +He signed the petition and the Pope drew up his decree. He died before +he could publish it. + +There is no serious ground for the faint rumour that the Jesuits +poisoned Sixtus V. His death was foreseen by everybody, and the Jesuits +knew from experience that his decree would die with him. But Roman +gossip found the coincidence too romantic to let it pass. Acquaviva +had ordered a _novena_ (nine days of prayer) to be said for Sixtus in +the Jesuit houses when his illness was announced. The bell was ringing +for Vespers on the ninth day when the aged Pope passed away; and for +many a year afterwards it was a grim, half-serious joke of the Romans +to wonder, when they heard the Jesuit Vesper-bell, whether it rang out +the life of another Pope. + +After the two-week rule of Urban VII., Gregory XIV. came to the throne +and restored the tranquillity of Acquaviva and his colleagues. The +title of their Society was solemnly confirmed, and the subsidies of +their colleges were again granted. But Gregory had a brief reign, +his successor passed even more quickly from the papal throne, and at +the beginning of 1592 Clement VIII. succeeded to the tiara. It was +generally believed that Clement disliked Acquaviva, and the rebels +in Spain returned to the attack upon him. Spain and Portugal, which +were still united under the Spanish crown, were equally united in the +opposition to the Roman authorities. During the years of friction with +Sixtus V. the Spanish fathers Acosta and Carillo and the Portuguese +fathers Goelho and Carvalho had maintained and led the agitation +against Acquaviva, and it was known that they had the support of +abler men like Mariana and the sympathy of the most distinguished and +powerful Jesuit at Rome, Toledo, who was made a cardinal by Clement. +Acquaviva had not relaxed in his measures against this powerful +coalition. He won at least the silence of Toledo; he flattered and +tried to disarm Acosta, who was too great a favourite of Philip to +be punished; he expelled some of the less influential leaders from +the Society, and brought others to Rome. Now, at the last moment, the +accession of Clement seemed to have wrested the victory from his +hands, and the Spaniards took courage. + +Acosta rejected the General's blandishments and persuaded Philip to +send him to Rome with a request that the new Pope would summon a +General Congregation of the Society and remove Acquaviva from Rome +during its sittings. There was at the time a quarrel between the Dukes +of Parma and Mantua, and Clement gracefully deputed Acquaviva to go +to the north and reconcile them. He dare not refuse the insidious +appointment, but he left behind him a trusted secretary, and it was +not long before he learned that Clement was about to summon a General +Congregation, to which Acquaviva was strongly opposed. He reported +that his mission was futile and hopeless; Clement, still gracefully, +advised him to be patient, and the strong man had to remain inactive +in the north while the Spaniards carried their point. He returned +to find Acosta at Rome and a General Congregation--"for the purpose +of strengthening the Society and reducing certain provinces to +tranquillity"--announced for November. In other words, it was to be +a trial of strength between Acosta and Acquaviva, between Spain and +Italy, and each party prepared strenuously for the tug of war; while +Rome frivolously applauded the rival children of Ignatius and the Pope +smilingly blessed the arena. + +Just at that time Toledo received the red hat, and the Spaniards +begged the Pope to name "a cardinal" (Toledo) to preside at the +Congregation. He refused; but Acquaviva was defeated in turn when he +tried to expel Acosta from the professed house and have him excluded +from the forthcoming Congregation. Not only Rome, but the Jesuits +scattered over Europe, now joined in the feverish struggle. Memorials +praying for the reform of the Society and the restriction of the +General's power began to reach the Pope from provincial Jesuits; +counter-memorials followed from the partisans of Acquaviva. In fine, +Acquaviva triumphed, with certain concessions. The privileges of the +Society which offended the Spanish Inquisition were to be abandoned in +the Peninsula; and Acquaviva was to change his Assistants, and hold a +Congregation, every six years (a command which, of course, "died with +the Pope"). There was the customary review of the state of the Society +and passing of admirable decrees, and the fathers returned to their +provinces. Acquaviva then made a final and drastic clearance of the +rebels, and many were expelled. They were still powerful enough to +induce the Pope to nominate Acquaviva archbishop of his native city, +but he eluded even this plot. They then persuaded the Pope that it was +expedient for Acquaviva to visit Spain and see the province with his +own eyes. The General clearly believed, and it is probable enough, +that something like incarceration awaited him in Spain, and he made a +desperate struggle to evade the Pope's order. He was saved by the death +of the Pope, in 1605, and for several years afterwards we still find +him struggling with the rebellious Spaniards. + +This remarkable conflict, within the Society and with the Pope, which +I take chiefly from the Jesuit Jouvency, the continuer of the official +"Historia Societatis," well illustrates how dim the apostolic fire had +become in one of the largest provinces of the Society; how its flame +was choked and corrupted by material prosperity. When we turn to France +and to England we have an equally valuable illustration of the way in +which the command to seek power, for the glory of God, evolves what +is known as the political Jesuit. There is no intrinsic reason that +I can see why a priest should not seek political influence on behalf +of religious interests. Assuredly in the sixteenth century there was +no clean division of the religious and political spheres. But the +complaint against the Jesuits is that their authorities ostentatiously +forbid political action, yet permit and encourage their subjects +secretly to pursue it, and even in ways that are unworthy of religious +ideals; that, in short, the Jesuit approaches the field under the white +flag of political neutrality, employs weapons which are condemned in +civilised warfare, and then denies that he interfered. In reviewing +forty years of their life in France we have an excellent opportunity of +examining this charge. + +When we last turned away from France, the Catholic League was just +beginning to arouse passion in the country and the Jesuits were taking +an active part in its work. The historical situation may be recalled +in a few words. The children of that abominable type of feminine +politician, Catherine de Medici, were perishing ingloriously. Henry +III. still feebly occupied the throne, but it was a question how long +he would, under the guidance of his Jesuit confessor Auger, continue to +entertain Paris with his alternating fits of debauch and melodramatic +penitence; and the legitimate heir to the throne was Henry of Navarre, +a Protestant. The Catholics were naturally alarmed and formed the +League to "protect their interests"; its specific aim was, as every man +in France knew, to secure the throne for the Catholic Henry of Guise. + +Here was a situation entirely to the taste of the more ardent and +adventurous of the Jesuits, and (apart from the inevitable few who +favoured Philip of Spain) they marched valiantly under the banners of +the League, and fluttered about the Catholic courts of Europe in the +interest of Guise. The Provincial, Claude Matthieu, earned the name +of the "Courier of the League" from his many journeys in support of +it. Father Henri Sammier traversed Italy and Spain, and penetrated +Germany and England, to further its aim. He had a large wardrobe of +disguises, which he wore with the grace of an actor, and he is said by +the contemporary lawyer Pasquier to have been as familiar with dice and +cards as with his breviary. Edmund Hay, the Scottish Jesuit and tender +champion of Mary Stuart, lent his fervent aid to the cause. Father +Auger, however, was not an ardent Leaguer, and he made an effort to +silence his younger colleagues. He had persuaded Henry III. to join the +League, lest the League should not be inclined to wait for the young +king's natural death, but he rightly distrusted Guise. It must not be +supposed that he cherished a more austere standard of Jesuit duty than +the others, since his royal penitent was notorious for his licentious +conduct, his morbid love of jewels and of feminine clothes, and the +utter degradation of his real gifts. The fact is that he saw political +rivals in Matthieu and Sammier, with their zeal for Guise, and Parsons +and others, with their attachment to Philip of Spain. He complained to +Acquaviva, and the General, feeling that such political work should not +be done openly but through laymen controlled by the Jesuits, supported +him. After a prolonged struggle Acquaviva deposed Matthieu and +removed him to Italy, transferred the gifted Sammier and his wardrobe +to Belgium, and then turned on Auger himself. After another severe +struggle he dislodged Auger from the court. Jesuits are sometimes very +lively "corpses" when their superiors wish to move them. + +This, however, was in the main a personal quarrel. Odon Pigenat, the +new Provincial, and a score of other fathers were ardent Leaguers. The +Jesuit house at Paris was still used for the secret meetings of the +League, and the "Committee of Catholic Safety" was inspired by Pigenat. +The French apologist does not question their enthusiastic share in the +League's work, and no one questions that the aim of the League was to +prevent the accession of the legitimate heir to the throne. Indeed, at +the next dramatic turn of French affairs all this was made plain to +everybody. + +In 1588 Guise was invited to Paris and acclaimed there with such wild +rejoicing that Henry III. fled to Blois, and shortly afterwards Guise +and his cardinal-brother were invited to Blois and foully murdered +there by Henry. The League now shook its banners in the breeze, and +Henry was execrated from a hundred pulpits. When he went on to defy the +Pope and form an alliance with Henry of Navarre, who advanced rapidly +on Paris, Catholic feeling rose to a fanatical pitch, and Henry III. +in turn was assassinated by the Dominican monk Jacques Clément. The +Jesuits were assuredly not the only preachers to applaud this murder, +but they were amongst the first to perceive, and the loudest to +declare, that if a king may be dispatched by private hand for a crime, +he may certainly be removed when he meditates the far graver misdeed +of plunging a nation into heresy. Father Commolet, the superior of +the Jesuit house at Paris and a distinguished preacher, called from +his pulpit for "a second Ehud" to remove Henry of Navarre. Father +Mariana, who shortly afterwards wrote his famous _De Rege_, hailed the +assassin as "the eternal glory of France" and spoke of this "memorable +spectacle, calculated to teach princes that godless enterprises do not +go unpunished." + +It has been said on behalf of the Jesuits that even their old enemy +the Sorbonne joined in the general rejoicing over the assassination +of Henry III., but those who make the point forget or ignore that +for several years past the Jesuits had been sending pupils to the +university in order gradually to permeate its faculties. It was no +longer the distinct anti-Jesuit body which we have met in earlier +years. Nor is there any need to discuss the abstract question whether +the Jesuits taught tyrannicide. Crétineau-Joly himself quotes fourteen +Jesuit theologians of the time who permitted the assassination of +kings, to say nothing of more or less obscure writers, and we may be +sure that the politicians of the Society were not more scrupulous than +their theologians on the point. The well-known work of Mariana to which +I have referred, _De Rege et Regis Institutione_ (1599), was authorised +for publication by the Jesuit authorities, and it was not until the +assassination of Henry IV. in 1610 that Acquaviva, anxious to save +the French Jesuits from expulsion, forbade his subjects to teach the +dangerous doctrine. Even then he wrote at first to the French Jesuits +alone, and it was only when the cry of indignation was echoed in other +countries that he made the order general. In fine, his general order +was so ambiguous that even a less supple politician than a Jesuit could +find his way through it. It condemned the doctrine that "any person, +on any pretext whatever, may kill kings and princes"; which leaves it +open to the casuist to conclude that _certain_ persons may do it for +_certain_ reasons.[11] + +Henry of Navarre invested Paris, and it is not questioned that the +Jesuits were amongst the most ardent advocates of resistance to him. +In the later trial before Parlement, which we shall consider, they +admitted that the crown-jewels were deposited in their house during the +siege, and that the chiefs of the League met there. A curious incident +of the siege is worth quoting. Food became painfully scarce, and +half-famished citizens struggled over the possession of cats and rats, +but the inmates of the religious houses remained sleek and comfortable. +The civic authorities ordered an inspection of their houses, and +it is admitted by their apologist that the Jesuits tried to obtain +exemption from this search. When the authorities insisted, a rich +store of food was found in their house. Their fervour in the popular +cause, however, was enough to outweigh this unpleasant discovery, and +they continued to thunder against the heretic. The Duke of Mayenne +was now the Catholic candidate for the throne, though a considerable +number of the Jesuits now looked to Philip of Spain. He was to be, as +in England, the "protector of the faith"--until it was safe for him to +annex the country to his swollen dominions. Sixtus V., however, by no +means shared this Jesuit and Spanish ideal of making Philip the head +of a vast world-power, and he began to negotiate with Henry, whose +forces were gaining ground. Then Sixtus died, and the accession of a +pro-Spanish Pope gave fresh energy to the League. But Paris was weary +of the siege, and, when Henry prudently announced that he was about +to make a serious study of the evidences for the Catholic faith, the +opposition collapsed. The Jesuits were amongst the last in Paris to +fan the dying embers of the League, and when at length, in March 1594, +Henry entered Paris and received the crown, they (with the Capuchins +and Carthusians) refused to submit until the Pope had absolved him. + +But they very soon parted company with the less nimble-witted Capuchins +and the cloistered Carthusians, and the next page of their story in +France is not without humour. Henry's politic scrutiny of the Catholic +creed had, of course, led to his "conversion," but the Pope had a +sufficient decency of feeling to distrust so opportune and profitable +a change of creed, and he coldly rebuffed the genial monarch. When +Henry sent the Duke de Nevers to Rome to plead his cause with the Pope, +Clement ordered the Jesuit Possevin to intercept him in Italy and say +that the Pope refused to see him. We remember Possevin as the ingenious +and accommodating Legate to the Swedes, and we shall see other proofs +of his diplomatic ability. With an audacity which must almost be +without parallel in the chronicle of papal diplomacy he did the exact +opposite of what the Pope had commanded; he encouraged de Nevers to +see the Pope, and then fled before the stormy anger of Clement and the +Spaniards. It was the first service rendered to Henry by a Jesuit, +and was quickly followed by other useful services. They had perceived +the strength of Henry and reversed their policy. The Jesuit-Cardinal +Toledo, although a Spaniard, intervened in Henry's favour, and the head +of the Jesuit house at Paris, Commolet--the preacher who had urged the +assassination of Henry--came to Rome to say that he and his colleagues +were now convinced of the King's sincerity and begged the Pope to yield. + +This change of front was opportune. Although the hostility of the +university to the Jesuits had been enfeebled by the penetration of +Jesuit pupils into the theological faculty, it still, as a body, +hated the Society, and its leaders felt that they might take some +advantage of the stubborn resistance to Henry. In April the university +begged the Parlement to expel the Jesuits from the kingdom. Another +great debate, in which the anti-Jesuit lawyers of Paris battered the +Society and flung at it all the charges that could be found in Europe, +entertained the sympathetic citizens. Arnauld, who was now in the +field, estimated the total yearly income of the Jesuits at more than +two million _livres_; he said that in France alone they had, in a few +years, secured an income of two hundred thousand _livres_ a year, and +he eloquently denounced their interference in politics. The Jesuits +made the remarkable defence that they had only mingled in the League in +order to moderate its ardour, that they had no unpatriotic attachment +to Spain, and that they would scrupulously avoid politics for the +future. Henry permitted them to remain. A short time before (August +1593) Barrière had attempted to assassinate him, and, as Barrière had +had a Jesuit confessor, it was suggested that the Jesuits had inspired +him. Henry said that, on the contrary, it was the Jesuits who had +warned him of the plot. A fuller knowledge of this warning would be +extremely interesting, but we have no evidence of it beyond Henry's +blunt declaration at a later date. The Jesuits were to remain, to +avoid politics, and, as Henry had previously decreed, to destroy all +literature concerning the League and the past turbulence. + +On 27th December of that year, 1594, Jean Chastel attempted to +assassinate Henry, and a furious storm burst upon the Jesuits. Two +undisputed facts stand out clearly from the prolonged controversy that +followed this attempt; Chastel had been educated at the Jesuit college +before going to the university (he was nineteen years old), and he +had conferred with his former professor, Father Guéret, a few days +before the attempt. This is by no means satisfactory evidence of the +complicity of the Jesuits, but another piece of evidence, of a very +inflammatory nature, was put before the court. The authorities had +raided the Jesuit college and found in the rector's room a quantity +of the League literature which Henry had rigorously commanded to be +destroyed. In particular, there were papers in the writing of the +rector, Father Guignard, which cast the most violent abuse on Henry +and demanded his death. They had been written five years before, but +the retention of them was considered a very serious sign of the hidden +feeling of the Jesuits. We may admit that the court still went beyond +the evidence in condemning the Jesuits. Guignard was executed, Guéret +tortured, and all members of the Society were ordered to quit France +within three days. On 8th January thirty-seven Jesuits set out sadly +for Lorraine, and from the proceeds of their confiscated property a +large stone pyramid, bearing the sentence against the "pernicious +sect," was erected at Paris. + +This sudden fall from their proud position was the price of political +action, but Henry was not in a position, and indeed not of a character, +to sustain the sentence, and the Jesuits at once began to struggle for +recall. Within ten years the hated pyramid was demolished, and the +Jesuits had regained their prestige. They had never entirely quitted +France. Some put off their cassocks and became, in appearance, "lay" +teachers of the young; some were sheltered by the local Parlements. +The formal reconciliation of Henry with the Papacy followed, and the +Pope urged him to recall the Jesuits. He pleaded again when he had +negotiated for Henry a peace with Philip of Spain, but the Parlement +stoutly maintained its decree, and Henry advised them to wait. Then +the Pope obliged Henry by annulling his marriage, and the watchful +Acquaviva stood again in the shadow of the papal throne. Father Maggio +was sent, in the suite of the Archbishop of Arles, to win the King. +They knew Henry, and shrewdly chose an envoy who could adopt the broad +wit which Henry loved as easily as Possevin or Parsons could wear a +sword, or Ricci a pigtail. "Sire," said Maggio to the bluff King, when +the affair dragged, "you are slower than women, for they bear their +fruit only nine months." "Quite true, Father Maggio," said Henry, "but +kings are not delivered as easily as women." It was the way to win +Henry IV., and he was won, but public feeling was still too hostile to +the Jesuits. In 1603 their opportunity came. The Huguenots had been so +imprudent as to abuse the Pope, and the Jesuits must be restored for +the Pope's consolation; also, there was a new queen, Marie de Medici, +and an amiable Father Coton winning influence over her. And at the +beginning of 1604 the Parlement sullenly registered the decree for the +readmission of the Jesuits, and the fathers all swore a sonorous oath +of loyalty to the King "without mental reservation," as the decree ran; +no other body of men ever needed to be insulted with such a clause. + +The remaining years, down to the assassination of Henry in 1610, mark +the rapid recovery of the Society. Father Coton was royal preacher and +confessor, and obtained such influence that, when the King was deaf +to their prayers or protests, men said that Henry "had cotton in his +ears"; and the fusillade of pamphlets and counter-pamphlets--witty, +fierce, and gross on both sides--again enlivened Paris. They raised +more houses than they had ever had before, and got admission into +Protestant Béarn and the Canadian mission. There was hardly a more +generous benefactor to the Society in Europe than Henry, though we may +take the word of Richelieu that he distrusted them, as a body, and +acted from policy. At length Henry betrayed the real shallowness of +their influence on him, and began to prepare for war with Spain; and on +14th May 1610 he fell by the hand of a Catholic fanatic. + +The question whether the Jesuits were implicated in the crime of +Ravaillac is one of the hundred almost insoluble problems of their +history. On this occasion, indeed, it is exceptionally difficult +to reach a confident verdict, because an entirely pro-Spanish +and pro-Jesuit régime was set up by the death of Henry, and +inconvenient testimony could easily be suppressed. It seems to me +that a consideration of great importance is generally overlooked in +the discussion of these problems. When the evidence is scanty or +obscure, we give the Jesuits "the benefit of the doubt," as if we were +arraigning them for something they regarded as a crime. This is a false +attitude, of which they take full advantage. Crétineau-Joly quotes a +dozen distinguished theologians of the time who taught that it was just +and proper to remove a monarch whose rule was gravely injurious, and +hardly a single eminent theologian who taught the contrary. We have +merely to suppose that the Jesuit fathers were divided in anything like +the same proportion, and we see at once that there must have been--and +we know that there were--numbers of Jesuits in every province who would +regard the assassination of a king who threatened the faith in his +country as a quite moral and meritorious deed. Mariana's claim that +Jacques Clément, the murderer of Henry III., was "the eternal glory of +France" was echoed by thousands of his colleagues. It seems to me very +material to bear this in mind in all these cases of assassination. The +attitude of their apologists is singular: they admit that the Jesuits +as a body regarded the assassination of kings who menaced the faith as +a just and proper action, yet are remarkably eager to prove that the +Jesuits never acted on their belief. On Jesuit principles the murder of +Henry IV. was not a crime. + +We must, on the other hand, say that the evidence of Jesuit complicity +with Ravaillac is unsatisfactory, in spite of Michelet's spirited +reliance on it. A certain Mme d'Escoman asserted that she overheard the +Duke d'Épernon telling the plot to Henry's former lover, the Marquise +de Verneuil, and that she revealed it to the Jesuit superior in good +time to warn Henry; a soldier named Dujardin then told that he had seen +Ravaillac in the service of Épernon at Naples, and that the Jesuits +of that city had urged him (Dujardin) to enter the plot. Both these +witnesses were of low moral character, and had a prospect of gaining +by their revelations; we must therefore refrain from basing a verdict +on their evidence. A recent French student of the subject[12] has +concluded that Épernon and others were really plotting to take the life +of Henry, but that Ravaillac committed the crime on his own initiative, +and that the Jesuits were not in either plot, though it may be true +that Mme d'Escoman warned them of Épernon's plot. This ingenious, but +not wholly convincing, suggestion explains how Ravaillac could, with +his dying breath and under threat of damnation, swear that he had no +accomplices, but it really leaves open the question of the guilt of +the Jesuits. The witnesses are of too low a character for us to decide +whether they tell the truth or no. It is suspicious that Father Coton +visited Ravaillac in jail and warned him "not to bring trouble on +good people" by his statements, as we know on the high authority of +d'Estoile. + +These witnesses only came forward with their stories at a later date, +but Paris had already turned with fierce indignation upon the Society. +Although the doctrine of tyrannicide may have been taught before the +Society was established, it was chiefly through the more explicit and +general teaching of the Jesuits that it became a popular conviction +among the general body of the faithful and began to inflame the brains +of fanatics. Mariana's book was burned by order of the Parlement, in +spite of the effort of the Jesuits to save it; they did succeed in +getting a reference to the Jesuit character of the author suppressed +in the indictment, and in preventing the works of Bellarmine, Becanus, +and others of their theologians from being condemned. They had the +zealous protection of Marie de Medici, and the hostility to them had +to expend itself in a shower of witty and virulent pamphlets. Father +Coton, especially, was violently assailed. The indulgence with which +he had regarded the notorious amours of his royal penitent was said +to be quite natural in a man who had tender relations of his own. The +Jesuits continued to advance in spite of this hostility. Father de +Suffren guided the conscience of Mary herself; Father Coton and Father +Marguestana directed her son (Louis XIII.) and her daughter in the ways +of virtue and political ignorance. There we may leave the Jesuits of +France until Richelieu comes to disturb their mischievous pro-Spanish +policy. + +When we pass to the Netherlands we have again to consider a grave +accusation of complicity in a design to assassinate. The Netherlands +were now formally divided into Catholic Belgium and Protestant Holland, +and the Dutch were eager to prevent the hated Jesuits from entering +the country. A few succeeded in crossing the frontier and ministering, +in disguise, to the remaining Catholics. The kind of activity they +pursued will be understood when we have followed the similar labours +of the Jesuits in England. In 1598, however, a Belgian was arrested at +Leyden for a design on the life of Maurice of Nassau, and there is the +customary controversy in regard to the complicity of the Jesuits. + +Peter Panne was a cooper of Ypres, a restless and, apparently, a +rather disreputable character. His method of seeking the life of +the Dutch prince was singularly futile, and he made a lengthy and +circumstantial "confession," in which he accused the Jesuits of Douai +of egging him to commit the murder. The assassin of William of Orange +in 1568 had accused a Jesuit confessor, and it was natural that the +Dutch should again expect to hear of Jesuit complicity. His story was +therefore implicitly believed in Holland, and wherever the Jesuits +were detested; and the laws against them were made more stringent. In +the following year, however, Father Coster undertook the defence of +his colleagues, and their apologists maintain that he has completely +demolished the charge.[13] To the impartial student the case is one of +mere affirmation and denial, without very safe ground for judgment. +Coster relies upon a number of reports issued by small legal and +civic authorities in Belgium, who, at the request of the Jesuits, +examined many witnesses, including Panne's wife and others named by +him. These witnesses flatly denied the story told by Panne of his and +their movements, and the unofficial judges then drew up statements to +the effect that the Jesuits were innocent. At first sight it would +seem that we ought at once to prefer the testimony of these numerous +witnesses to that of Panne; but when we reflect on the Jesuit doctrine +of mental reservation, we must admit that the word of these witnesses, +provided by the Jesuits, is not to be taken at its superficial value. +According to the Jesuit theologians, witnesses might give absolutely +false answers, and confirm them by the most sacred oaths, to judges +or others, if they felt that the inquirer had no right to learn the +truth from them. In the case of Panne's wife, for instance, the Jesuit +would most certainly decide that she would be justified in denying, +on oath, that she had ever spoken to her husband about the projected +murder, even if it were true that, as Panne said, she urged him to do +it. In the next chapter we shall find the English Father Gerard acting +on this well-known Jesuit principle. We cannot, therefore, attach any +importance to these denials. And when Father Coster goes on to prove, +or assert, that Panne was a doubtful Catholic and an unscrupulous +fellow, he seems to overreach himself. Why should such a man seek to +do the work of a Catholic fanatic at the risk of his life? Clearly, +only because some one offered him payment. Either the gravest legal +tribunal in Holland paid him to lie, or else his story gives the only +plausible explanation of his conduct. It is more natural to suppose +that the Jesuits acted on their known principles of regicide and mental +reservation than that the Dutch acted in the most flagrant violation of +their principles; and the mere fact of an indifferent Catholic risking +his life to kill an heretical prince suggests this view. + +In Belgium the Jesuits recovered all the ground they had lost in the +religious wars, and at length secured an unassailable legal existence. +At this period we are at every step observing the collusion of the +Jesuits with Philip II. of Spain, and we have still to see how they +helped him in his effort to annex England. He was not ungrateful, +and he definitely overrode the prejudice of the Flemings and legally +established the Jesuits in Belgium (1584). They at once became so +bold that we find the Governor of Luxemburg levying taxes on the +citizens for the erection of Jesuit houses: a project which caused +such an outbreak of anger that they had to retreat from the province. +The University of Louvain continued to disdain and assail them, but +their great victory in securing the condemnation of the Chancellor of +the University, Michel de Bay, had given them much prestige. Baius +endeavoured to recover by denouncing to Rome their theologian Lessius; +but his attempt failed, and the Jesuits renewed their effort to capture +or displace the university.[14] + +The record of the Germanic provinces is chiefly remarkable for the +extension into Poland and an attempt to penetrate Russia. The Jesuits +had entered Poland under Stephen Bathori, and made such progress in +twenty years that men spoke bitterly of their "fortified palaces," and +saw with regret that nearly the whole education of the nobility was +in their hands. In one college (Pultusk) they boasted that they had +four hundred youths of noble birth. In 1581 the Poles were bringing to +a victorious close their long war with Russia, and the Tsar appealed +for the mediation of the Pope. It was an auspicious opportunity for +re-opening the question of the union of the Latin and Greek Churches, +and the adventurous Father Possevin (the former Legate to Sweden) was +sent as Legate. He learned on the way from Bathori that the Poles would +drive a hard bargain, and felt that this strengthened his position +with regard to Russia. He was received with great honour in Russia, +and the Tsar gave many privileges to Catholics, but the war concluded +at length without a word of union. It is clear that he then used his +influence to induce the Russians to yield, so that his Society might +at least have the gratitude of the Poles. He remained for a long time +at Moscow, but made no progress, and the Pope recalled him to crush +heresy in Transylvania. He was afterwards mediator between Germany and +Poland. Possevin had considerable diplomatic ability, though he was +apt to love melodramatic situations, like so many of the political +Jesuits. Acquaviva at last resented his flagrant political activity, +and compelled him to settle as a teacher at Padua. + +Stephen Bathori was succeeded in 1586 by a pupil of the Jesuits, +Sigismund III., and their power became greater than ever, and provoked +a strong reaction. Their conduct in Transylvania, where most of the +nobles were still Protestant, caused them to be expelled from that +province by the Diet, and many nobles of the Polish Diet endeavoured to +have them expelled from the whole kingdom. They were bitterly accused +of intriguing to get possession of the property of Protestants, and +even of rival religious orders. At Dantzic they were compelled to +return the property of a community of nuns. The nobles chiefly resented +their interference in politics and control of education, and penned +some fiery indictments of what they called their "machinations." An +edict of the Diet for the year 1607 is not flattering to them. + +In the same period they overran the Catholic cantons of Switzerland, +Bohemia, Baden, and most of the south-German States. Throughout the +whole Germanic world their procedure was of much the same character. +A few worthy and powerful men like Canisius would secure the opening +of the doors to the Society, and a host of less religious fathers +would then intrigue for funds to build colleges and educate the young, +and organise the Catholic laity in enthusiastic confraternities +or sodalities. Partly by these methods, but very largely by their +great skill in securing the ear of princes, they not only greatly +strengthened the surviving Catholic populations, but they undoubtedly +regained much territory from the Reformers. They opposed a positive and +unvarying creed to the conflicting doctrines of the Protestants, and +the religious life they themselves exhibited had none of the grossness +which had done so much to provoke the Reformation. Here and there, +however, they clearly resorted to unworthy means to secure property +or influence, and were heatedly assailed. A very curious series of +outbreaks against them occurred in 1584. They boasted of the share +their Father Clavius had had in the reform of the calendar; but, when +it came to the time of Carnival and Lent, and later of Christmas, the +distracted citizens were sometimes defrauded of their traditional +pleasures by the alteration of the calendar, and took their revenge on +the windows of the Jesuits. + +The only notable experience of the Society in Italy was the expulsion +of the fathers from Venice. A feeling of irritation against them had +lingered in the Republic since their inauspicious entry under Ignatius, +and of late years the French and Spanish strictures on them had found +very ominous echoes in Venice. In the early years of the seventeenth +century this feeling was inflamed by the attitude of the Jesuits +in siding with the Pope against the civic authorities. The secular +authorities had been so indignant at the discovery of certain brutal +crimes committed by some of the clergy that, in spite of ecclesiastical +privileges, they proceeded against the criminals. The quarrel with Rome +which followed ended in the Pope placing Venice under an interdict, +and the great body of the clergy of Venice patriotically ignored the +interdict and continued to minister to the citizens. The Jesuits were +in a painful dilemma. They made a futile attempt to evade it by closing +their public churches, but keeping their houses open, and the Council +banished them from the city. A crowd of citizens assembled on the banks +of the canal when the gondolas, bearing the condemned fathers, left +the city, and they do not attempt to represent it as a crowd weeping +for their departure. "Ande in mal' hora" was the scornful reply made +to one of their number who appealed to the people. Their very valuable +property was confiscated, and they would not re-enter Venice for half a +century. + +We might admire the Jesuits at least for their courageous adherence +to their own principles in these experiences of the year 1606, and +we cannot regard it as other than natural that they should attempt +to drag the rest of the clergy into sharing their attitude. But the +indictment of them which the Venetian Senate made after their departure +goes further than this. They were accused of grave intrigue in the +quarrel between Rome and the Republic, and it was said that they abused +their position as confessors to the noble ladies of Venice to learn +the secrets of the Senate and frustrate its aims. Venice, it will be +remembered, took a particular pride in the secrecy of its political +life, and it especially distrusted so notoriously pro-Spanish a body +as the Jesuits. These charges we cannot, of course, control, but they +are consonant with the ordinary action of the Society. It was decreed +that they be banished for ever; that if ever the question of recalling +them were raised, this indictment must be read again in the Council +of Ten, and that any citizen who held communication with the Jesuits +should be sent to the galleys. The question of recalling them was, of +course, raised at once. Henry IV. was induced to plead their cause at +Venice, while Spain used all its power to prevent a reconciliation of +the Papacy and the Republic except on condition that the Society be +restored. So convinced were the Venetians of the anti-patriotic action +of the Jesuits that they peremptorily refused to yield, and Acquaviva +had to resign himself to defeat. + +At Rome a more prolonged and more academic quarrel had nourished the +feeling against the Society. The subject-matter of this controversy +is of interest only to theologians, and the whole struggle must be +dismissed in a few words. In brief, a Jesuit theologian of Portugal, +named Molina, had in 1588 published a work (_Liberi arbitrii cum gratiæ +donis concordia_), in which he had made novel efforts to illumine the +mystery of the consistency of human freedom with the action of grace, +and the way in which God may have a foreknowledge of events which +may or may not take place. When Crétineau-Joly observes that Molina +"talked as if he had been admitted to the counsels of the Most High," +we can understand the indignation of rival theologians of the time. +A Dominican theologian, named Bañez, had a different theory of these +abstruse matters, and there was soon a fierce quarrel between the +two orders. When the Spanish Inquisition refused to condemn Molina, +the Dominicans carried the quarrel to Rome, where it enlivened and +heated the chambers of the Vatican and the religious houses for more +than twenty years. A commission appointed by the Pope condemned the +teaching of Molina as "a dangerous novelty," the Jesuits induced the +Pope to suspend sentence, and even profane ambassadors were drawn +into the sacred arena. Spain threw its influence against Molina: +France, naturally, supported him. It was not until 1607 that Paul V. +judiciously decided that either opinion might be held with a safe +conscience; and when it proved profoundly unsatisfactory to both +parties to find that their rivals were permitted to live, the Pope +had, in 1611, to impose silence on the disputants. The struggle still +lingers in the remote and innocuous volumes of dogmatic theology which +the rival orders occasionally publish. + +In fine, we must glance at the progress of the foreign missions under +Acquaviva. The Japanese mission now reached its highest prosperity +and entered upon the days of persecution. In 1565 there were ten +Jesuit missionaries in Japan, but thirteen more were added to these +in 1577, and the work proceeded rapidly. The fathers took no money +from the converts, building their churches on funds they received from +Europe; in fact, we find them, as elsewhere, adopting very novel and +somewhat dubious devices to extend their work and enlarge the figures +of conversions which it was important to send to Europe. They received +into the Society a wealthy Portuguese merchant named Almeida, and then +directed him to remain in his warehouses and ply his lucrative trade +in Japan, until a few years before his death, in the interest of the +Society. The detail is recorded without a blush by their official +historians. The chief strength of their Japanese mission lay in the +Portuguese commerce with Japan. This commerce was profitable to the +country, and its rulers saw little harm in purchasing it by allowing +the Portuguese to preach their strange gospel to the natives. + +Yet no one can read the records of the Japanese mission without +realising that the success of this early Christian mission was +singularly sincere and solid, and presents a most remarkable and +inexplicable contrast to the experience of our own time. By the year +1580 the Jesuits announced that they had made 100,000 converts; by +the year 1593 they represent this number as doubled. We may assume +that a large number of very imperfectly converted Japanese help to +round these generous figures, but the extraordinary number of native +Christians whom we shall presently find ready to endure suffering and +death for their faith must convince every candid student that the +early missionaries had sincerely converted an astonishing proportion +of the nation. The success is the more strange when we reflect that +the Jesuits were not men of what is usually understood to be an +"apostolic" character. Not only had they members of their Society +making money as merchants, but they induced Philip of Spain to send +out his subsidy to them in the form of fifty large bales of silk every +year, and they secured the sale of these to their highest advantage. +Even less edifying is the fact that in 1585 they induced the Pope to +decree that no other priests than Jesuits should be allowed to enter +Japan. + +Two years later the clouds began, as if in punishment, to overcast +their prosperity. Taicosama had usurped the chief throne of Japan in +1583, and, as the Catholic generals in the army had made no defence +of their legitimate monarch, he continued for some years to favour +the Church. The displacement of the native faith, however, led him to +reflect that it might entail political displacements, and he is said +to have seized the opportunity, when certain Christian girls refused +the honour of being added to the lengthy list of his concubines, to +suppress the mission. The Jesuits were to leave his kingdom within +twenty days, or die; and he burned nearly a third of their 240 chapels. +The Provincial Valignani returned from Italy to find his mission on +the brink of destruction. He had taken a few noble Japanese youths +to Europe, and was bringing them back to tell their fellows of the +grandeur of Rome and Spain. As a Jesuit he was forbidden to enter the +kingdom. With remarkable ease he transformed himself into an ambassador +of the Viceroy of India, and was borne in a superb litter to the +presence of Taicosama, on whom he showered presents and compliments. +The Jesuits were allowed to remain in the country, though still +forbidden to practise their religion, and the hundred priests had for +some time to be content with stealthy and nocturnal ministration to +their converts. + +At length Taicosama turned upon them with fury, and the great +persecution began. Kaempfer says that the Jesuits excited the anger of +the nobles by an insolent refusal to pay them the customary respect; +but a more substantial grievance came to the ears of the monarch. In +1596 a Japanese was examining a map of the earth on which the vast +possessions of Spain were shown. He asked a Spanish pilot how his +master had obtained this enormous territory, and the man imprudently +replied that Philip first sent missionaries into a country to prepare +it for subjection, then armies. The remark was reported to the Emperor, +and he fell upon the missionaries with a just charge that they had +violated his prohibition of the practice of the Christian cult. A +number of Jesuits and Franciscans were crucified, and thousands--the +Jesuits say 20,000--of the native Christians testified to the sincerity +of their belief by embracing martyrdom. The death of Taicosama in the +following year, 1598, put a stop to the persecution, and it is claimed +that 70,000 converts were made in the next two or three years. The +Protestant Dutch traders were, however, now displacing the Portuguese +and Spanish, and repeating to the Japanese those dark opinions of the +political intrigues of the Jesuits which were current in their own +land. Once more the decree of extermination went forth, and by the year +of the death of Acquaviva the mission was nearly extinct. Its second +recovery and final destruction will occupy us later. + +The rule of Acquaviva was also memorable for the beginning of the +Chinese mission. The repeated failures to gain admission drove the +Jesuits to fresh expedients, and a few of their more learned members +applied themselves to a thorough study of Chinese culture and religion. +The first and most distinguished of these was Father Ricci, whom we +find living in Chao Hing, and astonishing the local mandarins with his +learning, in 1583. We are not accurately informed how Ricci obtained +admission, but we have seen, and shall see, that a Jesuit was prepared +to make any profession whatever in order to enter a forbidden land. He +seems to have concealed his religion, and posed as a lay scholar, until +he was sufficiently advanced in the confidence of a few to entrust his +ideas to them. He dressed as a Chinese scholar, and had (after 1587) +two disguised lay-brothers in his house, which was transferred to Chao +Chu. The mob, discovering his aims, attacked the house; but Ricci's +able command of Western learning and appliances had greatly impressed +Chinese scholars, and he made steady, if slow, progress. In the year +1600 he was invited to visit the Emperor at Peking, and shrewdly took +with him a collection of telescopes, clocks, and other wonders of the +West. He was allowed to live at Peking and enjoy the favour of the +Emperor, and other priests quietly entered China and helped to found +the mission. At one time its promise was nearly destroyed by a quarrel +of the rival missionaries,--Jesuit, Franciscan, and secular,--but Ricci +tactfully averted the persecution which their mutual charges brought on +them. He died in 1610, and was honoured with a magnificent funeral at +Peking. Numerically, there were as yet few converts. Ricci was not the +kind of man to rush into the street with a crucifix and proclaim that +the deities of China were false gods. It is only at a later date that +we shall find a large and important mission in China. + +The rest of the missionary field reported almost uniform progress under +the vigorous rule of Acquaviva. Canada was opened by the French troops, +and several Jesuits began to work among the Indians. Mexico proved, +they reported, an easy ground; they claimed that half the population +was Christian by 1608. The Brazilian mission now had a hundred and +fifty priests extending its flourishing work, and the first excursions +were made into Paraguay (1586) and Chili (1593). In 1604, fifty-six +fathers were sent into Peru. In the East, the Hindu mission continued +to spread on the lines we have already described, and Abyssinia at last +consented to admit the Jesuits. It will be convenient to defer until +the next chapter a closer consideration of these missions. + +This survey of the fortunes of the Society under the thirty-five years' +rule of Acquaviva is a sufficient testimony to the ability of that +gifted leader. When he died, on 31st January 1615, the 5000 members of +the Society who had greeted his election had become 13,000, and 550 +Jesuit establishments were scattered over the globe, from Peking to +the slopes of the Andes. In view of the methods of the Society--the +direct and at times indelicate seeking of money and the favour of the +powerful--this growth cannot be regarded as singular. The Society had +adopted new and very effective devices to increase their influence +and membership; it is not as if other religious bodies had used the +same means, and been less successful. And it is now clear that the +distinctive general principles of the Society were rapidly assuming a +complexion which the impatient feeling of its critics has expressed in +the maxim that "the end justifies the means." This will be even more +apparent when we consider, in more detail, the activity of the Jesuits +in England. + +I have as yet made no mention of the "Regulation of Studies" (_Ratio +Studiorum_), which some regard as one of Acquaviva's most significant +services to the Society. I am unable to see this significance in the +treatise which (with later modifications) Acquaviva presented for +the acceptance of the General Congregation in 1599. It is rather a +disciplinary measure than an educational code, and no improvement +of Jesuit culture followed its promulgation. It attempted to impose +a uniform course of two years in rhetoric and humanities (with +fragmentary or expurgated editions of the classics), three years in +philosophy (including mathematics), and four years in theology, on +all the students of the Society. It also imposed the use of Latin in +conversation except during the hour of recreation and on holidays. This +scheme never was, and is not now, rigidly followed, and where it is +followed the gain is disciplinary rather than cultural. We shall see +better, when we come to examine Jesuit scholarship, the grave defects +of the Jesuit education from a general pedagogical point of view. Its +aim was narrow and specific,--the production of sound theologians,--and +it would be a mistake to judge it at all from the wider educational +point of view, were it not for the light and superficial praise it +sometimes receives. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 9: See Father Astrain's _Historia de la Compañia de Jesus en +España_, vol. ii. chap. iii., chap. v. and elsewhere.] + +[Footnote 10: It was, and still is in Catholic countries, a custom to +incline the head at the mention of the name Jesus.] + +[Footnote 11: See Count Hoensbroech's _Fourteen Years a Jesuit_ (1911), +ii. 334.] + +[Footnote 12: Jules Loiseleur, _Ravaillac et ses complices_, 1873.] + +[Footnote 13: I have consulted the Latin translation, by another +Jesuit, of Coster's work, _Sica tragica Comiti Mauritio a Jesuitis ... +intentata_ (1599).] + +[Footnote 14: When I studied at Louvain University in 1893, I found the +struggle just as it had been three hundred years before. The Jesuits +still sought in vain to capture the university, and were detested as +cordially as ever.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE EARLY JESUITS IN ENGLAND + + +The first attempts of the Jesuits to carry their war against +Protestantism into the British Isles have been noticed, at their +various dates, in previous chapters. We remember the brave and futile +journey of Brouet and Salmeron in 1541; the labours of David Woulfe, of +unhappy memory, in Ireland in 1560; the fruitless adventures of Gouda +among the Scottish Calvinists in 1562; and the obscure apostolate of +Father King in England in 1564. Three years after the last date, Father +Edmund Hay had made an equally unprofitable expedition to Scotland. He +and Thomas Darbyshire, a nephew of Bishop Bonner, had been directed to +accompany a Nuncio on a fresh attempt to advise and confirm Queen Mary. +The Nuncio had prudently remained in Paris, and sent Father Hay, an +adventurous young Scot who loved disguises and the inspiring chances +of politics, to explore the kingdom. He spent two months in hiding at +Edinburgh in the early part of 1567, and returned to say that there +was no hope of success. At last, in 1580, a very able and remarkable +English Jesuit, Father Robert Parsons, opened that stirring chapter of +Jesuit history which closes with the Gunpowder Plot. + +Since the beginning of the Reformation in England a number of Catholic +students had gone abroad, and many of them had entered the Jesuit +novitiate in Belgium, Germany, and Italy. Father More has preserved +in his _Historia missionis Anglicanæ_ (1660) the names of about thirty +Englishmen who figure in the chronicles of one or other province down +to the year 1580. Of these the most important were Robert Parsons and +Edmund Campion, who opened the mission of 1580. Parson, a Somersetshire +man of the yeoman class, had been a fellow of Balliol, where he had +attracted some attention by his ability, his religious vacillations, +and his disagreeable temper. He was compelled to resign and go abroad +in 1573. Some (Camden and others) say that he was expelled for +dishonest conduct, others that he was a martyr to religious conviction; +but Father Taunton concludes, in his excellent study of Parsons, that +he left "on account of perpetual disagreements with his fellows."[15] +At Louvain he met Father William Good, who induced him to go through +the exercises, and he entered the Society at Rome in 1575. He was +ordained priest, and made English confessor at St. Peter's in 1578. +Edmund Campion, who was the son of a London bookseller and a brilliant +Fellow of St. John's (Oxford), had meantime joined the Society and was +at Prague. He had known Parsons at Oxford, and they corresponded when +they both became Jesuits. + +The peculiar circumstances which led to their mission, and had a most +important bearing on its history, must next be told. A wealthy English +priest, Dr. (afterwards Cardinal) Allen, had founded a college at Douai +for supplying England with clergy to support the old faith. It was +transferred to Rheims in 1578; and, as the free lodging and education +which it offered to young refugees soon caused it to be overcrowded, a +second college was opened at Rome and generously supported by the Pope. +The Jesuit fathers lectured at this college. The rector, Dr. Clenock, +was an injudicious Welshman, and the national prejudices of the English +and Welsh students, who were a very turbulent lot, led to prolonged +and most violent quarrels, which ended in the whole body of the young +apostles marching out of the college. They demanded that the management +of the college should be given to the Jesuits, and it is quite clear +that the Jesuits encouraged their revolt. After a few months they +found that the Jesuits also were unsuitable masters, and the trouble +broke out afresh. It was then that Robert Parsons began his famous +diplomatic career. He suggested that the Jesuits should co-operate +with the secular priests on the English mission. General Mercurian +and his counsellors demurred at first; there was no bishop in England +to control the clergy, and they foresaw quarrels. The difficulty was +removed by making the aged Bishop of St. Asaph ordinary for the whole +of England, and inducing him to join the mission; and in April 1580, +Parsons and Campion (who was summoned from Prague) set out on foot, +with nine secular priests and a Jesuit lay-brother, Ralph Emerson, for +Rheims. + +It is disputed at what precise stage Parsons began to be a politician, +but he was little known to the Papacy in 1580, and was certainly not +admitted to its secret counsels. He learned at Rheims, however, that +a mission of by no means a pacific character had at the same time been +sent to Ireland, and we know that a third mission, also of a political +nature, was sent to Scotland, to prepare the way for a French invasion. +The English authorities would naturally conclude that the mission to +England was a part of this political conspiracy against Elizabeth. They +had spies all over Europe, and long before the apostles reached Rheims +a pen-portrait of each of them was being studied and distributed to the +pursuivants at Westminster. There had as yet been little enforcement +of the penal laws, in spite of the Pope's unhappy interference with +the loyalty of English Catholics. It was well known that mass was said +in more than one house in London, and that many a quiet manor-house +sheltered nuns and priests, but there was little disposition to +persecute on account of belief, and as yet little inclination of the +Catholics to active disloyalty. To admit Jesuits was a different +matter. What did even the Catholics of France and Spain say of them? +And when this coming of the Jesuits coincided with a political activity +of Guise and the Papacy against the English throne, it was inevitable +that the authorities should decide to be vigilant and stringent. The +missionaries were not deterred; they left their aged bishop behind, +and made their way, in separate parties, to the coast. At St. Omer's +Parsons and Campion learned that their names and descriptions were +known in London, and officers were on the watch for them, but the +spirit of romance and devotion urged them on, and they planned their +campaign. + +It is an amusing and characteristic picture which Parsons draws of his +journey to London. He was a big, burly man of thirty-four, and wore the +uniform of an officer returning from the wars in the Low Countries. +The befeathered hat and gold-laced coat and military swagger fitted him +so nicely that the officers not only passed him, but got a horse for +"the captain" and promised to pay every attention to his friend the +jewel-merchant (Campion), who was to follow him in a few days. By the +end of June they were together in the house that had been taken for +them in Chancery Lane. At Rome, Parsons had met an enthusiastic and +wealthy young Englishman named George Gilbert, and, instead of making a +Jesuit of him, had sent him on in advance to prepare the way for them. +He had boldly taken rooms for them under the nose of the chief official +charged to arrest them--who was probably searching for them in the +warrens by the river or the villages beyond the gates--and had formed +a secret association of Catholics throughout the country to help them +in their travels. The news soon spread through the Catholic world that +two Jesuits were in England, and the secular priests, whom they met and +endeavoured to conciliate, urged them to return to the Continent. It +is difficult to look back and not see that they would best have served +the cause of Catholicism in England by quitting it at once; the few +thousand converts they made, or waverers whom they strengthened, were a +small service in comparison with the fierce hostility they brought on +the faithful, the political conspiracies in which they involved them, +and the bitter dissensions they caused amongst the clergy. But for the +coming of the Jesuits and the plots of foreign Catholics, Catholicism +might have lived on in England as a considerable sect, overlooked by +the authorities, until the Pope's blunder was forgotten and the penal +spirit abandoned. + +Yet we must respect the two Jesuits--to omit the humbler services of +Emerson--for refusing to save their lives by an immediate flight, +and no historian, whatever his religious views, can read that first +chapter of their story in England without sympathy and admiration. Each +was provided by Gilbert with two horses and two suits and a servant, +and they bade farewell to each other and set out to make their way, +separately, through the legions of spies and officers. When they +entered a county, the secret members of the association would send +warning to the scattered Catholics along the route, and it would be +given out that an acquaintance was expected. Toward evening the Jesuit, +in some strange disguise, would ride into the courtyard and receive, +under the eyes of the servants, the common civilities which one owed to +a passing acquaintance; but when the inner chamber was reached, and the +door closed, master and mistress would fall on their knees and kiss the +hand of the traveller, and the broad-brimmed hat would be removed to +disclose the face of the priest invoking a blessing on the persecuted +faithful. Then Catholic neighbours might come, and confessions be +heard, and the evening would be spent in sober discussion of the awful +catastrophe that had befallen their Church. In the early morning a +chalice and an altar-stone and vestments would be found among the +luggage of the supposed soldier or merchant, and the little group +would gather in a guarded chamber for mass. Possibly in the midst of +the ceremony the sentinel would whisper that the pursuivants were +upon them, and some stolid Catholic servant would hold the men at the +door until priests and vestments were safely lodged in the pit which +had been dug beneath the floor or the secret chamber cut out of the +solid wall. When mass was over, the disguised Jesuit would, as a rule, +give a last blessing and take to the road again, dining at inns where +he might see on the wall a description of himself and an intimation +that the Government wanted to hang, draw, and quarter him. Parsons +carried his bluff so far as to tear down one of these bills, and ask +the landlord what he meant by confronting an honest traveller with +reminders of that villainous Jesuit. + +The two met again at Uxbridge in October, when Elizabeth had issued +a third proclamation against them, and the search was being pressed +vigorously. Campion returned to the provinces, and Parsons decided to +remain in or near London. He had a bold design of setting up a press +and stealthily issuing Catholic books, but it is reasonable to believe +that he was now becoming convinced that only a large political action +could save the faith in England. He saw much of the Spanish ambassador, +Mendoza, even living in the embassy as a servant for a time; and from +his conversations with Mendoza we may confidently date that idea of +a Spanish invasion of England which was to dominate the remainder of +his unfortunate life and cause incalculable mischief. Not only the +general rule of his Society, but a most explicit command laid on him +by Mercurian when he left Rome, forbade him to meddle with politics, +yet he gradually became wholly absorbed in a political and treacherous +project, and we may safely date its birth about this time. + +Somewhere out of London--at East Ham, Simpson conjectures--he set up +his press, and infuriated the Council by disseminating books which +their advisers pronounced to have been printed in England. Hundreds of +arrests were made, the rack was busy at the Tower, and the laws were +made more drastic; yet the "howling wolf" (Parsons) and the "wandering +vagrant" (Campion), as they were described in a debate in Parliament, +continued to evade the zealous officers. Two other Jesuits, Cottam and +Bosgrave, who attempted to join them, were arrested at once and put in +the Tower; while the Irish Jesuit, O'Donnell, was hanged, drawn, and +quartered at Cork. + +In the early part of 1581 Fathers Holt and Heywood penetrated the +Protestant defences and joined Parsons. He sent Holt on to Scotland, +to further the political scheme he now cherished, and later had Father +Crichton sent on direct to Edinburgh from Rouen. A genial page of Mr. +Andrew Lang's _History of Scotland_ (ii. 282) tells how these Jesuits +"let the pigs run through the job" in Scotland. The romance of hiding +in Holyrood and assisting the great enterprise of the invasion of +England seems to have exalted them, and they gave Mary, whom they would +rescue, a very poor opinion of their qualities as diplomatists. They +made airy promises of armies, to be provided by some foreign power, +until at last even Mendoza begged them to confine themselves to the +saving of souls and leave State affairs to statesmen. Father Hay, +another Scottish Jesuit who joined them, advocated the assassination of +the leading Protestant nobles. These Jesuits returned in the course of +time to the Continent; Father Ogilvie, in 1615, was the only Catholic +who was executed on the ground of religion in Scotland after a formal +trial. + +To return to England, Parsons found in the early spring of 1581 that +his lodging in East Ham was suspected, and he moved the press to Dame +Stonor's park near Henley, where Campion came to control the printing +of his _Ten Reasons_: a Latin work, not hampered by modesty, which +greatly stirred the Protestant divines of the time. Gilbert, who was +now under surveillance and had lost most of his property in the cause, +was sent to Rome to report that 20,000 Catholics had been added to the +list of the faithful in a year--a quite incredible number, as only +50,000 recusants were known to the Council in the whole of England. +On 11th July the two comrades parted, for the last time; Campion +was caught at Lyford in Berkshire about a week afterwards. He had +imprudently returned to a house at which he had ministered, and the +officers closed round it. For a day and a night Campion lay hidden in +the "priest's hole," but the officers at last discovered him, and sent +him to London, conspicuously labelled "Campion the seditious Jesuit." +We will not linger over the racking, the thrusting of spikes between +his fingers and nails, and the other horrible devices by which the +Council sought to extract a betrayal of others; though we might remind +those who, like Crétineau-Joly, speak of these things as the hideous +inventions of Protestant hatred, that these appalling instruments were, +on the contrary, already stained with Protestant blood. Campion's great +courage wavered under the long and terrible strain, and he supplied a +few names of Catholic houses, to the great scandal of the faithful at +the time; but he expiated his momentary weakness, on 1st December, by +meeting with great bravery the ghastly death of a "traitor" at Tyburn. +One of the two secular priests who were condemned to die with him, +Father Briant, was admitted by him to the Society the night before +the execution, and died a Jesuit. Father Cottam was executed in the +following May (1582). + +Parsons left Henley, where his press was discovered a month later, +and went into Sussex. The secular clergy were now so eager to get the +Jesuits out of England that some of them threatened to betray him, and +he went to France in March. Probably the feeling that he could promote +his political scheme more effectively on the Continent had more to do +with his flight than the fear of death or the pressure of the secular +clergy. He remained at Rouen, smuggling English books from there into +England and doing all that he could to press the Scottish enterprise. +It was from Rouen that he sent Crichton into Scotland, and he was in +constant correspondence with Mendoza and the Duke of Guise, who would +help in the enterprise. Crichton presently returned to tell of the +large and imprudent offers of help he had made to Lennox in Scotland, +and they decided to make an effort to get armies for the rescue of Mary +Stuart. Crichton was sent to Rome, and Parsons went to Madrid. + +The chief interest of the work of the English Jesuits remains with the +indefatigable Parsons on the Continent during the next five years, +and a few words will suffice to tell the story of his colleagues in +England. Besides two secular priests, Metham and Pound, who were +admitted to the Society in prison, and Emerson, who was in prison (and +remained there for twenty years), Heywood was now the only Jesuit in +England; Holt had been captured in Scotland, and sent back to the +Continent. Heywood caused a great deal of irritation by his masterful +ways, and the secular priests indignantly describe him as driving in +a luxurious coach, like a baron, and living so comfortably that he +contracted gout. He was recalled to the Continent, but was captured +and kept in the Clink until 1585, when he was banished. His place +as Vice-Prefect of the mission--Parsons was Prefect--was taken by +Father Weston, a new arrival, whose powers in expelling demons were +so singular and spectacular that he used to take possessed persons +about with him in his stealthy visits to the Catholic gentry, and give +most amazing displays--until it was discovered that the "mediums" were +frauds. It had paid them, apparently, to swallow nauseous drugs and +allow themselves to be mauled by Father Weston. He was captured and +lodged in Wisbeach Castle in 1587, but Fathers Garnet and Southwell had +then arrived, as we shall see presently. We must follow the feverish +political activity of Parsons, which culminates in the sending of the +Armada. + +From Paris Parsons had made a swift journey, on horseback, to Madrid, +where he greatly impressed Philip II. By this time, at least, Parsons +deliberately advocated the transfer of the English crown to Philip, +and was therefore a traitor to his country and to the rules of his +Society. He obtained from Philip a large sum of money for James of +Scotland, a pension for the seminary at Rheims, and a promise that +Spanish influence would support his claim of a red hat for Allen: he +was anxious to remove Allen from the colleges he had founded, so that +the Jesuits could control the supply of priests to England. A severe +illness kept him for some months in Spain, but he was back at Paris in +May 1583. During the summer he was in close correspondence with Guise +and d'Alencon, who were now advocating and plotting the assassination +of Elizabeth as the simplest solution of the situation. In August +Parsons went to Rome, to excuse his activity, which scandalised the +Parisian Jesuits, and to induce the Pope to subsidise the Scottish +expedition and remove Allen to a loftier sphere. He returned in the +autumn, having secured a bishopric for Allen and another pension for +the college at Rheims. In spite of the protests of the French Jesuits +he continued to pursue his plots. The French dukes withdrew from the +enterprise, and the Spanish King was now quite willing to move, if the +Pope would be generous with funds. Gregory died in the spring of 1585, +and Parsons and Allen went to Rome to win the new Pope, Sixtus V. + +There is at this date, and during the next few years, no room for doubt +about the aim of Parsons. We have it repeatedly in his own words that +he worked to seat Philip on the throne of England, and he shrewdly +advised Philip to conceal his intention, from the English Catholics, +Scotland, France, and the Papacy, until his expedition was successful. +The death of Mary Stuart did not disturb him, and he gradually +discarded the idea of attacking through Scotland. Philip was to make +a direct attack, and the English Catholics were to be instructed to +look to Philip, not as a future king, but as restorer of the faith. +All the world knows the result. The great Armada (with several Jesuits +on board) sank to the bottom of the Channel, and Parsons had the +mortification of learning that even Catholics had loyally taken arms +to repel the Spaniard. There ended the second phase of his remarkable +career, and we may return to England. + +In July 1586 Henry Garnet and R. Southwell landed on the Norfolk +coast, as Dr. Jessopp so finely tells, and resumed the work which I +have previously described. Garnet was, if somewhat less boisterous +and masterful, the new Parsons; Southwell, a retiring and amiable +man, the new Campion. As Weston was arrested in 1587, Garnet became +Vice-Prefect. In the following year John Gerard and Edward Oldcorne +joined them, and the story of adventurous ministration went on. On one +occasion the four Jesuits were nearly caught in a batch, saying mass +in a Catholic house; and in 1594 Garnet was caught and imprisoned for +three years. He escaped from the Tower, with outside assistance, in +1597, and returned to work. Southwell was betrayed by a Catholic lady +in 1592, and, after three years in the Tower, was executed at Tyburn +in 1595. In the same year Henry Walpole was arrested on arrival, and +executed at York. Father Greenway was the only other Jesuit to enter +the country before 1600, and we must leave these fathers pursuing their +adventurous work and consider the growing quarrel of the Jesuits and +the secular clergy. + +That long and interesting story must be told very briefly here. +Wisbeach Castle had been chosen as a prison for captured priests, and +when Weston arrived there in 1587, he very plainly tried to assume a +leadership. As his various suggestions were rejected, he made a party +among the priest-prisoners, got himself appointed director of it, and +initiated a bitter and prolonged feud which spread far beyond the walls +of Wisbeach. To the secular priests' charges of arrogance and ambition, +the Jesuit writers retort that even in jail the English priests were so +prone to drunkenness, gambling, and immorality that Father Weston was +forced to live apart with the more virtuous. A profane historian must +not attempt to judge between them. It is enough that, especially in the +years 1595-1597, reports of violent quarrels reached Rome; and these +coincided with complaints from Belgium of the behaviour of Father Holt +(who had been sent as agent of Philip II. to Brussels and was denounced +to the authorities for his violent political partisanship), and another +rebellion of the students of the Roman college. Not only did these +complain of their Jesuit masters, but they occasionally fell into the +hands of the papal police in wine-shops and other improper places, and +were found to be a very poor and undisciplined body of youths. Mr. Law +insists that the Jesuits kept the English priests at a low level of +culture in order to control or overshadow them the more easily. + +Parsons was now recalled from Spain and political intrigue to deal with +this new menace. He had spent several years in Spain, founding new +English colleges (at Valladolid, Seville, and Madrid) under his own +control and working out his learned theory that the crown of England +belonged of strict right to Spain. He failed to induce Philip to send +a second Armada, and now devoted himself to proving that the Infanta +was the heir to the crown of England. That is the idea of the book, +_A Conference on the Succession_, which he published, anonymously, in +1594: a year after the fifth General Congregation of his Society had +once more sternly decreed that no Jesuit must meddle with politics. + +In 1597 he reached Rome and quickly pacified the students of the +college. Some of them, it seems, thought that he ought to be made a +cardinal for his great services, and he hastened, with tearful eyes, to +ask the Pope to spare him that dignity; and we will trust that he was +relieved when the Pope coldly observed that he had not had the least +idea of imposing it on him. They then turned to the great question of +Wisbeach, and the settlement of it doubly interests us; partly because +a Jesuit supremacy in Wisbeach might be a good precedent for the time +when a Catholic monarch succeeded Elizabeth, and partly because it +throws a very singular light on Jesuit procedure. + +The Jesuits submitted that the clerical prisoners in England desired +some kind of canonical leader. Clement VIII., who had, like his great +predecessor Sixtus V., had some alarming experience of the state of the +Jesuits (as we shall see later), required proof of this. They brought +before him certain English priests, friendly to themselves, who assured +the Pope that there was no discord in their ranks in England; the +largeness of their "mental reservation" may be judged from the fact +that a later inquiry showed that 343 out of the 400 priests in England +were against the Jesuit proposal. The Pope was deceived, and he yielded +to Parsons's suggestion to make George Blackwell, a former student +under the Jesuits, "Archpriest" of the English clergy. Blackwell went +to England to exercise this newly invented authority, and Parsons +returned to his plots. He had then several secretaries to conduct his +enormous correspondence, and he was so sure of a Catholic succession +to the throne that he marked out various houses in London for use as +Jesuit colleges. + +After a time there came to Rome some of the English clergy, saying +that they had received the Archpriest with amazement, and begging the +Pope to withdraw him. The Pope was not in Rome, and Parsons took care +that they should not reach him. He induced the papal authorities to +arrest them, as rebels, and lodge them in the college controlled by +the Jesuits; and when they persisted in appealing to a Roman tribunal, +he secured the dismissal of the appeal. Later, a fresh batch of +appellants came to Rome, and Parsons knew that their evidence would +be very damning. Not only had the Jesuits, who controlled the moneys +gathered for the support of the imprisoned priests, attempted to use +this power to subdue them, but when the Pope had ordered that no more +pamphlets should be written on the subject, Blackwell had refrained +from publishing the decree until Parsons had time to issue one; and +this one mendaciously purported to have been written by some "priests +united in due subordination to the Archpriest." The secular priests +had appealed to Elizabeth, and she had actually heard and set four of +them at liberty, in order that they might plead their cause at Rome. +They now had the support of the French embassy, and, in spite of all +the libels which Parsons circulated concerning them and the English +clergy generally, they won a partial victory. Blackwell was to remain +Archpriest, but he was not to consult the Jesuits. + +From this domestic but instructive feud we return to the action of the +Jesuits in England. Under ten different names Garnet had continued, +amid a hundred adventures, to elude his pursuers, and his colleagues +were only a little less active. We cannot, however, do more here +than attempt to trace their share in the political scheming which +culminated in the Gunpowder Plot. The Jesuits in England carried out +the suggestion of Parsons that, instead of putting their faith in the +eventual accession and conversion of James of Scotland, they should +teach the Catholics to look to Philip. In December 1601 we find Garnet +meeting Catesby, Tresham, and Winter in the house of Anne Vaux at +Enfield Chase, and discussing the question of a mission to Spain. The +issue of it was that Winter and Father Greenway went to Madrid, and +obtained a large sum of money from Philip III. It was intended for the +relief of the poor Catholics, Garnet afterwards said: in which case we +do not very well understand why he "misliked" the expedition, as he +says. + +Elizabeth died on 24th March 1603, and James Stuart peacefully acceded +to the throne. We need not stop to consider the shifts by which Parsons +now sought the favour of James; he had, he boldly and untruthfully +said, abandoned the idea of a Spanish succession at the death of Philip +II. in 1598. James was not to be deceived, and, in his negotiations +with Rome, made a point of having the Jesuits excluded. The conflicting +counsels in regard to the Catholics ended, as is known, in a decision +to tolerate lay Catholics, but not priests, and the bitter agitation +began which led up to the famous plot. Catesby and Winter conceived +the horrible idea of blowing up the Parliament House when the King, +the Royal Family, and the Lords and Commons were assembled in it for +the opening of Parliament. Guy Fawkes, Thomas Percy, and J. Wright +were admitted to the secret, and in March 1604 they met and swore to +accomplish the plot. In an adjoining room a priest said mass for them, +and Fawkes and Winter afterwards said that this priest was Father +Gerard; Gerard, however, denied this, and the point is not important, +since it is not at all probable that Gerard was ever admitted to the +secret, and no priest knew of the plot until long afterwards. Gerard's +idea was that toleration could be bought, but he failed even to find +the money. For more than a year and a half the conspirators brooded +over their ghastly scheme, and made preparations for carrying it out; +and on 5th November 1605 Fawkes was arrested in the cellar beneath the +House beside a mass of powder. + +It is agreed that no Jesuit inspired this plot; the point we have to +determine is whether the Jesuits were aware of the plot and acquiesced +in it by their silence. The whole subject has been fully and repeatedly +discussed, and I propose to rely almost entirely on the "Declarations" +which Father Garnet addressed to the authorities during his trial +and imprisonment.[16] The living Jesuit, Father Gerard, may express +an ingenuous doubt whether there ever was a Gunpowder Plot at all; +his predecessor of the seventeenth century, who ought to know, was +concerned only to extricate himself, by a series of confessions, +evasions, and untruths to which no parallel can be found in the history +of martyrs, from the very grave moral and legal charge of having known +that this horrible slaughter was contemplated and made no effort to +disclose or prevent it. + +Garnet confesses that on 9th June 1605 Catesby came to his lodging, +at a costermonger's house in Thames Street, and, "finding me alone," +asked if, "in case it were lawful to kill a person or persons, it were +necessary to regard the innocents who were present." The Jesuit replied +that the killing of innocent people in a lawful attack upon others +was not immoral; he pointed out that soldiers had often, in besieging +a town, to slay the civilian with the soldier. He professes in his +declaration that he had no idea that Catesby had in mind an actual +plot to be carried out in England. He had written to Parsons a few +weeks before that many of the Catholic laymen were "offended with the +Jesuits" on the ground that they "hindered forcible enterprises"; and +he would have us believe that when one of these laymen, whose character +he knew well, finding him alone, puts to him a singularly abstract +question of this nature, it does not even occur to him that he has +a "forcible enterprise" in mind. When Catesby was leaving, however, +he assured Garnet that he would under no circumstances betray that +he had consulted the Jesuit. Even then the innocent Jesuit failed to +understand, and it was only on reflection, he says, that he thought it +possible that Catesby was plotting. He therefore felt it to be his duty +to "admonish" Catesby, the next time he met him, that he "must first +look to the lawfulness of the act itself, and then he must not have +so little regard of innocence that he spare not friends and necessary +persons for a Commonwealth, and told him what charge we had of all +quietness, and to procure the like in others." + +Even if we suppose that this "admonition" was really given to Catesby +as he describes it--one hesitates, because Garnet's conduct throughout +is a classical example of casuistic perversion of truth--we can +readily believe that Catesby took it very lightly, as Garnet says. +Even if we could bring ourselves to admit that Garnet at the secret +interview saw only an innocent and abstract moral issue, such as might +be discussed in an open drawing-room, in Catesby's question, and +therefore unwittingly sanctioned a bloody massacre, it is certain that +he perceived on reflection that some such massacre was contemplated; +yet he can only warn him to have regard for "friends and necessary +persons," and feebly remind him of their duty of "quietness." Indeed in +July, he confesses, he received "a very earnest letter" from General +Acquaviva, who said, on behalf of the Pope, that they were vaguely +conscious that something was contemplated by the English Catholics, and +that the Pope and Acquaviva himself rigorously forbade any recourse to +violence, as it would do more harm than good. He showed this letter to +Catesby, because, he says, "I doubted he had some device in his head." +Catesby admitted that he had, and offered to tell it to him. He refused +to hear it, and merely stipulated that a layman should be sent to the +Continent to learn if it were true that the Pope would not disapprove: +a mission which, as Garnet knew, had no issue. + +This last interview with Catesby occurred in the latter half of July, +more than two months before the proposed opening of Parliament (3rd +October). By that time, therefore, Garnet was quite aware, without +the least reference to the seal of confession, that the Catholic +laity contemplated some deed which directly aimed at taking life on +so large a scale that the innocent would suffer with the guilty, and +it would need very little reflection to foresee that this deed was +directed at the court or the Parliament, or both. Further, in order +not to be obliged formally to condemn it, he refused, contrary to his +plainest duty, to learn the details of it. The clue to his frame of +mind seems to be given in his letter to Parsons in May. The laymen +were "offended with the Jesuits" because they would not consent to +"forcible enterprises"; he would therefore not interfere with their +plot. He could, without violation of any sacramental confidence, +because Catesby's admission to Father Greenway comes later, have +prevented the plot from going any further, but he allowed this vague +horror to proceed, and defied the emphatic command of the Pope and +his General, in order that the Jesuits might not lose favour with the +leading Catholic laymen. It is probable that he also trusted that the +outrage would be justified by the result. Whatever his motives, his +conduct was shifty, cowardly, and treacherous, and he fitly died the +death of a traitor. He admits later in his "Declaration" that he "might +have hindered all" by speaking to Catesby. He claims that he pressed +the Roman authorities, through Parsons, to send a stronger condemnation +of plots; but we have a letter of his to Parsons, dated 4th September, +in which he assures Rome that the English Catholics are now quiet and +submissive. + +It is therefore unnecessary to decide whether he afterwards learned all +the details of the plot under the seal of confession, and whether it +was morally impossible for him to disclose such a communication. The +guilt of Henry Garnet is clear enough, however we decide the further +issue. Yet it is of interest, and the further development may be +briefly recounted. + +A few days after he had seen Catesby, in the latter half of July, +Father Greenway came to consult him. He was troubled about a "devise" +that Catesby had submitted to him, and he proposed to submit it to his +superior "by way of confession." Garnet then learned the details of the +plot; he had forbidden Catesby to tell him, but was willing to learn +them without Catesby's knowledge. He pronounced the plot "horrible," +and said that Greenway must return to Catesby and condemn it. The Pope, +he said, would send him to the galleys if such a plot came off. He +urged Greenway to dissuade Catesby, and adds: "so we parted, yet with +this compact, that if ever I should be called in question for being +accessory unto such a horrible action, either by the Pope, or by my +superiors beyond, or by the State here, I would have liberty to utter +all that passed in this conference." He expected to see Catesby in +October--he could undoubtedly have seen him before then--and says: "I +assuredly had [if they met] entered into the matter with Mr. Catesby, +and perhaps might have hindered all." He undoubtedly could have +"hindered all" at any moment by an explicit declaration that the plot +was a mortal sin, and by a threat of the Pope's penalties. + +An attempt has been made to relieve Garnet of the heavy responsibility +which this declaration lays on him by pleading that the Church binds a +priest, under the gravest moral obligation, not to communicate anything +learned "by way of confession." In the first place, Garnet does not say +that Greenway learned the plot in confession. He says that he asked +Greenway this, and he does not give his reply. It is, in fact, quite +certain from Garnet's own words and conduct, that the communication was +not made under the seal of confession at all. If it were, Garnet had no +power whatever to speak to Catesby about it, as he says he intended +to do: Greenway had no power whatever to permit Garnet to "utter all +that passed in this conference" if he were brought to task: and Garnet +committed a mortal sin and cowardly sacrilege in eventually revealing +that he had heard of the plot from Greenway. There are obscure points +about the theological doctrine of the "seal," but these things are not +obscure or disputed. Catesby told Greenway in ordinary confidence, as +he offered to tell Garnet. Even if it had been otherwise, Garnet's +plain duty was to see that his colleague approached Catesby and made it +a matter of conscience to abstain from such a design. + +It is, in the next place, even clearer that the communication made by +Greenway to Garnet did not come under the seal of confession. Garnet +plainly intimates that there was no confession at all, and merely hints +that it might be regarded as forming part of some future confession. +The teaching of moral theologians is clear that a consultation for the +sake of direction does not, unless it be intended as "a preparation +for confession," come under the seal.[17] Greenway was not a penitent +at all, and even a sinner cannot put a confessor under the seal +when he chooses; he must confess his sins. In any case, the above +considerations apply here also. Garnet would have no right whatever to +approach Catesby if he learned the plot in confession; Greenway had no +right whatever to name Catesby in a confession; Garnet would have no +right to say, in confession, whether he would or would not listen to +this "penitent"; and Garnet would most decidedly have no right to claim +permission to break the seal if his neck were endangered. To introduce +"the seal of confession" is to make Garnet's conduct worse than ever. + +It is plain that Garnet and Greenway feared to offend the laity by +thwarting them, and it is probable that they thought the slaughter +might help their cause. They locked the secret in their hearts, and +nervously went about their work. In August Garnet went to the north, +and in December, when the conspirators were slain and Greenway and +Gerard had fled to the Continent, he sought refuge at Hinlip Castle, +near Worcester, with Father Oldcorne. They were betrayed by a Catholic +and discovered, after a full week's search of the castle. An astute +jailer then tricked Garnet into a conversation with his colleague, and +learned that there was one man who could connect him with the plot. +In the presence of the rack he then declared that he was permitted +to speak in such an emergency, and he related the "conference" +with Greenway. He remained shifty and mendacious to the end, using +the doctrine of mental reservation with an appalling flippancy. +When charged with writing a letter to Greenway, he swore "on his +priesthood," and without reservation, that he had not written it; and +the Council then showed him the letter, which they had intercepted. He +was justly, if barbarously, executed on 3rd May, on the ground of the +general knowledge he had of the plot from Catesby himself. Equivocal +to the end, he declared to the authorities that he had sinned against +God and the king in not revealing the plot; while to the Catholic Anne +Vaux he pleaded that "it was not his part to disclose it." He did not +represent it as matter heard in confession. + +As the innocent and estimable Oldcorne had been executed on 7th April, +the Jesuit mission was over for a time, and the hopes of Catholicism +blasted. Crétineau-Joly gives an inaccurate list of seven Jesuits who +"perished" under Elizabeth, and airily adds "a hundred others." The +truth is that from 1580 to 1606 there had only been a score of Jesuits +in England, even including the secular priests who were permitted to +take the vows in prison in order that their martyrdoms might illumine +the chronicle of the Society; that only seven of these, including +the seculars I have mentioned, were put to death; and that of the +five regularly admitted Jesuits who were put to death, two obtained a +remission of punishment by giving information. Yet their story is, on +the whole, a story of heroism thwarted by political intrigue. + +Two other Jesuits, Hunt and Worthington, had arrived before the plot, +and in 1607 others began again to penetrate the defences of the +country. The houses of wealthy Catholics were no longer available as +they had been, and the life of the missionary was harder than ever; but +the colleges on the Continent continued to send their ardent apostles +into the field, and by 1615, when Acquaviva died, there are said to +have been sixty-eight Jesuits in England. The prestige of Parsons had +fallen low, but he remained, intriguing, on the Continent. For some +years students had been passing from the Jesuits to the Benedictines, +and in 1602, in spite of the opposition of Parsons, the Benedictines +obtained from the Pope the right to work in England. Clement VIII. had +received so many complaints that he threatened to expel Parsons from +Rome, and Parsons, at a hint given him by Acquaviva, went to Naples +for the advantage of his health, and remained there until the death +of Clement. He returned with the accession of Paul V. in 1605, and +continued to fight the secular clergy in regard to the archpriest. The +extraordinary course of deception and intrigue which he maintained +until his death in 1610 must be read in the spirited narrative of +Father Taunton. His death closes the chief interest of the English +mission under Acquaviva, and we will return to the struggling apostles +at a later stage. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 15: E.L. Taunton, _History of the Jesuits in England_ +(1901): an admirable critical study of Parsons and of the quarrels +of the Jesuits with the secular clergy, though not quite a balanced +and comprehensive history. R. Simpson's _Edmund Campion_ (1867) is a +very fine biography of that high-minded Jesuit; and T. Law has written +a learned and exact _Historical Sketch of the Conflicts between the +Jesuits and Secular Priests_ (1889). More sympathetic and detailed +accounts of the religious work of the English Jesuits are given in +Dr. Jessopp's _One Generation of a Norfolk House_ (1879), and Father +Morris's _Life of Father Gerard_ (1881). A complete and impartial +history of the Jesuits in England, telling with equal candour their +heroism and their defects, is desirable. The writings of recent Jesuits +are not "history," but very Jesuitical polemic.] + +[Footnote 16: They were published in the _English Historical Review_, +July 1888.] + +[Footnote 17: So the chief Jesuit manual now in use, Lehmkuhl's +_Theologia Moralis_, i. 330; from which I was taught casuistry.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE FIRST CENTURY OF JESUITISM + + +As the long reign of General Acquaviva was followed by the almost +equally long reign of General Vitelleschi, it will be convenient +once more to take his tenure of office as a stage in the history of +the Society, and consider the action of the fathers in their various +provinces. The death of Vitelleschi, in 1645, will then complete the +first century from the establishment of the Society, and we may pause +to deduce from the enormous mass of detail a few general truths in +regard to Jesuit character. From that point onward I propose to follow +the fortunes of the Society continuously in each province down to the +year of its suppression in the eighteenth century. + +The election of Father Mutio Vitelleschi did not pass without incident. +The Spanish electors determined to make an effort to recover the +supreme office from the Italians, and their tactics were not edifying. +When they reached Rome, at an early date, they learned that Vitelleschi +was the favoured candidate, and they proceeded to describe him to the +various voters, as they arrived, in most uncomplimentary language. He +seems to have been a mild and inoffensive old man, of little ability +and no distinction, a Roman by birth. There is, doubtless, a good deal +of exaggeration in the rancorous charge of the Spaniards, that he was +worldly and ambitious and had hitherto been chiefly occupied with the +cultivation of wealthy ladies. When these statements did not seem to +affect his prospect of election, the Spanish fathers appealed to the +Spanish and French ambassadors; and, when the ambassadors declined to +assist them, they sought the Pope and confided to him the vices of +Father Vitelleschi. Paul V. genially dismissed them with an assurance +that, if he were such as they described him, he could have no hope of +securing the votes of forty of the shrewdest and most religious members +of the Society. In point of fact, he received thirty-nine votes, and he +wisely dissuaded the Congregation from inflicting on the Spaniards the +punishment which his admirers demanded. I may add that it now took more +than a hundred decrees of the Congregation to regulate the disorderly +life of the Society; though we shall still find it singularly +unaffected by this mass of stern legislation. + +The long generalship of Mutio Vitelleschi (1615-1645) is, says +Crétineau-Joly, "a monotonous stretch of felicity." When, however, +we turn to the official Jesuit historian, Cordara, who continues +the _Historia Sociatatis_, we find that the year which immediately +followed the election was marked by serious disturbances or scandals +at Castellone, Genoa, Artois, Paris, Lyons, Freiburg, and Worms, and +in Sicily, Béarn, Castile, Poland, and Hesse-Cassel. We shall further +see that the monotony of the thirty years is relieved by a scandalous +bankruptcy of the fathers at Seville, a temporary expulsion from Malta, +Bohemia, and Hungary, a combined attack upon the Society by the leading +universities of Europe, the publication of the _Secret Instructions_, +the complete extinction of the great Japanese mission and the new +mission in Abyssinia, and a quite normal succession of scandals and +tribulations in France and Catholic Germany. The serious historian +cannot therefore dismiss the generalship of Vitelleschi with a short +assurance that it was a period of virtue, heroism, and prosperity. We +must, as before, carefully consider the life of the Society in each of +its provinces. + +The record of the Society in Italy is an uninteresting chronicle of +small scandals and unobtrusive work. The former class may be briefly +illustrated by the adventures of the Neapolitan Jesuit, Father Onufrio +de Vermi, in the year 1623. The historian tells us that the honours +awarded him by his illustrious penitent the Count d'Elda so inflated +his spirit that he rebelled against his authorities. Passing over to +Spain, he contrived to secure a bishopric from the queen, and was +expelled from the Society on the charge of ambition. It is needless to +quote such trifles as these from the chronicles. The outstanding event +at Rome under the rule of Vitelleschi was the canonisation of Ignatius +and Xavier in 1622. Their place in the distinguished gallery it would +be invidious to question, but the curious student of such matters would +find it interesting to trace the appearance of the miracles which were +needed to secure canonisation for them. In the case of Xavier, whose +life was spent in the Far East, it would be easy to adduce evidence of +miracles, and difficult to examine it. The miracles of Ignatius are +more interesting. When Ribadeneira, who knew him, first wrote his life, +he seemed not to have heard of any miracles; when, however, forty years +later, the question of canonisation was mooted, Father Ribadeneira +corrected his defect by publishing a shorter life which shone with +miracles. As time went on, the monarchs of Europe--wherever the Jesuits +had influence--began to press the Pope to canonise Ignatius and Xavier, +and in 1622 the Jesuits obtained that supreme assurance of the sanctity +of their founders. It need hardly be said that they illuminated Europe +with their festivities, and made considerable profit by the honour, +which they represented as unsought by themselves. + +The island of Malta was the scene of one of the storms which broke upon +the Society in this half-century. The fathers had established a college +at Lavaletta in 1592, and prospered there until 1632, when a sudden +and mysterious tempest swept them, for a time, out of the island. The +Jesuit version of the adventure is that the Grand Master Lascaris had +attempted to curb the well-known licence of the knights and had, at +their protest, thrown the responsibility of the reform on the Jesuits. +When the carnival arrived, and the knights were hampered in their +amusements, some of them took the revenge of masquerading as Jesuits in +the gay throng; and when the Master imprisoned them, at the entreaty of +the Jesuits, they forced the doors of the jail and compelled Lascaris +to exile the Jesuits. This story is not implausable, but we are equally +bound to notice the different version put forward by their opponents. +They say that the Jesuits had incurred general contempt by hiding great +stores of food in their house during a famine (as we have seen them do +in Paris) and by their indulgence in vice. One is disposed to think +that the former charge cannot be entirely devoid of foundation. It +is singular that, when the French king, at the request of the French +Jesuits, forced the knights to readmit the fathers, the two leading +Jesuits were not suffered to return to the island. + +The most serious event of the half-century was, however, the bankruptcy +of one of the Jesuit houses at Seville, and in this case we have +serious independent evidence. The condition of the Spanish province +evidently remained unchanged in spite of "visitations" from Rome +and decrees of the Congregation. Their generous patron Philip III., +whose dominion they had so materially helped to enlarge, died in 1621, +but his successor Philip IV. was even more generous to them. They +prospered, and continued to deteriorate. We may not be disposed to +admit implicitly all the sordid stories about them which we find in +the _Teatro Jesuitico_, one of the fiercest anti-Jesuit works of the +period,[18] but we have independent evidence of such episodes as the +murder of a Spanish Jesuit by an injured husband. Instead, however, of +wasting time on these isolated disorders, it will be enough to examine +the story of the famous bankruptcy. + +One of the seven residences which the fathers had at Seville failed in +1644, and acknowledged a debt of two and a quarter million francs. The +Jesuit system, it may be recalled, was to place the administration of +the house in the hands of a "Lay Coadjutor" (or lay-brother, who had +not made a vow of poverty), and their defence in this singular case is +that Brother Villar, who held this charge at Seville, borrowed large +sums of money and invested them in shipping and other concerns, without +the knowledge of the fathers. His speculations proved disastrous, and +the fathers found themselves bankrupt. Crétineau-Joly genially closes +the episode with an assurance that the fathers found the money and +expelled the offending brother from the fraternity. + +That the brother was expelled is quite certain, but I can find no +trace that the Jesuits, in spite of their great collective wealth in +Spain, ever paid more than a partial dividend, and the whole of the +circumstances merit consideration. That we should be asked to believe +that a community of Spanish Jesuits, the keenest business-men in the +whole Society, suffered a lay brother to conduct vast operations, and +to borrow large sums from their own followers in Seville, without their +having the least knowledge how he conducted their affairs, is little +short of impertinence. We have, however, positive knowledge that the +Jesuit version is most untruthful. Not only does Bishop Palafox, one +of their most conscientious adversaries, give a different version in +his second letter to Pope Innocent X., but a paper written by one of +the creditors and submitted to the King of Spain (who favoured the +Jesuits) has survived, and must command our confidence. From this +memoir or petition, which is reproduced in the _Annales de la Société +des soi-disans Jésuites_ (iii. 976), I propose to take the facts of the +scandal. + +From communities of nuns and the pious laity of the town, both rich +and poor, Villar had borrowed sums amounting in all to 450,000 ducats, +and invested them in unwise speculations. Villar protested throughout +that he had acted under the directions of the fathers, and it would be +quite impossible for him to borrow so extensively among their admirers +without their knowing it; even if we could suppose that, contrary +to all custom, they left their affairs blindly in the hands of a +lay-brother. In 1644 the fathers summoned their creditors, declared +themselves bankrupt, and proposed a settlement. Some of the creditors +endeavoured to secure a payment in full by representing that the +Jesuits would suffer severely in credit if they did not draw on the +immense resources of their Society to discharge the debt. "The loss +of our credit does not trouble me," said the rector; "as the proverb +says, the raven cannot be blacker than its wings." The creditors, +however, refused to yield, and a receiver was appointed. The petition +to the king affirms that this official found among their papers certain +letters which plainly showed that they had directed Villar, and secret +instructions for the dishonest diversion of legacies they had received +on condition of paying out certain monies. + +The next step of the Jesuits was to secure the appointment of a judge +who would favour themselves. Though there was grave distress among the +poorer creditors, this official declared that three-fourths of the +Jesuit assets were sacred funds, and that little remained for division. +The creditors appealed to the Royal Council, the judge was dismissed +for corrupt procedure, and the whole of the property was declared to be +"lay" for the purpose of the case. Indeed, the higher court declared +that the action of the Jesuits was "infamous," and would, on the part +of a private individual, merit a capital sentence. Yet in 1647 we +find this petitioner still appealing for a discharge of the debt, and +complaining that the Jesuits are trying to induce the more pious of +their creditors to agree to a composition. + +The significance of this ugly episode does not consist in its +illustration of the conduct of a single community of Jesuits. As such +it would not be entitled to lengthy consideration in serious history. +The more unpleasant feature is that it involves the whole of the +Jesuits of Castile, and, in spite of the fact that--the petitioner +says--they owed a collective debt of two million ducats, they formed +one of the most numerous and wealthy provinces of the Society and +dwelt in most imposing establishments. They clearly trusted that their +colleagues would evade the discharge of a legitimate debt, and they +incurred a storm of anger and disdain. The Roman house itself had taken +vast sums from Spain, yet it permitted the local Jesuits to resist +their obligations for several years, relying on a purely legal and +worldly view of the local responsibility. + +The Jesuits of Portugal, which was still under the dominion of Spain, +exhibit the same prosperity and worldly temper, and their behaviour in +connection with the revolution of 1640 was sinuous and unattractive. In +1635, when the agitation began for the restoration of the Portuguese +throne, they punished some of their number who sided with the +revolutionaries. As time went on, however, and the movement gathered +strength, they wavered and temporised in the most amusing fashion; and +so shrewdly did they follow the national movement that the successful +completion of the revolution in 1640 found them entirely on the side of +the Portuguese people. + +When we survey the thirty years' life of the Society in France under +the rule of Vitelleschi, we get much the same impression of poor +character, or character warped by casuistry. Under so Catholic a +monarch as Louis XIII. and so powerful a statesman as Richelieu we do +not expect to find any of the large political intrigue in which they +had indulged in earlier years. We find no grave scandal, no exalted +virtue, no religious heroism. Their life is a chronicle of assiduous +teaching and ministration, punctuated by unworthy manoeuvres here +and there to obtain power or repress rivals, and never rising above +mediocrity. A few words on their relations to the court and Richelieu, +to the bishops and universities, and to new reformers like Cardinal de +Bérulle and St. Vincent de Paul, will suffice for our purpose. + +The petty intrigues and successive dismissals of the Jesuit confessors +to the court are not of sufficient consequence for us to linger over +them. In 1624 Richelieu became first minister of France and put an end +to their political pretensions. In that year they had again incurred +the anger of the university. Henri de Bourbon, illegitimate son of +Henry IV., had been appointed bishop of Metz. He had been educated by +the Jesuits, and was induced to make his "act of theology" in their +college, instead of at the Sorbonne, as was customary, and the whole +court had been attracted to and entertained in the college. Richelieu +had, however, no idea of espousing the quarrel of the university; +he would quickly enough come into conflict with the Jesuits, as he +was determined to reverse at the first opportunity the pro-Spanish +policy of Marie de Medici and her clerical advisers. His first act +was to drive the Pope's troops out of the Valtelline and defy Spain, +and the Jesuits contented themselves with contributing anonymously +to the shower of violent ultramontane pamphlets which now fell on +the minister. Two of them especially, written (it seems) by Father +Keller, the Jesuit confessor of Maximilian of Bavaria, and entitled +_Mysteria Politica_ and _Admonitio ad Regem Christianissimum_, gave him +great annoyance. They were condemned and burned, together with Father +Santarelli's _De Hæresi_ (1626), but Richelieu was almost exhausted by +the violence of the first storm his policy brought upon him, and he did +not take the extreme measure against the Jesuits which he was said to +contemplate. It is clear that they realised his power and resolved to +be discreet. After a fruitless appeal to the young king against him, +they signed a series of propositions drawn up by the Sorbonne, and +resigned themselves to the patriotic policy of the great minister. + +The position of the Jesuits during the next two decades was one of +great prosperity but acute dissatisfaction, on account of their +political impotence. They had (in 1627) 13,195 pupils in their schools +in the Paris province alone, and more than that number in the remaining +French provinces. Their opponents were, however, numerous and active, +and Richelieu was not unwilling to see this check on their ambition. We +find Father Suffren, the king's confessor, complaining in 1626 of the +number and violence of their enemies, and adding: "Few of our friends +have the courage openly to undertake to defend us." What we shall see +presently of their relations to the bishops and universities will throw +some light on this. There can be little doubt that Richelieu despised +the Jesuits, but preferred to have them under his eye, engaged in the +teaching of the young, rather than as open opponents. He punished +them ruthlessly when they interfered in politics. He had Father +Monod, confessor to Christiane of Savoy, imprisoned for his political +intrigues, and when Father Caussin, who was appointed confessor to +Louis in 1637, was discovered by Richelieu's spies to be making a +secret and insidious attempt to turn the king against Richelieu, he was +promptly exiled. Louis had shown Caussin a list, supplied by Richelieu, +of Jesuit theologians, who approved the policy of the minister. "Ah, +sire," said the Jesuit, piqued at this astute move, "they had a church +to build." + +In a word, the Jesuits were politically powerless under Richelieu, +and gave him little serious anxiety. It seems rather that he induced +many of them, however insincerely, to support him in his policy--a +policy which was angrily repudiated by Rome and the Catholic powers. In +1638 he threatened to cast off the yoke of the papacy, and, by making +some of the gravest concessions demanded by the Reformers, unite the +Huguenots and Catholics of France in an independent Gallican Church. +If we may believe a story given in Bayle's _Dictionary_ (article +"Amyrant"), which was written shortly afterwards, he actually used the +Jesuit Amyrant to negotiate with a leading Huguenot divine, and promise +to surrender such Catholic doctrines as purgatory and the invocation +of the saints.[19]Two years later we find a Jesuit enlisted in the +regiment of pamphleteers who defended Richelieu's singular policy. It +is perhaps, in view of their constant policy toward the Reformation, +one of the most curious instances of their power of adaptation to +circumstances. + +I have said that Richelieu despised the Jesuits, and his correspondence +with Father (later Cardinal) de Bérulle suggests this. De Bérulle, a +man of exalted character and piety, was the founder of the Oratorian +priests, and a valued friend of the minister. We have a letter that he +wrote to Richelieu in 1623, which contains, in the mild and charitable +language of a saint, a very painful indictment of the French Jesuits. +Their jealousy of the new congregation and determination to prevent its +growth led to some extremely unworthy conduct. In town after town, as +de Bérulle describes in detail, the Oratorians removed the prejudice +against the Jesuits, and even surrendered property to them, and the +Jesuits then repaid their benefactors with slander and intrigue. At +Dieppe the governor refused to allow the Jesuits to found a college, +but gladly admitted the Oratorians. A Jesuit then asked the hospitality +of the Oratorians, and used the opportunity to intrigue against them, +in favour of the Society, among the citizens. A letter in which he +informed his colleagues of his hope of winning the college from the +Oratorians was intercepted and sent to de Bérulle. At Paris the +King offered the Oratorians a hotel, but the Jesuits intervened and +prevented the gift. They told "strange and atrocious calumnies" of de +Bérulle at the court, and at Bordeaux they proposed to indite him for +heresy. The intrigue covers the whole of France during more than ten +years, and betrays a very general lack of moral sensitiveness among the +French Jesuits. In a similar, though less vigorous, way they attempted +to hinder the growth of the new congregation of priests founded by St. +Vincent de Paul.[20] + +A more general view of the conduct of the French Jesuits from 1615 to +1645 does little to alter this unfavourable impression. Even in the +pages of their French apologist their record of service is singularly +mediocre; they taught tens of thousands of pupils and preached to +hundreds of congregations, is all that one can say. On the other hand, +when we turn to the numerous facts which the French apologist has +discreetly omitted, we find them making unedifying efforts to extend +their work and influence. In 1620 the Jesuits of Poitiers defy the +bishop, who lays an interdict on their church; the bishop has decreed +that his people must attend their parish churches once in three weeks +at least, and the Jesuits reply from the pulpit that it is enough if +the people attend _their_ church. At Angoulême, in 1622, they secure, +through Father Coton and by a secret contract with the mayor, the +monopoly of teaching and the control of the university. They continue +for four years to defy the bishop and stir the people against him, +although they are condemned by Cardinal de Sourdis and their contract +is declared void by the Parlement, until the bishop is compelled to +excommunicate them. In 1623 they have similar trouble, due to their +determination to found petty universities at Toulouse, Pontoise, and +Tournon, and all the universities of France combine in what the French +apologist calls a "ferocious war" against them. A few years later +they obtain from the King letters permitting them to found a house at +Troyes, "at the request of the inhabitants." The inhabitants were so +little minded to invite them, and so angry at the fraud, that they kept +them out of Troyes, in spite of all their efforts, for a hundred years. +Their record in France is full of such details. Toward the end of the +period it begins to tell of the famous struggle with the Jansenists; +but we will consider this story in full in a later chapter. + +An incident that occurred in the province of Lorraine, which was +annexed by Richelieu in 1633, deserves special consideration. The +impetuous and sensuous young Duke, Charles IV., chose the Jesuit +Cheminot as his confessor in 1637, and a week later, although his +first wife still lived, he married the Princess Béatrix de Cusance. +Instead of retiring from the court, which was at once assailed from +all parts of France for the bigamy, Cheminot wrote a casuistic memoir +to prove that the marriage was valid, and clung to the duke for six +years. The misconduct of an individual Jesuit is, as I have said, not +matter for serious history, and, if it were true that Cheminot defied +his own superiors, there would be no occasion to dwell on it. But the +correspondence published by Crétineau-Joly shows plainly that the +Jesuit authorities acquiesced in Cheminot's position for many years. +We find Charles writing to General Vitelleschi in 1639, in friendly +terms, to complain that some of the other Jesuits are hostile to his +accommodating confessor. Three years later we find Charles declaring +to Cheminot that he will not grant him permission to retire, as his +General "presses" him to do; as if a Jesuit needed such permission. It +was only in 1643, when the scandal was known to all Europe, that the +Roman authorities excommunicated Cheminot. They had waited five years +in the hope that they would not be compelled to sacrifice a place in a +ducal court. + +Their fortunes in Belgium and Holland also were less romantic than they +had been in earlier years. The settlement of Belgium as a Catholic +province enabled them to spread over it with easy prosperity, and +obtain a very large share in the education of the young. The Flemish +fathers made a singular contribution to the literature of the Society, +which has given its more sober admirers much embarrassment. In the +year 1636, which they chose to regard as the centenary of the Society, +they published a work, the _Imago Primi Sæculi_, in which they gave, +by pen and pencil, a marvellous account of the first hundred years of +the Society's life. Its progress and virtues were put on the highest +scale of miraculous heroism; the Jesuits were represented as a troop of +angels transferred to the planet earth in the crisis of its religious +development. As, however, the modern apologist for the Jesuits +represents the work as a "touching fiction" and "pious dithyramb," +we need not give it serious attention. Undoubtedly it was imposed on +Belgium and other countries at the time as veracious history. + +M. Crétineau-Joly is not so candid when he turns to Holland. He marks +how, in spite of the heretical atmosphere, the Jesuits have planted +colonies at Amsterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Leyden, Harlem, Delft, +Rotterdam, Gouda, Hoorn, Alkmaer, Harlingen, Groningen, Bolsward, +Zutphen, Nimegues, and Vianen; how they mingle with the Spanish troops +and board their vessels in the war; how they press on to Denmark, and +are seen everywhere as the fearless "standard-bearers of the Church." +It was, perhaps, natural that he should be indisposed to mar this +picture with an account of the relations of the Jesuits to the secular +clergy; but, since our purpose is to attain a just and complete view +of the Jesuit character, we are compelled to consider it. During forty +years they maintained a struggle similar to that they had conducted in +England in the days of Elizabeth. + +The secular clergy of Holland pressed for the appointment of a +bishop, and the Jesuits used all their resources to prevent such an +appointment, since it threatened their ascendancy. When a priest named +Sasbold was named for the office, they made a scandalous attack on his +character; and when, in 1602, he was appointed Archbishop of Utrecht, +they had his name changed to Archbishop of Philippi. Until his death +in 1614 they conducted an unceasing intrigue against Sasbold, and they +first endeavoured to prevent the appointment of a successor, and then +transferred their rancorous hostility to him. They had been banished +from Holland in 1612, but they again secured toleration, and by 1628 +there were seventy Jesuits in the country. The struggle against the +archbishop continued all through the period, in spite of several papal +injunctions that they were to obey him; but it is unnecessary to enter +into all the details. We need not question the bravery of the Jesuits +as standard-bearers of the Church, but it is impossible to admire their +efforts to prevent the employment of other standard-bearers. Their work +was, in point of fact, less effective than that of the secular clergy, +because the Dutch Protestants hated and distrusted them. They were +found in 1638 to be implicated in a political plot to introduce the +Spaniards, and two of them were tortured and executed. + +Since the period we are considering coincides with the Thirty Years' +War (1618-1648), we naturally find that the record of the Jesuits in +Germany is full of life and adventure. Their share in bringing about +that disastrous and paralysing struggle cannot be measured by the +historian. Now that the world realises the baneful effect of that war +and of the Catholic policy of intolerance which led to it, in retarding +the development of European civilisation, the Jesuit authorities are +not likely ever to publish such documents in their archives as would +reveal their activity. We must be guided by two chief considerations. +In the first place, the general historian can trace the movements +which led to the outbreak of war without any reference to the Jesuits, +and is therefore not disposed to think that their intrigues were an +essential element in the incitement of it; on the other hand, however, +the Jesuits were the most earnest and insistent advocates of the harsh +Catholic policy which occasioned the war, and they had considerable +influence over the Catholic leaders. Ferdinand II., Maximilian of +Bavaria, and Wallenstein had been trained in Jesuit schools; Tilly had +actually entered the Society, but withdrawn before he had taken the +vows. Jesuits swarmed in the Catholic camp, especially about the tent +of Tilly, fired the soldiers to their work, and advanced in the rear of +the army to occupy whatever towns fell to their arms. + +The war began, it will be remembered, in Bohemia, and here the Jesuits +were very clearly interested. When the Protestants cast off the yoke +of the Emperor in 1618, they swept the Jesuits from their country and +burned some of their colleges. We can very well imagine the plaints +of the Jesuits at the courts of Ferdinand and Maximilian, and are +not surprised to learn that eighteen Jesuits accompanied Tilly's +troops when they came to subdue Bohemia. It was the beginning of the +war. Similarly, when Bethlen Gabor took Hungary in 1622, one of his +first measures was to expel the Jesuits; and the victorious Swedes +had expelled them from Livonia in the preceding year. It is, however, +unnecessary here to follow them through the long course of the Thirty +Years' War. They retreated and advanced with the soldiers of the +Catholic League, died of plague in the camp or fell under the sabres +of the heretics, and maintained the struggle to the end with all the +energy which non-combatants could exert. There were even occasions, +as at the siege of Prague, when they took arms and fought desperately +in the van of the Catholic troops. The alliance of France with the +Protestants was a bitter disappointment to them, and they were among +the few in Europe who profoundly deplored the Peace of Westphalia +(1648), which at last gave a just liberty to Protestantism in Germany. +The war, as conceived by them, was a costly and lamentable failure. + +I have said that they fiercely resented the attitude of Richelieu; yet, +it is curious to note, they took a singular advantage of it in their +own interest. One of the articles of the treaty which Richelieu made +with the northern heretics provided that after their victories they +should respect Jesuit settlements. Crétineau-Joly reproduces a letter +in which Louis XIII. reminds his Protestant allies of this provision. +The French apologist would have us believe that the agreement was +distasteful to the Jesuits themselves,--on this point he quotes no +documents,--but we should find it hard to conceive Richelieu making +so exacting a demand of the Protestants if the Jesuits were even +indifferent to it. It accords only too well with their sinuous and +accommodating policy. + +Their work of education proceeded in the provinces which were not +ravaged by the troops; but even here they met much hostility and had +some disastrous experiences. It was during this period, in 1612, that +the famous _Secret Counsels_ ("Monita Privata") came to light and drew +a large amount of odium upon them. It is the general belief that this +book was written by a Polish priest and ex-Jesuit, Jerome Zahorowski, +whose bishop proceeded against him on that ground. Since, however, +manuscript copies of the work were afterwards discovered in the Jesuit +colleges at Prague, Paris, Roermond, Munich, and Paderborn, their +critics submit that it was a secret code of instructions issued by +the Roman authorities to their professed members, and that Zahorowski +merely published what the Society had already circulated in private. +This question must still remain open. The occurrence of so many +manuscript copies in Jesuit colleges is singular, but it is impossible +to prove that any of these were earlier than the printed edition of +1612. + +If we regard the contents of the work, we find that it is, in almost +every paragraph, a summary of principles and tactics on which the +Jesuits actually proceeded in their pursuit of wealth and power; +but there is a callousness, at times a cynicism, in this deliberate +codification which makes one hesitate to think that it was written by +high Jesuit officials. It seems to me that Zahorowski at least recast +such instructions as were genuine, and intended to write a satire on +Jesuit procedure. It is incredible that the Roman authorities should +enjoin the fathers always to settle in wealthy towns, "because the aim +of our Society is to imitate Christ, our Saviour, who dwelt mainly at +Jerusalem," and it is difficult to believe that they expressly laid it +down that "everybody must be brought into a condition of dependence on +us," and that wealthy widows must "be allowed to have secret recreation +with those who please them." Nearly a fourth of the book is occupied +with instructions on the way to conciliate wealthy widows: notoriously, +one of the chief sections of Jesuit practice. Much of the remainder is +devoted to the conciliation of princes, and the drastic procedure to be +taken against apostates. There are few lines which do not describe the +well-known procedure of the Jesuits; but, in its actual form, at least, +the work seems to be a deliberate and just satire. + +A second incident which brought much odium on the Jesuits in the +period occurred at Cracow. Here, as at so many places, the University, +conscious that the Jesuits wished to win the control of higher +education, kept a jealous eye on their school. In 1622 the fathers +endeavoured to evade the restrictions placed on them by including +in their celebration of the canonisation of St. Ignatius a public +discussion of certain theses. The university professors and students +prevented them from doing so, and a long and angry quarrel followed. +In 1626 a decree of the States-General of Poland (reproduced in +the _Mercure Jésuite_, ii. 312) closed the Jesuit school, and the +University sent a formal report to Louvain and other universities, +begging them to unite against the intrigues of the Jesuits. This +letter, dated 29th July 1627, contains very grave charges against the +Society, and considerably strengthened the opposition to them in the +university towns of Europe. It complains that the Jesuits sent their +pupils in arms against the university students, and, when a riot +occurred, induced the King to send troops against the students. As +grave trouble occurred about the same time at Louvain, Douai, Liège, +Salamanca, and other universities, there was a general concentration of +the professors throughout Europe in hostility to the Society. However +much we may suspect partiality or exaggeration in their severe charges, +it is clear that the Jesuits made unscrupulous efforts to capture the +universities. + +And this feeling against them was strongly reinforced by their efforts +to secure the property of other monastic bodies. We saw how Ignatius +himself had set an example by endeavouring to get the estates of +the Benedictines in England, and how constantly this charge is made +against the Society. In 1629, Ferdinand II. ordered the Protestants +of his dominions to restore ecclesiastical property; and we learn +from the decree of Pope Urban VIII. that the Jesuits were "the chief +authors of the imperial edict." The Benedictines, Cistercians, and +Premonstratensians at once began to claim their property, and were not +a little agitated when the "chief authors" of the edict succeeded in +getting from the Pope an order that they were to share in the division. +The Emperor's confessor was, of course, a Jesuit (Lamormaini), and it +is admitted by their apologist that they secured the "best part" of +the restored property. To cover their lack of moral or legal title to +this property, the Jesuits freely reproached the older orders with +corruption and decadence, and a war of pamphlets was maintained for +many years. From these publications we learn some remarkable stories of +Jesuit procedure. + +At Voltigerode in Saxony some Bernardine nuns had, in 1631, obtained +one of the restored houses. The Jesuit fathers persuaded them that +the building was unsafe, and, when the nuns retired, claimed it as +"abandoned property." The nuns returned, however, and a very lively +scene was witnessed. The Jesuits brought the police, and the nuns, who +clung valiantly to the seats of the chapel, were physically dragged +out of the building. The Cistercian monks afterwards took up the +case and secured the expulsion of the Jesuits. At Prague the Jesuits +coveted a handsome Cistercian abbey, and persuaded the Emperor that +only a half-dozen degenerate monks occupied the vast establishment. An +imperial commissary was sent, and found that there were sixty-one monks +and thirteen novices in the abbey. The angry Jesuits, who accompanied +the commissary, protested that the abbot had put the monastic dress +on his farm-labourers; but the Cistercians held their ground and +obtained the protection of the Emperor. The Vicar-General of the Order +of Cluny reported a large number of these fraudulent attempts of the +Jesuits to obtain the property of his monks; and we have civic and +ecclesiastical documents relating to great numbers of similar cases in +France, Germany, and Switzerland in the early part of the seventeenth +century.[21] + +When we turn to the missionary field of the Society during this period, +we find a remarkable activity which would in itself merit a volume. +The casuistic methods of the Jesuits are applied in a singular way +to overcome the obstacles to their success, and devices are adopted +from which the modern missionary, of any denomination, would shrink +with astonishment. The simple fervour of a Xavier had, as we saw, +early given way to more calculating methods and political intrigue, +but the extent to which this diplomatic procedure was carried in the +seventeenth century brought a storm of criticism upon the Jesuits. +Here we have only to notice the beginning of the more unusual tactics, +and we will in a later chapter consider the missions in the height of +their prosperity and irregularity. + +An amusing instance of this readiness to adopt questionable, and even +downright dishonest, practices in the service of religion is furnished +by the mission to the Hindoos. It appears that after all the hundred +years of activity in India, with a free and not very delicate use of +the Portuguese authority, the results were regarded as meagre and +unsatisfactory. Hitherto we have heard nothing but most optimistic +accounts of the work of the missionaries in India; but when the hour +comes, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, for justifying a +new and strange policy, the Jesuits tell us that the effect of the +older policy had been slight, and that the high-caste Hindoos smiled +with disdain on the crowds of ignorant natives who had, on one pretext +or other, accepted baptism. In 1605 the Jesuit Robert de Nobili, an +Italian of noble birth and a nephew of Bellarmine, joined the Indian +mission and initiated the new policy. + +Isolating himself from his colleagues before he became known in India, +he made a very close study of the customs and sacred writings of the +higher caste Hindoos, learned Tamil and Sanscrit, and after a few years +appeared before the people of India as a member of the penitential (or +highest) caste of the Saniassi. He lived apart, in a turf hut, and +abstained rigorously from flesh and fish. His head was shaved, save +for a single tuft of hair, and he had the yellow mark of the caste on +his forehead. Dressed in a flame-coloured robe and tiger-skin, with +the peculiar wooden sandals of the caste on his feet, he posed in all +things as one of the devout Saniassi, and attracted the veneration of +the natives. The Brahmans naturally suspected this mysterious addition +to their brotherhood, and came to interrogate him. He took oath that he +was of high caste,--a quite innocent thing, the Jesuit apologists say, +since he was a noble by birth,--and produced a document certifying that +he was the Tatuva Podagar Swami whom he pretended to be. This document +was itself a gross imposture, and we may be further quite sure that the +Brahmans would not pass him, as they did, until he had made very plain +professions of belief in the Vedas and the Hindoo gods, and practised +the idolatrous rites of his adopted caste. + +For a time he lived apart, and was content to edify by the austerity +of his life. Then, like his forerunner, the Swedish Jesuit Nicolai, +he began to attract a few impressible Brahmans, and cautiously to +initiate them to the Christian faith. Other missionaries were now aware +of this action, and he was summoned to appear before the archbishop +at Goa. From Goa he was, in 1618, sent to justify his conduct before +the Inquisition at Rome; and many of his own brethren, including his +learned uncle, were scandalised at his flame-coloured robe and painted +brow. He maintained that there was no superstition whatever in the +practices of the _saniassi_, and he actually obtained permission from +the Pope to return and continue his work on the understanding that +the peculiarities of his dress and the rites of his caste had no more +than a civic and sanitary significance! Other members of the Society +now followed his example, and the imposture continued throughout the +seventeenth century. At his death in 1656 it was claimed that Robert +had made 100,000 high-caste converts, and that one of his colleagues +had made 30,000. In a more precise document, however, we read, at a +later date, that one of the most insidious of these Jesuit saniassis +baptized nine Brahmans in eight months, and that this was more than +his colleagues had done in ten years. The whole questionable episode +was little more than an indulgence in the romantic adventure to which +his diplomatic principles always disposed the Jesuit. He instinctively +loved disguise and palliated deceit. The work in India continued on the +old lines. Thousands of children were stealthily baptized, to swell the +lists published in Europe; the favour and wealth of the Portuguese were +assiduously used; and, as we gather from the letters sent to Europe, +a great deal of trickery was employed in order to make the ignorant +natives believe that the Jesuits could work miracles and control +devils. Coloured lights were cunningly placed at times so as to shine +on their statues and altars and create a belief in miracles. + +Missionaries from India penetrated Ceylon and Thibet, but they were +expelled after a few years. The Chinese mission continued to prosper, +and by 1620 claimed to have made a hundred thousand converts. One of +the missionaries, Adam Schall, an expert in mathematics and mechanics, +was employed by the Emperor to correct the Chinese calendar, make +guns for his army, and construct fortifications. He received in +return permission for his colleagues to preach throughout the Empire, +and hundreds of churches were built. Presently, however, the rival +Dominican missionaries reported to Rome that the Jesuits owed their +success to a scandalous compromise with the native religion. There +is no doubt that the Christianity they set before the Chinese was a +very different creed from that which Xavier had intended to bring. +They did not obtrude the crucifix on the notice of their converts, and +they looked leniently on the worship of ancestors and the veneration +for Kung-fu-tse. When the Dominicans and Franciscans insisted on the +drastic purity of the faith, and characterised the pagan moralist with +all the vigour of mediæval intolerance, the Jesuits persuaded the +Chinese to expel them, and a spirited struggle, which will engage us at +a later stage, took place in regard to their "Chinese rites." + +The Japanese mission, on the other hand, was totally extinguished under +the generalship of Vitelleschi. For a time after 1616 the new Emperor +Xogun was indifferent to the labours of the Jesuits, who entered the +country in disguise, and the converts were once more gathered into the +Church. It is said that they numbered 400,000, and the record of the +persecutions which followed shows that at least a large proportion of +them were fervent and convinced Christians. In 1617, however, Xogun +ordered all missionaries to leave the country, and a long and bloody +persecution set in. The English and Dutch merchants had now supplanted +the Portuguese, and they fed the animosity of the Emperor. Large +numbers of the Jesuits and their followers were brutally tortured and +executed; yet with signal heroism they continued to enter the land and +lay down their lives for their work. But the fierce persecution was +sustained by Xogun II. and his son, and by the time of the death of +Vitelleschi, Christianity was extinct in Japan. + +The next most interesting field of missionary activity was South +America, where the Jesuits came to set up the remarkable commonwealths +of which their admirers still speak with unstinted admiration. We must +defer until a later stage the full consideration of these communities, +and can only tell here the story of their origin and early fortunes. +The natives of Paraguay had been so brutally treated by the Spaniards +that when, in 1586, the Jesuits entered the country, they found it +exceedingly difficult to disarm their apprehensions. They scattered +over the country, winning thousands of the natives by their kindly +and humane aid, but usually leaving them, after baptism, to their +original ways. The mission was better organised in 1602, and definite +Christian settlements began to appear. As a natural result of their +sympathy with the natives they soon quarrelled with the Spaniards. +While the Spaniards expected the missionaries to make the natives more +pliant and submissive to their authority, the Jesuits reported that the +natives would have nothing to do with the European colonists, whom they +denounced for their cruelty and rapacity. The Spaniards retorted that +the Jesuits sought to keep the trade in native products and industries +for their own profit, and a bitter controversy was provoked. In 1610 +the Jesuits obtained from Philip III. permission to colonise, and +founded the first of their "reductions," or industrial settlements. + +For many years the work proved extremely difficult. The natives +appreciated the protection of the Jesuits, who obtained a royal +order that none of their converts could be enslaved, but were little +attracted to their creed. At the least pressure they would return +to the forests, and could only be recovered with great labour. More +workers came from Europe, however,--by 1616 there were a hundred and +fifty Jesuits in Paraguay,--and more settlements were founded. By +the year 1632 there were twenty "reductions," each containing about +a thousand families. Not only was the ground assiduously tilled, but +Jesuit lay-brothers taught the arts and crafts of civilisation, and +even formed an armed and trained militia for defence. The children were +taught and decently clothed, and the evenings and days of rest were +brightened by song and dance. The hours of prayer, work, and sleep were +appointed by the two Jesuit fathers who controlled each reduction; +idleness was severely punished and industry rewarded with presents of +knives, or mirrors, or trinkets; the products of their industry were +distributed each week; and a very close observation was kept on the +morals of all the members. + +We will consider these "ideal republics" more closely when we find +them reorganised and more extended at a later date. For the moment +it is enough to notice a curious inconsistency which appears even in +apologetic accounts of them. To the Spaniards the Jesuits declared +that the natives were so suspicious that no European could be allowed +to visit the reductions, and the intercourse of the fathers with other +Europeans had to be concealed; yet they refused to teach Spanish to the +natives on the ground that intercourse with the Spaniards would corrupt +their morals. Their critics naturally inferred that they kept the races +apart so that their monopoly of the trade might not be disturbed, and +drew unfriendly comparisons between the comfortable houses of the +missionaries and the rough unfurnished huts of their converts. We will +return to the point when the great controversy about the reductions +begins after 1645. Before that date they had a series of disasters to +face and were partially destroyed. The hostile tribe of the Mamelus +descended on them and drove most of them out of Paraguay. Of a hundred +thousand subjects in the province of Guayra the Jesuits only retained +and transferred twelve thousand. + +The remaining Jesuit missions of the period may be dismissed briefly. +They extended their operations to New Granada, but were expelled by the +Archbishop of Santa Fe, at the complaint of the Spanish merchants, for +mingling commerce with their preaching of the Gospel. In Canada they +made little progress until the English abandoned that region in 1632, +and even afterwards they found great difficulty in forming settlements +among the Indians. Another attempt was made to enter Abyssinia, and +this also ended in disaster. For services rendered by the Portuguese +to the Emperor they were allowed to preach their faith and made many +converts. A Jesuit at last became "Patriarch of Abyssinia," and he +involved the Emperor in a sanguinary repression of the native Christian +Church. On the accession of a new Emperor, however, they were denounced +to him for a conspiracy to win the country for Portugal, and were +expelled once more. Letters of theirs which were intercepted show +that the charge was not groundless. In the same period, finally, they +obtained, through France, permission to enter the Turkish Empire, +and they began the work of organising the surviving Christians, and +assailing the Nestorians, in Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Persia, Armenia +and Chaldæa. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 18: This rare and curious work, which was often condemned +and burned in subsequent years, was published in 1654, and affords +a particularly unpleasant picture of the Spanish Jesuits. It was +attributed to a distinguished Dominican monk. He denied the authorship, +but many believe that the denial was merely a matter of policy.] + +[Footnote 19: See the author's _Iron Cardinal_ (1909), p. 341.] + +[Footnote 20: Crétineau-Joly suppresses the whole of these facts, and +describes Père de Bérulle as "intimately united with the Jesuits"! De +Bérulle's letter to Richelieu is published in the _Annales_, ii. 738.] + +[Footnote 21: Many of the documents are collected in the _Annales de +la Société des soi-disans Jésuites_. The most familiar procedure of +the Jesuits was to accuse the monks of corruption and rely on their +influence at court to prevent too close an inquiry. The French Conseil +d'État forced them, as late as 4th August 1654, to restore three abbeys +to their lawful owners.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +UNDER THE STUARTS + + +With the exception of the English mission, which I have reserved for +continuous treatment in this chapter, we have now surveyed the whole +life of the Society of Jesus during the first century of its history. +The most important conclusion that one can draw from this extensive and +varied body of experiences is that every attempt to impose a uniform +character on the early Jesuits must fail. The uniformity in virtue and +heroism which is ascribed to the Society in the florid pages of the +_Imago Primi Sæculi_ is as far removed from the truth as the uniformly +dark features which are imposed on the Jesuits by some writers of +the opposing school. The candid historian must follow the example of +Macaulay, and give contrasted pictures of the light and the darkness, +the heroic devotion and the demoralising casuistry, which one equally +discovers in that first century of Jesuit history; and his effort to +do justice will miscarry, as that of Macaulay did, because Catholic +writers will ingenuously detach the earlier and more flattering half of +his verdict and represent it as his full conclusion. + +This extreme variety of types is in itself an indication that the +discipline of the Society had failed. Ignatius had laid stress on two +rules: the novices were to be chosen with a care which the older orders +had ceased to maintain, and the men were to be controlled by a system +of surveillance and abject submission to authority which should have +secured a large measure of uniformity. We have seen that these rules +were very largely disregarded. The complaint is constant and well +founded that the Jesuits looked less to character and devotion than to +ability and social position in examining the candidates for admission. +It is, perhaps, singular that this did not at least give the Society +a more imposing intellectual status. Crétineau-Joly has industriously +collected the names of the chief writers and scholars who adorned the +annals of the Society during the first two centuries. One need only +say that, apart from theologians, there are very few names in the list +that will be found in any impartial calendar of those who contributed +to the development of modern culture. This vast society of leisured +and comfortable bachelors offers us a singularly meagre statement of +results. Its prominent names are generally the names of politicians +and pamphleteers. This comparative poverty, apart from theology, is +not surprising when we reflect that the purpose of the Society was to +combat heresy; it is merely necessary to note the fact because the +contrary is so frequently stated. In proportion to their numbers, their +resources, and their exceptional opportunities (through their schools) +of attracting eligible youths, the Jesuits are not, and never were, a +learned body. + +This general mediocrity of intellect is accompanied by a general +mediocrity of character. Just as their vaunted system of education is +singularly unsuccessful in developing higher ability, so their equally +lauded spiritual exercises leave the great body at a very common +level of character. When we have justly admired the apostles who here +and there exhibit heroic self-sacrifice on the foreign missions, the +communities which here and there brave the horrors and dangers of a +plague-stricken town, the few whose integrity of life wins the respect +of people unattached to the Society, we find ourselves confronting +a general body of men of no moral or spiritual distinction. During +generation after generation the largest provinces of the Society +persist in comfortable idleness, and the efforts of superiors to assert +the despotic power they are supposed to possess are met with resentment +and intrigue, and are nearly always foiled. The theoretical corpse-like +passivity of the Jesuit is a sheer mockery of the facts of their +history. + +They stand out from the other religious congregations of the Roman +world only in the attainment of greater power and wealth, and the +means by which they attain them. Here alone is there a distinctive +strand in the story of the Jesuits, perceptible from the foundation +of the Society. Unquestionably they did far more for their Church +in the first century after the Reformation than any other religious +body; and they did this specifically by seeking wealth and power. They +strained every nerve to secure the ear of popes, princes, and wealthy +people. That was the plain direction of their founder. But we may be +confident that Ignatius would not have sanctioned the fraud, hypocrisy, +slander, intrigue, and approval of violence which this eagerness for +power brought into the Society. In India and China, in England and +Sweden, they assumed a right to lie in the service of God; and in the +same high cause they counselled or connived at murder, slandered their +fellow-priests, violated their sacred obligations, fostered wars, +and accommodated the Christian ethic to the passions of wealthy or +influential sinners. It was never necessary for a Jesuit theologian +to declare that "the end justifies the means."[22] If the phrase is +regarded, not as a citation from a written book of rules, but as an +interpretation of the conduct of the Jesuits, it expresses the most +distinctive feature of the character of the Society during its first +hundred years. + +We have now to see how this characteristic will be maintained during a +second century, and will at length bring a terrible catastrophe upon +the Society. For half a century the Jesuits will continue to enjoy and +augment their wealth and power, but the hatred which they have provoked +in the minds of their co-religionists gathers thicker and darker about +their splendid prosperity and at length extinguishes it. They die +by the hand of Catholics, suffering the just penalty of their grave +abuse of power. It will now be more convenient to follow their history +continuously in each province, and we may begin with England. + +We left the Jesuits struggling in disguise and penury in England at +the death of General Acquaviva (1615). After the wave of anger which +the Gunpowder Plot had raised had partly subsided, dozens of Jesuits +stole bravely into their native land and ministered stealthily to the +persecuted Catholics. There were sixty-eight of them in England in +1615; by 1619 the number had increased to nearly two hundred, and the +Roman officials raised the mission to the status of a vice-province; +in 1623, when there were 284 members, they were formed into a Province +of the Society, with Father Blount as Provincial. The indisposition of +James I. to persecute emboldened them to act with greater vigour. The +fantastic picture of their activity in Crétineau-Joly is, of course, +wholly inaccurate. We read of a Father Arrowsmith "issuing from his +retreat" to challenge and defeat the Bishop of Chester in a debate, and +expose himself to the prelate's vindictiveness. It was not in 1628, but +some years before, that Edmund Arrowsmith argued with the Bishop of +Chester; he was then not a Jesuit at all, and he did not issue from any +retreat to challenge the prelate or suffer any vindictive punishment. +He was arrested as a priest, happened to find the bishop eating meat on +a Friday and argued the point in passing, and was released.[23] + +The truth is that from 1607 to 1618 there were only sixteen persons +executed on the ground of religion in England, and none of them was a +Jesuit. The prisons, indeed, contained several hundred priests, and +several thousand Catholic laymen, but James was disinclined to take +extreme measures, and the priests had much liberty even in jail. Father +Percy, a Durham man, converted 150 men and women of rank, including the +Countess of Buckingham, mother of the famous minister, during his three +years in the New Prison on the Thames. James himself condescended to +debate with him, and Father Percy ended a long and adventurous career +in bed. In 1622, in fact, when James began to negotiate with Spain for +a Catholic princess for his son, four thousand Catholics were released +from jail, and the execution of the penal laws was greatly relaxed. +Catholics generally looked forward with eagerness to the marriage, +but the Jesuits opposed it at the Vatican. It is suggested that they +dreaded the coming of a bishop in the train of the princess, but it +is not improbable that they preferred an alliance with France. When +the Spanish negotiations failed--and they would have failed without +any assistance from the Jesuits--the laws were enforced once more with +some rigour. Still it was only accident or imprudence that brought +punishment on the Jesuits. In 1623 one of them, Father Drury, was +preaching on a Sunday afternoon to some two or three hundred Catholics +in the house of the French Ambassador at Blackfriars, when the floor +gave way, and the preacher and a hundred others were killed. The common +folk of London made ghastly merriment over "the doleful even-song." +Five years later several Jesuits were caught in a house belonging to +the Earl of Shrewsbury at Clerkenwell. We find that they had there a +regular novitiate and the residence of their Provincial. An imposing +ceremony was to take place, and the large intake of provisions aroused +the suspicion of the priest-hunters. Only one Jesuit was executed. In +1622 forty of the fathers had attended a provincial congregation of +their Society in London, and they had decided to found colleges in +Wales and Staffordshire. + +There is, however, another aspect of the activity of the Jesuits in +England which the French historian discreetly ignores. We saw in an +earlier chapter how Father Parsons had intrigued to get control of +the continental colleges and to prevent the sending of a bishop to +England. His successors continued to exasperate the secular clergy by +pursuing this selfish policy. Of the twenty-seven French and Flemish +seminaries which supplied the large body of priests in England, the +Jesuits controlled five, besides their colleges in Spain, and they +made every effort to obtain an ascendency over the priests. When the +Archpriest died in 1621, the secular clergy again appealed to the Pope +for a bishop, and the Jesuits again opposed the appeal. When, after a +long struggle, the Pope inclined to make the appointment, the Jesuits +induced Tobie Matthews (a Catholic son of the Archbishop of York) to +have James informed. The King sent word to the Pope, through Spain, +that he would not suffer the appointment, but he was later convinced +that he had been misled and the secular priests obtained a "Bishop of +Chalcedon." He died in the following year, and his successor seems +to have been imprudent, as the Benedictine monks joined the Jesuits +against him. The inner history of this domestic squabble is told us by +Panzani, who was the Vatican agent in England a few years afterwards. +He tells us that the Jesuits made an improper charge to the King +against the Bishop, and he was driven to the Continent. + +Since one of the chief problems of Jesuit history is to account for +the bitter hostility to them of priests who were no less devoted than +they in the service of Catholicism, it is necessary to notice this +unpleasant wrangling and intrigue in the very heart of an heretical +land. I may, however, refer to Father Taunton's _History of the Jesuits +in England_ for a longer account of this domestic struggle and return +to the larger historical question. + +The early years of the reign of Charles I. were not marred by any +enforcement of the more drastic penal laws. The fining of lay +Catholics--of whom about eleven thousand were known--still provided the +King with a handsome addition to the privy purse, and indeed it was +necessary to disarm the sullen suspicion with which the more zealous +Protestants watched the foreign queen and her spiritual court. No +serious effort was made, however, to enforce the laws against the +Jesuits, and they increased in numbers and resources. In 1628 they +opened a second novitiate in London. In 1634 one of the secular clergy +estimated that there were 360 Jesuits in England, and that they had 550 +students in their colleges. This is evidently an exaggeration, as the +_Annual Letters_ report a total of 335 members of the Province in the +year 1645, and disclose the interesting fact that they had a collective +income of 17,405 _scudi_ (about £35,000 in the value of modern money). +It is stated by their clerical opponents that part of their income was +derived from commerce. A certain soap was genially known in London as +"the papist soap," and it is said that the Jesuits had, through their +lay friends, shares in the factory which produced it. They were in a +strong and comfortable position, and, had they been disposed to lay +aside their corporate selfishness and co-operate generously with the +other clergy, the story of religion in England might have entered upon +a singular development. + +In the reign of Charles what we now know as the "High Church" held a +strong position, under Archbishop Laud, in the Church of England, and +there were indications of a disposition to return to the allegiance +of Rome. The head of the English Benedictine monks, Dom Jones, was +sent by the Vatican in 1634 to examine and direct the situation, and +he and his successor, Panzani, did much to reconcile the secular and +the regular clergy. The Jesuits, however, would not be reconciled, and +Panzani's reports to the Vatican are full of bitter charges against +them. In the Catholic England which they foresaw they were determined +to have a dominant position. It was said that they induced wealthy +and influential penitents to make a special vow of obedience to +themselves, and they were even charged by the clergy with impeding the +general restoration of Catholicism lest the new authorities should +expel them from the kingdom. They retorted with a bitter attack on the +papal agent. Virulent pamphlets were discharged from camp to camp, and +the Jesuits represented Panzani as a secret agent of Richelieu, seeking +to unite England and France in opposition to Spain. In spite of this +intestine discord the Church of Rome continued to make progress until +the shadow of the Civil War fell upon the land and the success of the +Puritans once more stifled the hopes of the Catholics. + +The relation of the Jesuits to the Puritans has never been fully +elucidated--perhaps can never be fully elucidated--but there is +sufficient evidence that they again proved their remarkable power of +adaptation to varying circumstances. We will not suppose that they +themselves offered the rebels the use of their theological doctrine +of the right to depose and execute kings, or put into their hands +Father Parsons's convenient _Book of the Succession_, part of which +was published by the Parliament. But there is evidence that, under +the Commonwealth, they were in indirect relations with Cromwell, and +used their international connections to provide him with information +about France. In Ireland they opposed the papal Nuncio, Pinuccini +(as he bitterly complains), and were on good terms with Cromwell. A +piquant picture is offered us of the Irish Jesuit, Father Netterville, +dining and playing chess with the great leader of the Puritans. These +manoeuvres are lightly covered by their apologists with the pretext +that Jesuits knew no politics. + +There is, however, another side to the story of the Jesuits during the +Civil War and under the Commonwealth. While Father Taunton seems to +see nothing but their intrigues with Cromwell, their French apologist +sees nothing but a long series of bloody executions at the hands of the +Puritans. Certainly, whatever the personal inclination of Cromwell was, +and whatever use he may have made of the Jesuits, they suffered heavily +in the Puritan reaction. Father Netterville himself, as well as Father +Boyton, Father Corbie, and other Irish Jesuits, were executed. Father +Holland had been executed in 1642, Father Corbie suffered the horrible +death of a traitor at Tyburn in 1644, and Father Morse followed him +in 1645. Morse was permitted to spend the night before his execution +in prayer with the Portuguese ambassador, and representatives of the +French, Spanish, and German ambassadors, and the French and Portuguese +ambassadors accompanied him devoutly to the scaffold. Father Harrison +was executed at Lancaster in 1650, and several other Jesuits perished +in consequence of their rigorous treatment in prison. It will be +noticed that these executions took place in the early fury of the +Puritans, and it must be remembered that the Catholic laity were, in +proportion to their numbers, the most generous and ardent supporters of +the King. It is a fact that the executions cease when Cromwell becomes +Protector (1653), and it is not impossible that, as we are told, he +used the Jesuits to give a secret assurance to the Vatican in regard to +religious persecution. + +The less savage penal laws were, however, severely enforced, as one +would expect in that Puritan atmosphere, and the records of the Jesuits +become meagre and uninteresting. We know that in Ireland they were +reduced to eighteen fathers, who, living in the marshes or on the bleak +hillsides, ministered in great danger and privation to the oppressed +people. In England they were confined to an obscure and discreet +attempt to hold together the persecuted Catholics. The domestic quarrel +was silenced by the fresh catastrophe that had fallen on them. + +In 1660 Charles II. entered upon his reign, and Catholics came out +into the sunlight once more. It is fairly established that during the +first twelve years of his reign Charles was disposed to see the country +return to its old faith. His personal inclination to Catholicism was so +little profound that he could lightly abandon it the moment political +events made it expedient to do so, but he was not insensible to the +great advantage which was enjoyed by the Catholic autocrats of France +and Spain. He therefore lent an indulgent ear when, at the beginning of +his reign, the Catholics petitioned for relief. The body of the nation +was still strenuously Protestant, and the cry was raised that at least +the Jesuits must be exempted from any measure of toleration. Many of +the Catholics pressed the Jesuits to sacrifice their province to the +general good of the Church, but we can hardly be surprised to learn +that they emphatically refused, and a long wrangle ensued. When it was +urged that their teaching that the Pope could depose kings unfitted +them to remain in the country, they promptly repudiated that doctrine. +They remained and prospered. After a few years, in fact, they were +brought into friendly relations with Charles in a singular and secret +way. + +Their constitutions as well as stringent papal decrees forbade them +to receive men of irregular birth into the Society, but we have often +found them doing this, when the sin of the parent was redeemed by +the distinction of his position, and we can imagine their joy when +one of the illegitimate children of Charles II. presented himself at +their Roman novitiate in 1668. James de la Cloche, as the youth called +himself, was known by them to be in reality James Stuart, and it was +not unknown that Charles was attached to him and thought his accession +to the throne a not impossible dream. Genial letters passed, in secret, +between the English monarch and the General of the Jesuits; money was +sent to General Oliva from London, and after a time the young Jesuit +was stealthily conveyed to London and permitted to enjoy the embrace of +his father. + +It is not surprising that the Society prospered. In 1669 there were 266 +members of the English province. In the same year their Provincial, +Father Emmanuel Lobb, converted the Duke of York to the Roman faith, +and, although the secret was carefully guarded from Protestants for +a time, the news gave great joy and hope to the Catholics. A little +later Charles himself told some of the leading Catholic nobles that +he wished to embrace their creed, and would openly declare it if he +could be assured of defence against Protestant anger. In the following +year a secret treaty was signed at Dover with Louis XIV. Charles was +to declare his adoption of the Roman faith, and Louis was, in case +of need, to supply French troops for the subjection of the English +Protestants and, in any case, to provide large sums of money for the +unscrupulous King of England. Whether Charles and the Catholic nobles +really believed that Louis XIV. would consider the conversion of +England a sufficient reward of his generosity, it would be difficult to +say. The design was treasonable for all concerned. + +The Jesuits were now at the summit of a wave of hope. The King was a +secret Catholic, and was married to a Catholic, Catherine of Braganza, +who was under their control. The marriage seemed to be sterile, but +the Duke of York, the next heir to the throne, was more devoted to +them than any other prince in Europe. The alliance with France was +controlled by them, as Louis XIV. was at that time entirely docile +to his famous Jesuit confessor. To the increasing horror of the +Protestants, Jesuit fathers now began to appear confidently in public. +Two of them ministered to the Queen; two guarded the conscience of +the Duke of York. At the same time war was declared with Holland, +and Charles issued his Declaration of Indulgence. It seemed that at +last the clouds were being swept from the heavens, and, whatever the +political development was, the Jesuits were on the way to attain power +over the throne. With English laws (or royal declarations) and French +troops they would soon make an end of Protestantism in England, and, +with the combined forces of England and France, return to the attack on +the northern Protestants. + +Then there occurred the "Popish Plot," or the imaginary plot of Titus +Oates, and a furious storm whistled about their ears. Charles had soon +realised the futility of the French alliance, made peace with the +Dutch, and appeased his Protestant subjects by revoking the Declaration +of Indulgence. On the whole, it paid him better to remain a Protestant. +The natural and proper attitude for the Catholics was now to await +in silence the accession of the Duke of York, as Catherine remained +childless, but the Protestants were already looking to William of +Orange and not obscurely hinting that the Catholic Duke of York was +unfit to ascend the throne. Dutch agents distributed money among nobles +and parliamentarians; French and Catholic agents distributed _louis +d'or_ in the interest of York and Catholicism. Whatever we may say of +the Dutch, a secret and treasonable correspondence was maintained by +the Catholics with France. This correspondence was maintained on the +English side by a zealous secretary of the Duke of York, named Coleman, +a pupil and friend of the Jesuits. We shall see that Coleman was +afterwards arrested, and his papers seized, so that there is no dispute +about the fact that from 1675 to 1678 Coleman was in treasonable +correspondence with the French. French money and, in emergency, French +troops were to be employed for the destruction of the Established +Church. The letters were generally in cipher, and at times the secret +message was written in lemon-juice (which would become legible if held +before the fire) between the lines. + +We are now asked to believe that this plot originated in the exalted +imagination of Coleman, and that the Jesuits were not privy to his +correspondence with Versailles. Jesuits in London were on such a +footing at St. James's Palace that they were allowed to hold their +secret meetings in its chambers, and on the French side the whole +correspondence was conducted by the famous Jesuit confessor of Louis +XIV., Père la Chaise; and the apologists would have us believe that +this correspondence, of such profound import to the future of the +Jesuit body in England, was carried on for several years without their +knowledge and connivance. We should have to believe, in fact, that even +the Duke of York was ignorant of it, since he concealed nothing from +the Jesuits, and that Père la Chaise did not give the least inkling +of it to his colleagues. One would need an extraordinary measure of +credulity to imagine the Jesuits frequenting St. James's Palace week +after week for years and being entirely ignorant that their friend +Coleman was receiving important messages all the time from their French +colleague. + +Hence Mr. Pollock concludes, in his recent and able study of the +"Popish Plot,"[24] that we may adopt, or adapt, the familiar verdict of +Dryden on the plot:-- + +"Some truth there was, but dashed and brewed with lies." It is now +universally admitted that Titus Oates and his chief witnesses were +little more than reckless liars, playing upon the inflamed Protestant +feeling of the time, but it would be generally admitted that _a_ plot, +such as I have described, was really afoot. Since, however, Mr. Pollock +also concludes that the Jesuits probably instigated and procured the +murder of the London magistrate, it is necessary to reopen the question. + +Titus Oates, a little full-bodied man with large purple face and a +complete lack of moral feeling, had joined the Catholic Church and +been admitted by the Jesuits to their college at Valladolid. He was +expelled, but it seems likely that he had gleaned some information +about their hopes and designs in England, and, when he returned to +London, he entered into communication with a fanatical anti-Papist +named Dr. Tonge, though he continued to move amongst the Catholics. +It says little for the discrimination of the Jesuits that they then +admitted the man to the college at St. Omer's, from which he was once +more expelled. Tonge and he then brewed the Popish Plot, and had the +King informed that the Jesuits sought his life. Charles smiled, and, +in September, the conspirators went before a well-known magistrate, +Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey--a Protestant, but a personal friend of +Coleman and well disposed toward the Catholics--and laid information +of a ghastly project of the Catholics to destroy the Protestants of +London. The situation--a Catholic heir to the throne awaiting the +death of a Protestant king, with a Dutch pretender gaining ground +in London--seemed so ripe for a plot that London was seized with +a dramatic terror, and the Privy Council was compelled to listen +seriously to a story which was palpably false in many details and +ridiculous in others. Father Whitbread, the Jesuit Provincial, and +two of his colleagues were arrested; and, when the letters of Coleman +were seized and found to have references to "the mighty work on our +hands," the story seemed to be confirmed. Then Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey +was found dead in a ditch at the foot of Primrose Hill, and the city +was shaken with frenzy. For months the trained bands were kept under +arms at nights, and citizens slept nervously with arms beside them, +ready to spring up at a cry that the firing of houses and massacre of +Protestants had begun. + +In that period of rage and panic the character of the witnesses who +came forward to claim the offered reward was not examined, their +inconsistencies were ignored, and several men of low character became +passing rich by swearing away the lives of others. Three men, who were +probably innocent, were hanged for murdering Godfrey in Somerset House +(then the Queen's Palace), and three Jesuits--Father Le Fevre (the +Queen's confessor), Father Walsh, and Father Pritchard--were accused +of having hired the assassins. In the end seven Jesuit priests and a +lay-brother were executed, a large number of Jesuits, secular priests, +and laymen were imprisoned, and a reign of terror fell upon the +Catholic population. It seemed as if the great dream of the conversion +of England was once more ruthlessly dissipated. + +The witness Bedloe, who accused the Jesuits, was so mean a character, +and so well rewarded for making a charge which people wanted, that +we must ignore his evidence. If we attach any importance to the +declarations of the Catholic witness Prance, as Sir J. Fitzjames +Stephen and others have done, it would seem that Bedloe had really +learned something about the murder, and it may or may not be true that +the Jesuits were involved in it. We certainly cannot admit this on the +evidence of Bedloe. On the other hand, few, except Roman Catholics, +who read the evidence will doubt that Godfrey had been murdered and +his body had been conveyed to the spot where it was found. There was +hardly any trace of blood at the spot, and Godfrey's sword had been +driven through his body in a way which precludes the idea of suicide. +It was still clearer that he had not been murdered for the purpose of +robbery. The circumstances point to a political assassination, and, as +there is ample evidence that Godfrey expected an attack on his life, it +is natural to suppose that he was removed lest he should betray some +secret of which he had become possessed. + +The hypothesis of Mr. Pollock is that Coleman had told Godfrey of +the meeting of the Jesuits in St. James's Palace. Oates had declared +that the Jesuits met to concert their plot, at the White Horse Tavern +in the Strand, on the 24th April 1678. James II. admitted some years +afterwards that the Jesuits met on that date, but at St. James's +Palace, and the Jesuit Father Warner has left it on record that they +did hold their Provincial Congregation on that date in St. James's +Palace. If it were known at that time that forty Jesuits had held +a secret council in the Duke's Palace the consequences might have +been very serious, and there is therefore some plausibility in the +statement of a later witness, Dugdale, that the Protestant magistrate +was removed because he learned this fact from Coleman. We know +that Godfrey secretly consulted Coleman after he had received the +depositions of Oates and Tonge; we have good reason to believe that he +laid those depositions before Coleman; and it is not improbable that +Coleman refuted the testimony of Oates by disclosing that the Jesuit +meeting took place in James's Palace, not in the White Horse. It would +assuredly be a grave matter for the Jesuits if this were known, and it +would almost be enough to prevent the succession of James II. + +This must remain a mere hypothesis. I may recall that, according to +the teaching of many Jesuit theologians, the assassination of a man +in order to prevent grave harm to the Church was not a crime, but a +laudable act. But many others, besides the Jesuits, would be interested +in taking drastic measures to ensure the position of the Duke of +York, nor is it more than a conjecture that Godfrey learned of the +meeting. It is possible that this meeting was by no means an innocent +"congregation" of Jesuits to discuss their affairs; and it is just as +possible that the real cause of the murder has never yet occurred to +us. It remains one of the numerous unsolved problems in the story of +the Jesuits. + +The remaining years of the reign of Charles II. were years of suffering +for the Jesuits. They continued to enter the country in disguise +and minister to the fiercely persecuted Catholics. We learn that in +1682 the Province counted 295 members, and that in 1685 they had no +less than 102 priests working in England. In those harsh times they +endured the worst rigours of an apostolic life. Whether or no they were +innocent of murder, many Catholics felt that their presence in England +was inflammatory and their conduct indiscreet, and familiar houses were +closed against them. Several of them died from the privations which +they had to suffer. But an ardent and steady hope fired them to meet +their perils and sufferings, and in the first week of February 1685 the +news rang through the stricken and scattered ranks that Charles was +dead and a devoted Catholic about to ascend the throne of England. + +The historian who realises that this was to be the last chance which +the fates would offer to the Catholic Church of obtaining power and +majority in England reads the story of those three years of triumph +and ineptitude with strange reflections. Never was a great opportunity +more tragically wasted. The overwhelming majority of the nation, +the officials, and the Parliament were not merely Protestant, but +feverishly vigilant and intensely suspicious of the Jesuits. It was a +time for infinite patience and restrained diplomacy, and, so far as +we can ascertain, the Vatican itself, and Cardinal Howard who advised +the Papacy at Rome, fully realised the need. But the Jesuits were in +command, and they gave the most flagrant exhibition in their annals +of the unwisdom and mischief of their distinctive methods. Although a +Protestant prince grimly smiled on their blunders in Holland, and his +agents in England eagerly magnified every indiscretion, they proceeded +with the most imprudent defiance of Protestant feeling. Within two +years they were spreading schools and churches over London, talking of +the speedy capture of the universities and the magistracy, and placing +one of their own number among the Privy Councillors. And in less than +four years James II. was flying ignominiously for France, with the +Jesuits in his train. + +This romantic episode has inspired one of the finest chapters of +Macaulay's _History of England_, and, whatever blame be laid on the +shoulders of Sunderland, there is no question but that the Jesuits +were very largely responsible for the unhappy counsels of James II. +One of his first acts was to lodge Father Edward Petre in the princely +chambers of St. James's Palace, and put the Chapel Royal under his +charge; and in a short time he made Petre Clerk of the Closet. The +prisons were opened, the recusants now emerged boldly from their +secluded homes, and the Jesuits summoned their continental colleagues +to come and share the work of harvesting. New chapels were opened in +London; and in more than one case, when other priests proposed to +open chapels, royal influence cut short their design and secured the +buildings for the Jesuits. Free "undenominational" schools were opened, +and hundreds of Protestant, as well as Catholic, boys were attracted to +these insidious nurseries of the faith by the unwonted absence of fees. + +In all this we may see only undue haste and indiscretion, but the +policy developed rapidly. When Parliament refused to carry out the +wishes of the monarch and his advisers, he proceeded by "dispensing +power," and tampered with the judges in order to have his power +ratified. Four Catholics were introduced into the Privy Council, and +the nobles and officials gradually realised that baptism was the +first qualification for higher office. When the Bishop of London +refused to suspend a priest for attacking Romanism, an ecclesiastical +commission was created to suspend the bishop and stifle the voices of +the Protestant clergy. On his own authority James suspended the penal +measures, issued a Declaration of Indulgence, interfered with the +rights of Protestants in Ireland, solemnly received a papal Nuncio at +Windsor, and sent the Earl of Castlemaine as ambassador to the Papacy. +The civil and military offices were rapidly transferred to Catholics, +and before the end of 1686 Oxford and Cambridge began to feel the +illegal pressure of the royal authority in favour of the Catholic creed. + +As these things coincided with the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes +and persecution of the Protestants in France (from which James, like +his brother, received royal alms) the Protestants saw before them +a prospect of violence and persecution. Yet James multiplied his +indiscreet and, in many cases, illegal acts with blind fanaticism. +When the inevitable catastrophe came, the Jesuits deplored the +injudiciousness of their patron and cast all the blame on Sunderland. +While, however, Sunderland remained a Protestant until a few months +before the fall of James, the monarch was throughout the three years +surrounded by Jesuits and abjectly devoted to them. A letter written +by the Jesuits of Liège to the Jesuits of Freiburg, and intercepted by +the Dutch, informs us of the influence they had on James II.[25] He +is a devoted son of the Society; he is determined to convert England +by its means; he refuses to allow any Jesuit to kiss his hand. And +the public action corresponds to the secret letter. Father Warner, +the Provincial of the Society, is the King's confessor; Father Petre, +a vain and pompous mediocrity, is so much esteemed by him that he +besieges the Vatican with a demand of a red hat for Petre. Already +courtiers pleasantly address the conceited Jesuit as "Your Eminence." +But Innocent XI. is stern and will not countenance the blunders of the +English monarch. Castlemaine vainly seeks to impress the Pope with his +ambassadorial splendour, and is forced to return with a curt reminder +that Jesuits cannot receive dignities. So James makes the Jesuit a +Privy Councillor, and Father Petre takes the Oath of Allegiance (with +its supposed heresy) and sits in clerical garb in the supreme council +of the land. His Roman superiors have not a word to say, either when +Petre acquiesces in the demand for a red hat or when he becomes a Privy +Councillor. M. Crétineau-Joly is shocked; Father Taunton opines that +the whole policy is directed by the Jesuit authorities at Rome. + +In later years, when the Jesuits and courtiers gathered about the +fallen monarch in his pleasant exile, the entire blame for the folly +was naturally laid upon the wicked Earl of Sunderland, and historians +have, perhaps, paid unnecessarily serious attention to this charge. +We need not stay to analyse the possible motives of Sunderland, +who assuredly had no sincere wish to see England return to its old +creed. Like Louis XIV., Pedro I., and Charles II., who then ruled in +France, Portugal, and Spain, James II. was surrounded by a junta of +Jesuits, and he was even more docile than his fellow-monarchs to their +suggestions. Those who find it possible may believe that these Jesuits +were so reluctant to interfere in politics that they silently permitted +an unscrupulous minister to blast the prospects of their Society and +Church. We have, on the contrary, sufficient documentary evidence that +they applauded, if they did not inspire, every rash step taken by the +King, and we recognise their familiar maxims in his whole policy. They +were, no doubt, well acquainted with the political principles advocated +by their colleague, Adam Contzen, a Jesuit professor at Munich. In a +work which he published in 1620 (_Politicorum libri decem_), Father +Contzen, incidentally, proposed some effective devices by which a +Catholic monarch might lead his heretical country back to the faith. +After very properly condemning "the impious doctrine of Machiavelli," +Father Contzen enumerates a number of measures that should be taken, +and he expressly mentions England as a field of experiment. Violence is +recommended as an obvious course; the leaders of the heretics must be +expelled, and they must be forbidden to hold either public or private +meetings. But the distinctive suggestions of the learned Jesuit are, +that the prince must cover his initial efforts with a profession of +toleration, he must first choose for attack those heresiarchs who are +unpopular, he must ingeniously set the rival sects to rend each other +and "take care that they often dispute together," he must enact that no +marriage shall take place unless it be preceded by a profession of the +true faith, and he must transfer all the offices and dignities of the +State to Catholics. + +On these principles, or maxims, James II. was proceeding in his zealous +attempt to destroy the Church of England in five years. All the Lord +Lieutenants and most of the judges were already Catholic, the Jesuits +boasted, and in a short time all the magistrates in England would be +Catholic. Trinity College, Dublin, was already promised to the Jesuits, +and Oxford was not showing a very stern resistance to their advance. +Soon all education and civil and military government would be in +Catholic hands. The Queen had as yet given no heir to the throne, it +was true, but they had ground to believe that, if he died childless, +James would leave the English crown at the disposal of Louis XIV. + +Then James, besides sending Judge Jeffreys to deal with insurgents in +the provinces, made a bolder attack upon the Church. He ordered the +bishops to direct the clergy to read from their pulpits his declaration +of liberty of conscience. It is well known how seven of the bishops +refused, were committed to the Tower, and acquitted by the jury, to +the frenzied delight of the city. Just at this time the Queen was +delivered of a son, and the announcement was greeted with derision. +Another trick of the Jesuits, people said; but, genuine or not +genuine, the child meant a continuance of the tyranny of the Catholic +minority, and the Prince of Orange was invited to come and seize the +crown. He set sail in four months; and before Christmas, William +entered London, and James and his Jesuits were in exile. Six of them +shared his luxurious retreat at St. Germains, and discussed with him +the naughtiness of Sunderland and the appalling wreck of their hasty +enterprise. + +The English Province of the Society continued to exist, and had a large +number of members, until the suppression. Although the penal laws were +again enforced, and it was decreed that any Jesuit who was found in +the kingdom after 25th March 1700 would be imprisoned for life, the +fathers still exhibited the courage and devotion which do so much to +redeem their errors. In 1701 there were 340 members of the Province, +though most of these were in Belgium or with the Catholic colonists +in Maryland. In 1708 we find 158 members of the Society in England, +generally living in the houses of the Catholic nobility and gentry. +Their work was now almost confined to a ministration to the depressed +Catholics. They reported only 3000 conversions to the faith between +1700 and 1708, and many of these were soldiers quartered in Belgium. +In 1711 they had 12,000 Catholics under their spiritual charge. But +even in this restricted sphere they maintained the struggle against the +secular clergy, and published many pamphlets against them. "Jansenism" +was the latest heresy they had discovered, and they denounced the +secular clergy to Rome as tainted with it. At last, as the eighteenth +century wore on, they realised that all these old conflicts were +yielding to a mighty struggle. The Society is fighting for its life +against Catholic opponents. In 1759 it is suppressed, with great +ignominy, in Portugal; in 1762 it is suppressed in France; in 1767 even +Spain ruthlessly expels the body to which it had given birth. + +The English Jesuits had already begun to suffer from this terrible +campaign. When Louis XV. ordered the expulsion of the Jesuits from his +kingdom, the Paris Parlement saw to the closing of their college at St. +Omer. A long procession of waggons, containing the teachers and pupils, +trailed drearily across the country, and deposited them, in great +misery and dejection, at Bruges. There, ten years later, they suffer +the supreme punishment of suppression by the Papacy, and the Privy +Council of Brussels carries out the sentence with the harshness which +in every country teaches them how deeply they are hated. The 90 members +of the English Province who are found in Belgium, and the 184 fathers +who are at work in England, sadly divest themselves of the familiar +costume and face the bleak future. This is the tragic culmination of +two centuries of heroic struggle and sacrifice; it is the price of the +blunders and crimes of their politicians and the casuistic excesses of +their theologians. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 22: It may be well to state that no theologian ever said, in +so many words: "The end justifies the means." The nearest approach is, +perhaps, the saying of the Jesuit Busenbaum-- + + "To him to whom the end is lawful, the means also is lawful."] + +[Footnote 23: He joined the Society afterwards, in 1624, and was +arrested (on a Catholic denunciation) and executed in 1628. This +section of the French historian's work is particularly inaccurate and +fantastic. See Father Foley's _Records_, ii. p. 32, for Arrowsmith.] + +[Footnote 24: J. Pollock, _The Popish Plot_, 1903. For a desperate +defence of the Catholic position, in opposition to Mr. Pollock, see A. +Marks, _Who Killed Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey?_ 1905.] + +[Footnote 25: As the letter is inconvenient, Crétineau-Joly suggests +that it was forged. But it is admitted by the Jesuit Father Foley, +without demur, in his _Records_.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE STRUGGLE WITH THE JANSENISTS + + +The story of the Jesuits in France from the middle of the seventeenth +to the middle of the eighteenth century is rich in material for the +interpretation of their character. We find every conceivable type of +Jesuit rising to prominence at some period in the long chronicle. +While a Father François Régis or a Julien Manvir sustains the finest +traditions of the Society by a splendid expenditure of a noble +character in the service of the squalid peasantry, his colleagues +smile indulgently upon the perfumed vices of nobles and princes, +enter into the most unscrupulous intrigues for the destruction of +their theological opponents, and encourage Louis XIV. in the belief +that he may do penance for his sins on the backs of the Jansenists +and Protestants. While, during a whole generation, they direct the +fingers of the Pope in virtue of their supreme and peculiar zeal for +his authority, they, in the next generation, secure the praise of +the Parlement and the gratitude of the court by a most extraordinary +intrigue against the Papacy. In the new-built palace of Versailles +they obtain a paramount influence over the greatest autocrat of modern +history; they fill the Gallican Church with prelates who will obey +their commands; they crush Protestantism in France; and they seem to +have almost attained the great ideal of their Society--the control of +the courts which control the earth. And within another generation +their varied enemies unite and drive them ignominiously from the +country. + +This singular history centres, for the greater part of the time, on +the struggle between the Jansenists and the Jesuits, the origin of +which may be briefly recalled. I have in earlier chapters referred to +the theological victory of the Jesuits over Michel de Bay at Louvain, +and to the fierce and protracted struggle they had with the Dominican +theologians in Spain and Italy. It may be remembered that this furious +struggle as to the real relations of divine grace and the human will +had to be suppressed by the Papacy, and all further controversy on +the subject was forbidden. When therefore, in the thirties of the +seventeenth century, the Jesuits heard that a certain brilliant and +virtuous _abbé_ at Paris and a learned theologian of Belgium were +plotting to introduce a new work on the subject, they watched them with +care. + +Jean Duvergier de Hauranne, or the _abbé_ de St. Cyran, was an +energetic Basque who had finished his theological studies at Louvain +University. There he had become intimate with a Belgian student named +Jansen, who had views, opposed to those of the Jesuits, on the action +of grace. St. Cyran, returning to France, became a secret apostle +of these views, and hinted that a learned defence of them was being +written. It happened that at that time a Puritan movement was arising +within the French Church, as a protest against the extreme laxity +of the age; and, as the Jesuits were regarded by the Puritans as +encouraging this laxity by their remarkable works on casuistry (as we +shall see later), there was a predisposition to accept anti-Jesuit +views. Further, there was already a tradition of hostility to the +Jesuits among the Puritans. The chief centre of the ascetic movement +was the famous abbey of Port Royal, and the abbess of Port Royal, +Angélique Arnauld, was a daughter of the great lawyer who had more than +once formulated the grievances of the Parlement against the Society. +Several members of his large and brilliant family were drawn into the +movement. + +Angélique Arnauld had been committed to the abbey at a very early age +by her parents; and, although it shared the general laxity of convents +at that time, she chafed for years against her fate. The abbey was in +a wild, marshy, unhealthy valley, about eighteen miles from Paris. In +the course of time Angélique was converted, and she became abbess of +the convent, and devoted all her energy and talent to the purification +of its life. It became a famous garden of conventual virtues, and, when +the unhealthiness of the valley compelled the nuns to transfer their +establishment to Paris in 1626, every pietist in the city was attracted +to the abbey of Port Royal de Paris. St. Cyran fell into correspondence +with Angélique, defended a book of hers which the Jesuits denounced, +and in 1633 became the spiritual director of the community. The convent +now had pretensions to be a school of fine taste in letters as well +as of virtue, and numbers of the more sincerely religious writers and +ladies of Paris looked to it as a kind of club. The Jesuits regarded +this independent school of virtue and theology with some apprehension, +and, when Jansen died in 1638, and whispers of a posthumous publication +of his great work were intercepted, St. Cyran was imprisoned in +Vincennes by order of Richelieu. We need not press the suspicion that +the cardinal was instigated by the Jesuits. Jansen had satirically +assailed the policy of Richelieu in a political work, and the cardinal +may have thought it advisable to seize the papers of St. Cyran in order +to find some clue to the mysterious work of Jansen which his admirers +were secretly promising to the world. St. Cyran also had declined to +oblige the cardinal, and he assailed doctrines which Richelieu had +espoused in his early theological works. It is, however, to be noted +that, when St. Cyran was released, at the death of Richelieu (1642), +and his papers restored, it was found that the Jesuits had appropriated +some of his letters. + +St. Cyran continued to direct the movement from Vincennes, and it +entered upon a singular and momentous development. Angélique inspired +her nephew, the brilliant young lawyer Le Maistre, her brother Antoine, +and other able and serious young men, with her sentiments, and they +determined to live a communal and ascetic life. In 1637 they took +possession of the deserted buildings of Port Royal aux Champs, and +were soon known to all Paris as the virtuous "Solitaries" of the bleak +and remote valley. The joy of the good clergy and the amusement of +the frivolous were equalled by the exasperation of the Jesuits. The +Solitaries passed stern censure on the leniency of Jesuit confessors; +and their spirit spread like a ferment through the city, and had +the singular effect of inducing penitents to abandon their Jesuit +confessors because they had been converted to virtue. At the same +time the rumour spread that Jansen's great work was about to see the +light. He had died in 1638, leaving his manuscript in the charge of +his friends at Louvain. The local Jesuits watched their movements +with the assiduity of detectives, and discovered that the work was in +the press. It is acknowledged that they bribed the printers, who were +sworn to secrecy, to give them sheets of the book, and they complained +to the Nuncio that the Louvain professors were about to issue a work +on the forbidden topic of grace and free will. Intrigue was met by +counter-intrigue,--a piquant situation in view of the sacred theme of +the book,--and it was published in 1640, and immediately afterwards +published also at Paris. + +This small, innocent, and academic treatise, the _Augustinus_ of +Jansen, was destined to set Europe aflame for decades. The historic +controversy of St. Augustine and the Welsh priest Pelagius, which it +recalled, was far surpassed by this modern effort to conciliate the +freedom of the human will with the compelling power of grace. Pulpits +and schools rang with mutual anathemas; pamphlets of ponderous learning +and biting irony mingled with the latest _chronique scandaleuse_ on +the book-stalls. But the Jesuit was never content with that free arena +of controversy in which he claimed to excel. Rome must condemn his +opponents, and the familiar intrigues were set afoot at Rome. The +Inquisition denounced the book on the ground that the subject was +prohibited. That did not suffice for the Jesuits, nor did it check the +flow of argument and invective; and on 6th March 1642, Urban VIII. +solemnly condemned the book. The Jansenists had now, however, friends +among the prelates, and the bull was not published in France with +the customary solemnity. The controversy still raged sullenly, only +restrained by Richelieu's spies; and when he died and St. Cyran was +released (in the same year), it broke out again into flagrant publicity. + +Meantime, a new champion had entered the field, and the attack on +the Jesuits assumed a more personal form. Anne de Rohan, Princess of +Guémenée and mistress of Archbishop Paul de Gondi (later Cardinal de +Retz), fell under the influence of Arnauld d'Andilly and St. Cyran, and +their oratory and her advancing years persuaded her that the hour had +come to turn to virtue. She had had a Jesuit confessor, like so many +of the noble dames and bejewelled prelates who did not deign even to +conceal their amours, and he was naturally piqued to find that, as the +princess advanced in virtue, she discarded him in favour of St. Cyran. +There is no doubt whatever of Anne de Rohan's sincerity, and it is +little short of infamous for Crétineau-Joly to say that she "placed her +elegant coquetries under the safeguard of the aged Arnauld d'Andilly," +and that she was at the same time "the guest of Port Royal and the +mistress of Paul de Gondi." The discarded Jesuit submitted to her a +manuscript attack on the more rigorous principles she had embraced; +Anne de Rohan showed this indignantly to St. Cyran; and the brilliant +young brother of Angélique Arnauld was requested to reply. His book _De +la fréquente Communion_ (1641) led to a controversy as acrid and noisy +as that over the _Augustinus_. + +Arnauld had foreseen the attack; he had submitted the manuscript to +theologians, and, when it was denounced by the angry Jesuits, he was +able to secure the support of four archbishops, twelve bishops, and a +number of doctors of divinity. This alliance of a powerful minority +of the higher French clergy with the Jansenists was destined to give +the Jesuits serious trouble. One cannot quite endorse the statement +that all the virtuous men in the French episcopacy were opposed to +the Jesuits, and all the vicious prelates in favour of them. But it +was an age so flagrantly immoral that the greater part of the higher +clergy had their mistresses, their hounds and hawks, and their boxes +at the opera, while on the fringe of the Church were crowds of _abbés_ +(often not priests) who led very dissolute lives. The Jesuits had for +some time, in virtue of their influence at court, had a voice in the +appointment of prelates--we shall find them entirely controlling it in +a few years--and there is no doubt that they nominated men of little +character who were willing to support them; just as they accepted +for the English mission priests of little culture or character, +because they could be the more easily dominated. On the other hand, +the Jansenists represented, above all things, a rigorous standard of +Christian character. The name which the Jesuits have fastened on them +implies that they were wedded to certain academic, if not heretical, +theories of Bishop Jansen. This is untrue. They were mostly laymen, +indifferent to speculative theology, pleading only that the Christian +faith demanded a stricter standard of conduct than French Christians +generally exhibited. The correct name for them is the Puritans. + +Hence it is largely, not entirely, true that the best of the prelates +were opposed to the Jesuits. It is now known that even Bossuet, who +sternly opposed the Jesuits, had his secret amours, and there were, on +the other hand, men of ascetic life, if not very clear intelligence +(like Vincent de Paul), on the side of the Jesuits. However, the open +declaration of so large and powerful a body of the clergy exasperated +the Jesuits, and the war of sermons and pamphlets reached a stage +of incandescence. Father Nouet denounced Arnauld as "fantastic, +melancholic, lunatic, blind, malicious, furious," and showered upon +him such concrete epithets as serpent, scorpion, wolf, and monster. +Arnauld had ventured to say that sinful ladies must keep away from the +Holy Sacrament. But Father Nouet went on to assail the sixteen prelates +who had approved Arnauld's book, and this led to his undoing. To their +great mortification the Jesuit superiors were forced to disavow and +reprimand their preacher, and the Jansenists triumphed. The Jesuits +retorted, however, by intrigue at the court, and induced Mazarin and +the Queen-Regent to order Arnauld to go and defend his book at Rome. +This was a violation of the rights of the Gallican Church, and the +university, the Parlement, and the clergy protested so violently that +the project had to be abandoned. + +St. Cyran had died in the meantime (in 1643) and Arnauld was leader +of the growing and powerful body of Puritans. As the next move of the +Jesuits at court would be to secure a _lettre de cachet_, and lodge +him in the Bastille or Vincennes, he returned to the provinces and +the struggle was transferred to Rome. The prelates who had approved +Arnauld's book appealed to the Pope in its favour, and a learned +theologian was sent to Rome to defeat the manoeuvres of the Jesuits. As +a result, after two years of violent discussion, the book was declared +free of heresy. The Jesuits, who had declared that thirty propositions +in the book were unsound, now concentrated upon an innocent parenthetic +phrase in the preface. Arnauld had referred to Peter and Paul as "two +chiefs who were really one," and it was claimed that this was an +attack on the papacy. After another year of wrangling and intrigue the +innocuous sentence was condemned, and the Jesuits proclaimed throughout +Europe that they had triumphed. + +The next step was to enforce in France the bull of Urban VIII. +condemning the _Augustinus_ of Jansen. The Sorbonne (the theological +school of the university) received a papal brief directing them to +accept the bull, and, in spite of court-pressure, the theologians +justly replied that they were not concerned with the opinions of a +Belgian theologian. Again the pulpits of Paris--the artillery of the +spiritual army--opened fire, and the pamphleteers were busy. Then the +syndic of the Sorbonne, Cornet, a friend of the Jesuits, submitted +seven propositions to the judgment of that body. He named no author, +and expressly (and mendaciously) stated that they did not refer to +Jansen, but it was well known that the sentences were supposed to +have been extracted from the work of Jansen, and an intense struggle +followed. The cause was won, as usual, by intrigue. There was some +dispute at the time how far the monastic theologians could vote at the +Sorbonne, but they were brought up in force, against the view of the +lawyers, and five propositions were condemned and reported to Rome. +It was now openly stated that the five propositions were taken from +Jansen's book. + +The Papacy still hesitated, in view of the disputable nature of the +Sorbonne vote, and intimated that the French prelates should be induced +to ask for a condemnation. According to M. Crétineau-Joly, the reply +was prompt and spontaneous. "The General Assembly of the clergy opens +at Paris, and eighty-eight bishops denounce the five propositions to +Pope Innocent"; the Jesuits, he says, stood aside and let the prelates +speak. But the French historian must have been aware that the question +was not submitted to the General Assembly at all. The signatures were +obtained privately, and the whole procedure was so insidious that we +are not sure to-day whether seventy, or eighty, or ninety bishops +demanded a condemnation. It is necessary to note these details, if we +are to understand the Catholic sentiment which later swept the Jesuits +out of France. About eighty bishops apparently were induced privately +to request the Pope to condemn the propositions; other prelates wrote +to beg the Pope to abstain. However, the Vatican was now officially +invited to pronounce, and the war of theologians was resumed at Rome. + +In the meantime the Jesuits of Paris sustained a painful check in +their attack on the Jansenists. One of their number, Father Brisacier, +published a pamphlet, _Le Jansenisme confondu_ (1651), in which, not +only were the familiar invectives showered upon the Solitaries, but +the moral character of the nuns of Port Royal was attacked. These +were the nuns whom a hostile archbishop afterwards declared to be "as +pure as angels and as proud as devils." The purity of their lives +was notorious, and intense indignation was felt. The Archbishop +of Paris formally condemned the pamphlet as "containing many lies +and impostures," and Father Brisacier was removed--promoted to the +rectorship of the college at Rouen--by his superiors. No Jesuit, of +course, wrote without authorisation, and the many abominable pamphlets +they issued at this time against the Puritans implicate the whole +Parisian Province. + +We need not follow the course of the trial at Rome. After a two +years' struggle Innocent X. issued his famous bull in which the five +propositions were declared to be heretical, and to be contained in the +work of Jansen. The Jesuits emitted a pyrotechnic discharge of oratory +and pamphlets--one broadside of the time represented Bishop Jansen as a +devil flying to the Protestants--but they had overreached themselves. +No Jansenist (not even Jansen) had ever taught the five propositions, +and there was not a man in France who wished to defend them. But the +Jesuits had insisted on the pronouncement that the propositions were +contained in Jansen, and this gave rise to a formidable controversy in +which the prelates were at liberty to join. It may seem to the modern +reader an appalling waste of energy and perversion of character that +so powerful a body should spend their resources for twenty years in a +war on such abstruse propositions, but from this point the struggle +becomes frankly ridiculous. For nearly eighty years we shall find +the Jesuits straining every device of craft and learning to ensure +that every man in France shall agree that the Pope (who had never +read Jansen's book) was right in declaring the five propositions to +be contained in the _Augustinus_; and the controversy they sustain +will draw on themselves the appalling scourge of Pascal's _Provincial +Letters_ and on the papacy the defiant declaration of the Gallican +Church. We are compelled to recognise a lamentable corporate ambition +and perversion of character in their conduct. + +The Puritans coolly replied that they were not interested in the five +propositions which the Pope had condemned, but that, as a matter of +plain truth, they must protest against the ascription of these views +to Bishop Jansen. So the war proceeded. It was at this time, in 1654, +that the Jesuits made a ludicrous attempt to discredit their opponents +by revealing the famous "Plot of Bourg Fontaine": a plot as rich in +imagination and crude in fictitious detail as the Titus Oates plot. +They had discovered, they gravely reported, that St. Cyran, Arnauld, +and four other Jansenists had, twenty-three years before, met secretly +in an obscure village to concert a plot for the destruction of +Christianity in France. Arnauld was nine years old at the time given as +the year of the conspiracy. Arnauld, from his solitude, issued a letter +against the Jesuits, and (again packing the jury with monk-voters) +they got it condemned by the Sorbonne. When we find the King writing +to press the Sorbonne, we may clearly recognise the hand of the +court-Jesuits. They triumphed, but their triumph now drew on them the +heaviest and most enduring punishment they have ever suffered. + +In 1648 the nuns had been compelled to return from Paris to their +inhospitable valley, and the Solitaries had retreated from the abbey +to a manor-house on the hill overlooking the valley. There, without +any special costume or vows, a number of the most brilliant young men +of Paris led a life of great austerity and devotion. Some lived in +Paris, and spent an occasional period at Les Granges, and amongst these +was a young man, with thin, pale face and large brilliant eyes under +his lofty forehead, named Blaise Pascal. He had already won European +fame as a mathematician. When Arnauld, somewhat jaded, produced a weak +reply to his opponents, his friends suggested that Pascal should be +asked to undertake the attack. Arnauld agreed, and on 23rd January +1656, appeared the first _Letter to a Provincial_. It was a subtle and +irresistible satire of the theological shibboleths of the Jesuits. In +order to enable the conflicting schools of monastic theology to agree +in condemning the Jansenists, certain terms (such as "proximate grace" +and "sufficient grace") had been introduced as vague common measures of +orthodoxy, and Pascal expended his immortal wit on the weakness. It is +admitted by all that the earlier _Provincial Letters_ are masterpieces +of satire. The letter was received with delight in Paris, and a week +later, while the debate continued at the Sorbonne, a second letter was +issued. The third appeared ten days later, after the censure of Arnauld. + +It is quite needless here to discuss the literary qualities of Pascal's +letters, but in the fourth letter Pascal began his direct and fearful +indictment of the Jesuits. The next six letters contain the exposure of +Jesuitical moral teaching which is the most serious point in his work, +and the remaining letters--from the tenth to the eighteenth, which are +addressed to the Jesuits--are mainly concerned with substantiating his +indictment. Although one may trust that the majority of readers are +familiar with Pascal's famous work, a short analysis of the six letters +(the fifth to the tenth) must be premised. + +The chief quarrel between the Solitaries and the Jesuits was, as I +said, a question of moral, not speculative, theology. They accused +the Jesuits of accommodating the principles of Christian morality to +an immoral generation. St. Cyran and Arnauld had already quoted many +passages of Jesuit works in proof of this, and Pascal and his friends +now searched the whole field of Jesuit casuistry for further proofs. In +the fifth letter, for instance, Pascal shows how the Jesuits attenuate +the obligation of fasting. A man may, on a fast-day, drink any quantity +of wine, hippocras, or honey and water. If a man cannot sleep without +supper, he is not bound to fast; in a sense that is a just decision, +but Father Escobar goes on to say that he need not meet his obligation +by deferring to the evening the "collation" which is permitted on +fast-days, as no man is bound to alter the order of his meals. Again, a +man who has exhausted himself by vice is not bound to fast; and Pascal +might have added that the Jesuits excused a wife from fasting if her +husband thought it interfered with her attractiveness (Tamburini), a +husband if it weakened his sexual faculty (Filliutius), and a maiden +if it lessened the charms on which she relied to secure a husband +(Tamburini). + +After this satirical essay on fasting made easy, Pascal passes, in the +sixth letter, to the obligation of almsgiving and cognate matters. +Wealthy Christians were bound by the letter of the Gospel to give to +the poor out of their superfluous goods, and Pascal quoted the great +Jesuit theologian Vasquez learnedly proving that "you will scarcely +find such a thing as superfluous goods among seculars, even in the +case of kings." That was a comfortable doctrine for the rich, but the +Jesuits had a word for the poor. Could a valet who considered himself +underpaid help himself to his masters goods to the extent of the +deficiency? Yes, said Father Bauny. And since Jesuit confessors had +many curious cases submitted to them by valets at that time, their +theologians worked out the servant's position with great nicety. If it +were very inconvenient to change his master, the valet might even hold +the ladder by which his master climbed to an illicit adventure; though +in this extreme case, the master must scold much before the valet is +justified. + +The seventh letter shows how the Jesuits accommodated the fifth +commandment to an age of brawling and duelling. It is quite lawful to +fight a duel if a man would otherwise incur dishonour (Escobar); it is +lawful to pray to God to kill a menacing enemy (Hurtado); it is lawful +to kill a culumniator and his false witnesses (Molina); it is lawful +to pursue and kill a man who has dealt you a blow--provided you have +merely a technical regard for your honour, and do not feel vindictive +(Escobar); it is lawful to kill a contumelious man, if that is the only +way to arrest the injury (Lessius); it is lawful, if necessary, to kill +an intending thief even if he attempt to take only a single gold coin +(Molina); and--a very significant doctrine--it is lawful for a monk to +kill a man who defames his monastery or his order, if there is no other +way to arrest the defamation (Amico). These were fine doctrines for the +age of Louis XIV. + +The eighth letter quotes distinguished theologians who permit a judge +to accept secret and illegal presents, provided they are given out +of gratitude, or merely to encourage him in giving honest verdicts +(Molina); and others who teach that, while usury (which then meant +any interest in money) is forbidden, the lender of money may exact a +certain additional sum in the name of gratitude (Escobar, etc.); that +a bankrupt may keep back sufficient property to enable himself and his +family to live "decently" (Escobar); that money earned by crime or vice +has not to be restored (Lessius, etc.); and that "a prostitute, virgin, +married woman, or nun" is strictly entitled to the money promised her +for vice (Filliutius). The ninth letter shows how gluttony is condoned, +and scourges the familiar casuistic doctrine of mental reservation. In +the tenth letter we learn that a frail woman may receive into her house +her partner in sin if she "cannot decently refuse." + +The apologist for the Jesuits attempts to enfeeble this terrible +indictment by saying that the devout Chateaubriand called Pascal's +work "an immortal lie." The French historian does not add, though he +doubtless knew, that Chateaubriand withdrew this expression in more +mature years, saying: "I am now forced to acknowledge that he [Pascal] +has not exaggerated in the least." Voltaire also is quoted, expressing +indignation that Pascal should accuse the Jesuits of setting out to +corrupt morals. Voltaire, living under the shadow of the Bastille in +early years, had his moments of insincerity; in this case it is enough +to say that, in the fifth letter, Pascal expressly says that he does +not accuse the Jesuits of setting out to corrupt morals. The only +serious criticism one finds among the innumerable replies to Pascal is +that his quotations are not always accurate. One must remember that +they are not given as verbal quotations, and that Pascal had to rely +on the aid of his colleagues. That he deliberately misquoted any +theologian can only be suggested by those who are entirely ignorant +of his character. It is, however, quite true that qualifying phrases +have at times been improperly omitted, a few phrases have been wrongly +translated, and the condensing of long passages into short sentences +has in a few instances the effect of an injustice. These cases are +relatively few and unimportant. The indictment of Jesuit casuistry, as +I have summarised it, is perfectly sound, and later research has merely +extended the long list of unedifying passages.[26] + +Ste. Beuve observed that, owing to Pascal's indictment, the Jesuits +"lost the helm of the world." They have assuredly never entirely +recovered from the "terrible blow" (as their historian calls it) which +Blaise Pascal dealt them. It is not historically true that they were +"crushed" and silent under the reiterated lashes. In the course of +his letters Pascal refers to their numerous replies, their fierce +invectives, their threats of physical persecution. Unfortunately, +one of their fathers made matters worse by penning a bold defence of +the casuists. His book was condemned by the Sorbonne and the Roman +Inquisition, and had to be disavowed. Large numbers of the clergy and +monks joined with the Jansenists in denouncing their doctrines, and +in the end--if we may anticipate a little, in order to finish this +episode--they were officially condemned by the French Church. For a +time Louis XIV. prevented their opponents from submitting the matter +to the General Assembly of the Clergy, but, when Mme de Montespan +succeeded Mlle de la Vallière in his affections, Bossuet and the +Archbishop of Paris used her influence to secure the king's consent, +and in 1700 their doctrines (and those of other lax theologians) were +severely condemned. The only mitigation which the Jesuits could secure +was that their theologians were not named. + +Meantime, the war of the five propositions dragged its interminable +length. The Port Royal nuns, the Solitaries, and many of the clergy +and laity refused to sign what they regarded as a plain untruth--the +statement that the five propositions were found in Jansen's work--and +the Jesuits relentlessly persecuted them. Under court-pressure the +Assembly of the Clergy decreed that all teachers and religious were to +submit to the Pope's bull, and a kind of inquisition was established +for the first time in France. A formulary was devised, and a royal +decree enacted that it must be signed. The "grand Turc très Chrétien" +was at that time easily led by his confessor and other Jesuits in +religious matters, and his light-hearted court, under the presidency +of Mlle de la Vallière, was not at all unwilling to see the dour +Jansenists beaten by their indulgent confessors. The nuns of Port Royal +made an heroic stand against the official untruth. Angélique Arnauld +was now dead, but her sister Agnes induced the nuns to resist alike the +honeyed persuasion of Bossuet and the angry menaces of the Archbishop +of Paris. In 1664 the archbishop returned with the more formidable +argument of a band of two hundred archers, and the nuns were scattered +over France. The Solitaries also were scattered, though a few of the +more distinguished of them found shelter in the hotel of the Duchess +de Longueville. So importunate were the Jesuits that the Pope had to +remind them that his duty was to keep the Puritans in the Church, not +drive them out of it. + +Four bishops still favoured the Puritans, and for several years the +futile wrangle went on between the French court, the Vatican, and the +rebels. One of the four was the Archbishop of Sens, a prelate of the +finer type and a stern critic of the Jesuits. In 1653 the Jesuits +went to such extremes in their attack on him that he placed all the +Jesuits in his archdiocese under an interdict for contumacy, and the +sentence was so just that they did not succeed in getting it removed +until the death of the prelate in 1675. The Bishop of Pamiers imposed +the same heavy punishment on the Jesuits of his diocese. Both king +and clergy were now wearying of the endless war, and the accession +of a new Pope, Clement IX., in 1667 seemed to the moderate clergy an +occasion for compromise. The Archbishop of Sens, the Princess de Conti, +the Duchess de Longueville, and other distinguished intermediaries +persuaded the papacy to exclude the Jesuits from the negotiations, and +Arnauld promised to submit if that were done. The correspondence was, +therefore, conducted with great secrecy, and at the beginning of 1669 +Louis XIV. struck and issued a gold medal in commemoration of "peace" +and "restored concord." The Jesuits were so angry at the wording, since +it did not express the extinction of a heresy, that, when the medal +became scarce, they denied that it had been issued with the knowledge +of the King. + +The nuns were now permitted gradually to return to their valley, and +the Solitaries renewed the attack upon the morality of the Jesuits. +On this side the Jesuits could securely rely upon the sympathy of +Louis XIV., and the second brilliant criticism which the Jansenists +published, the _Practical Morality of the Jesuits_, was condemned by +Parlement, at the intervention of the royal procurator, to be publicly +burned. Jesuit succeeded Jesuit in the care of the King's conscience, +in spite of his notorious and continuous immorality during nearly +twenty years. Their French apologist ventures to tell us that they +"declared war on the King's heart," and quotes Bayle as saying, in +regard to the _liaison_ with Mlle de la Vallière, that "Father Annat +teased the prince daily about it and gave him no rest." It is one of +the most flagrant pieces of "Jesuitry" in M. Crétineau-Joly's work. +Bayle (in a note to the article _Annat_) merely quotes these words +from a pamphleteer whom he describes as utterly unworthy of credence; +and I may add that the purpose of the pamphleteer is merely to prove +that the later confessor, Père la Chaise, was worse than Père Annat. +The truth is that Annat remained in his charge during the whole of the +eight years when Louis clung to Mlle de la Vallière, and, when the +brilliant and unscrupulous Marquise de Montespan succeeded in securing +the position of royal mistress in 1670, and Père Annat retired on the +ground of age, his colleague Père Ferrier took his place. For four +years he remained in charge of the King's remarkable conscience, and it +is not irrelevant to observe that he was rewarded with a power that no +royal confessor had hitherto had in France. He and his colleagues now +had the sole right to nominate bishops, and the character of the French +episcopacy in the later years of Louis XIV. is largely attributable to +them. Ferrier died in 1674, and the famous Père la Chaise, a man of +moderate ability but courtly manners, was appointed royal confessor. He +remained at his post during the remaining five years of the _liaison_ +with Mme de Montespan, and it was Mme de Maintenon (and advance in +years), rather than his confessor, who led the royal sinner into the +paths of virtue. + +The eventual refusal of the sacraments does not atone for this +prolonged adhesion to Louis XIV., even if we ignore other circumstances +which detract from the merit of this tardy act of sternness. The +Jesuits compromised with the vice, in order that they might share the +power, of the greatest monarch of the age. In the last chapter we +saw how they made use, or trusted to make use, of their influence at +the French court in the conquest of England; for the moment we find +them attaining a position of great power in France by their indulgent +behaviour; and in later chapters we shall find them deriving advantage +from their privileged position for the promotion of their influence in +Spain and Italy. They looked to Louis XIV., as they had once looked to +Philip III. of Spain, as the rising sun of the monarchical world, and +they suppressed their scruples in their determination to use his power +for the furtherance of the aims of their Society. This is singularly +illustrated, in a very different way, by their conduct in the next +phase of French ecclesiastical affairs. + +There was in most parts of France an old custom which gave the King the +right to promote to benefices as long as the episcopal see was vacant. +This profitable "Regale," as it was called, had never been recognised +in the southern provinces, but in 1673 Louis XIV. decreed that in +future all dioceses (except a few with special privileges) would have +to recognise the royal right. The King's own words indicate that the +Jesuits had inspired this improper invasion of the spiritual world, and +the fact was not disguised that it was chiefly aimed against Bishop +Pavillon of Aleth and Bishop Caulet of Pamiers, who had withstood +the court and the Jesuits in regard to the papal bull against the +Jansenists. The bishops appealed to Rome, and in 1676 a man ascended +the throne of Peter who was in no mood to bow to earthly monarchs or +permit Jesuit intrigue. Innocent XI. sternly insisted on the rights of +the Church and condemned the action of Louis. The Parlement and the +French hierarchy generally sided with the King, and the papal briefs +remained unpublished. The Jesuits of the southern dioceses affected +to regard the briefs as spurious, and they maintained the campaign of +intrigue and calumny which they had conducted for some time against the +Bishop of Pamiers. Pavilion had died in the course of the struggle. +Pope Innocent then devised a plan by which he expected to defeat the +insincere manoeuvres of the Jesuits. He handed his briefs to the +General of the Society and bade him communicate them to the French +Jesuits, through their Provincials. To their great embarrassment the +Jesuits of Paris and Toulouse now found themselves in the dilemma of +having to disobey the commands either of the Pope or the King, but they +extricated themselves with their usual adroitness. + +The Parlements of Paris and Toulouse were secretly informed that +the Jesuit fathers had received copies of the papal briefs and were +instructed to publish them. The secrets of the Society were not +so easily penetrated as to avert the suspicion that the Jesuits +had themselves given this information, and the proceedings of the +Parlements show that they did so. Even their resolute apologist here +confesses that "perhaps" the Jesuits had this information conveyed to +the lawyers in defiance of the Pope's stern command. The scene that +followed is one of the most remarkable in the history of the Society. +The Parlement of Paris, which we have found for more than a century +in bitter opposition to the Society, now (1681) publicly lauded the +patriotism of the Jesuits in frustrating this attempt "to surprise +their wisdom and corrupt their fidelity." The men of the fourth +vow, the men who professed to be the incorruptible champions of the +Papacy, now cast their Ultramontanism to the winds, and gave material +assistance to the Gallicans at a time when a very grave conflict with +the Vatican was in progress. It was, once more, the price of the +favour of Louis XIV. Innocent replied by excommunicating Louis, and he +entrusted the brief to the charge of a French Jesuit who was then in +Rome. It was, of course, never published. The Jesuit authorities at +Paris kept it in their hands until the wrath of the Pope had cooled and +he recognised the impolicy of enforcing it. + +From every point of view the conduct of the Jesuits in this crisis is +unattractive. They discovered that in such conflicts it is the duty +of the Society to be neutral, and they retained the favour of the +contestants by making such compromises as the successive phases of +the struggle imposed on them. The clergy of the French Church met in +Assembly in 1681, and, under the leadership of Bossuet, formulated the +famous four articles which define the rights of the Gallican Church and +limit the pretensions of the Vatican. All professors and religious in +France were directed to sign these articles; but the Jesuits, through +their junta at court, obtained exemption, and were able to report to +the Vatican that they alone had not accepted this defiant "Declaration +of the Gallican Clergy": half a century later, however, when France +is more dangerous to them than the Papacy, we shall find them setting +aside their scruples and signing the articles. Even at the time, +the Papacy was not appeased by their sinuous conduct. Innocent XI. +threatened to destroy the Society, and remained bitterly opposed to it +until his death in 1689. + +By this time Louis XIV. had entered on his later phase of decaying +power and sincere interest in religious matters. Mme de Maintenon had +consolidated her influence over him by a secret marriage in 1684, and +given a religious direction to his thoughts. One terrible consequence +of this tardy and ill-balanced zeal was, as history tells, the +Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), and a horrible oppression +of the Protestants. It would be a mistake to cast the whole blame of +this lamentable cruelty and its evil effects for the country upon the +Jesuits. The higher French clergy generally still entertained the +persecuting spirit, and had for years pressed for violent measures +against the sectarians, who refused to yield to their arguments. Père +la Chaise was only one of many narrow-minded priests who impelled Louis +XIV. to crown a series of unjust measures against the Protestants with +this cruel and impolitic act. It was, however, the consummation of the +violent policy which the Jesuits had urged from the beginning, and one +may justly doubt whether Louis XIV. would, even in his last phase, have +adopted such a measure if the court-Jesuits had not pressed for it. + +In the sobered court the Jesuits continued for some time to enjoy a +great influence, though it was increasingly checked by Mme de Maintenon +and the prelates she favoured. In 1688, Louis determined to make the +French Jesuits independent of the Roman authorities; but they contrived +to dissuade him. They continued to fight the Regalists and the +Jansenists with the poisoned weapons of calumny, abuse, and intrigue. +The most unedifying scenes were witnessed in the southern dioceses, +and Jansenist leaders, like Arnauld, were pursued even beyond the +frontiers. One illustration of this prolonged and misguided campaign +must suffice. In the year 1690 the theologians of Douai received a +number of letters bearing the signature of Arnauld; and, in what they +understood to be a private correspondence with the Jansenist leader, +they committed themselves to phrases which no other occasion would have +extracted from them. This correspondence was then published by the +Jesuits, and the professors of the Douai University were expelled and +replaced by members of the Society. The fraud, however, proved one more +detail in the long account which France would presently settle with the +Jesuits. Arnauld, who was living in the Netherlands, at once denounced +the letters as forgeries, and held up the Jesuits to public contempt as +the direct or indirect authors. + +The nuns of Port Royal were the next victims of their relentless +campaign. A more friendly Pope, Clement XI., succeeded Innocent, and +in 1705 he was induced to issue a fresh bull (_Vineam Domini_) for the +suppression of Jansenism. It was pressed for the acceptance of the nuns +by the Archbishop of Paris; but it seemed to them still to consecrate +the familiar untruth, and they declared that they would subscribe to it +only with a qualifying clause. We have no documentary proof that the +Jesuits inspired the events which followed this reserve, but the blame +was openly cast upon them at the time, and the circumstances suggest +it. The King--still under the guidance of Père la Chaise--wrote to +the Vatican for permission to destroy the community, and in the early +spring of 1708 the nuns were definitely scattered. Père la Chaise died +at the beginning of the following year, and Père Letellier, a grim and +resolute supporter of the ambitions of the Society, succeeded to the +office. Under his influence the last insurgent movements of the brave +nuns were rigorously suppressed, and in January 1710 their ancient and +beloved abbey, the strictest centre of conventual virtue in France, was +rased to the ground. + +Letellier, a sombre, indefatigable man, whose flashing eyes scorned the +comfort of the court--he was a peasant's son--and sought nothing in +this world but the ascendancy of the Society of Jesus, now found the +influence of the Jesuits threatened by that of Louis's wife and her +favourite prelate Noailles, Archbishop of Paris. In 1711 a letter was +intercepted which revealed the intrigues of Letellier and the Jesuits, +and Noailles angrily suspended all the members of the Society in his +diocese. The chief Jansenist writer was now Quesnel, who had just +published his _Moral Reflections_. The Jesuits detected much heresy +in the innocent work, and at once used their influence to secure a +condemnation. The Archbishop had, however, expressed admiration of it, +and the task of the Jesuits was more than usually difficult. At length, +in July 1711, a letter was intercepted from which it was clear that +Letellier was intriguing against the Archbishop, and there was much +indignation among the new party at court. Noailles not only suspended +the fathers, but condemned about a score of their writers and preachers +for lax principles. The intrigue continued, however, and in the autumn +of 1713, Clement XI. condemned Quesnel's book in the bull _Unigenitus_. +Saint Simon, who was in the French court at the time and on good +terms with the Jesuits, tells us that the bull was due to Letellier +and two other Jesuits "as fine and false as he," and that in the bull +"everything was brilliant except truth." Saint Simon was no theologian. +We may accept his word that the securing of the bull was "a dark +business"; and we know that, in its later stages, it was pressed at +Rome with irregular and improper haste. It is, however, true that many +of Quesnel's phrases were questionable, though they did little more +than repeat and enforce the words of the gospel: "Without me ye can do +nothing" (_John_ vi. 66). But the words of Scripture were condemned as +well as the words of Quesnel, and the Jesuits were able to congratulate +each other that "Jouvency was avenged."[27] + +The bull _Unigenitus_ was, says a French bishop of the time, as badly +received at Paris as it would have been at Geneva, and the Jesuits +prepared for the last phase of their long struggle with the Puritans. +Saint Simon has left us a singular and unpleasant picture of Father +Letellier discussing with him their devices for enforcing acceptance +of the bull. The passion displayed by the royal confessor amazed the +duke, and he was not less disgusted at the ruses by which Letellier +proposed to crush his opponents. The Archbishop now condemned Quesnel, +but rejected the bull, and fourteen bishops followed his example. Once +more there was a violent controversy, and a letter of Letellier's was +intercepted from which Noailles learned that the royal confessor was +pressing Louis to send him to Rome, to be degraded by the Papacy. The +ecclesiastical world seethed with passion, while France slowly fell +from the proud position to which its great generals had raised it. + +In the midst of this conflict, Louis XIV. died (1715); and for a time +it seemed as if the reign of the Jesuits was ended. The grim Letellier +was exiled from Paris, and Noailles replaced the Jesuits in the control +of ecclesiastical affairs. Their enemies gathered about the Regent +and pressed him to destroy the power of the Society. Philip of Orleans +was, however, not the kind of man to sacrifice liberal casuists to the +Puritans, and graceful preachers to stern parlementarians. A man of +brilliant parts and frivolous tendencies--he had been educated in vice +by the Abbé Dubois--he saw no more than a temporary political expedient +in checking the Jesuits for the satisfaction of his supporters. He soon +relapsed into ways of indolence and vice; and the Jesuits, gaining the +ear of his unscrupulous favourites, crept back to power. Dubois desired +a high ecclesiastical dignity, and the course of events very strongly +confirms the suspicion that the Jesuits put at his disposal their +influence in Rome. He induced Philip to compel Parlement to register +the bull _Unigenitus_; and he shortly afterwards became, in spite of +his notorious character, Archbishop of Cambrai and Cardinal of the +Church. Other unworthy clerics were similarly promoted, and the power +of Cardinal Noailles was checked. Dubois, in 1722, secured the office +of confessor to the young King for a Jesuit. Noailles, who had opposed +the appointment, refused canonical powers to the confessor, and a fresh +intrigue ran on until Noailles died and a pro-Jesuit Archbishop was +elected. + +The Jesuits now returned to power, though not to their full power, at +the court, and the remnant of the Jansenists was pitilessly persecuted. +For nearly twenty years the opponents of the Jesuits attempted to +evade the enforcement of the papal decisions, and it is said that more +than a hundred priests were banished and a large number imprisoned. +One of the bishops was deposed and degraded for resistance, and a +fierce struggle shook the peaceful atmosphere of the innumerable +monasteries. Fifty monks of one province of the Cistercian order +were, in 1723, excommunicated and imprisoned by the authorities. The +papal condemnation included propositions which were obviously sound +and others which were no more than quotations of Scripture, so hastily +had the vindictive sentence been promulgated. The Jesuits triumphed, +however, and the reign of Louis XV. saw them fully reinstated at +Versailles. + +France was no longer the world-power she had been in the golden age +of Louis XIV., and her selfish and dissipated monarch was blindly +leading her toward revolution. The Jesuits, as before, clung to the +prestige of the position of royal confessor, in spite of the flagrant +immorality of the King, but the forces which would presently dislodge +them were insensibly gathering power. The Puritans were silenced, +rather than annihilated, and the Parlement, imputing to the Society +much of the blame of its exile in 1753, revived its bitter hostility. +The first stroke fell on them in that year. Father Pérusseau, the +King's confessor, died, and a successful intrigue put in his place a +priest who was not a Jesuit. Both Pérusseau and his successor refused +absolution to a King whose libertinism was so cynically exhibited. In +view of the persistent attack on their laxity during a hundred years, +it would have been difficult for a Jesuit to do less. When, however, +the Jesuits lost the principal position, there seemed for a moment +some chance of their returning to favour in an indirect way. Mme de +Pompadour also desired absolution, in order to find a convenient place +in the Queen's suite; and, making a profession of penitence, she put +herself under the spiritual guidance of the Jesuit Father Sacy. For +a time he affected to believe in her sincerity; but the laughter of +Paris disconcerted him, and the stern refusal of the Pope to interfere +forced him to retire. From that time Mme de Pompadour and her courtiers +were opposed to the Jesuits. + +A few years later, in 1757, the attempt of Damiens to assassinate +Louis led to another outcry against the Society. It is the general and +probable verdict that the Jesuits had no share in the outrage, though +the fact that Damiens had a Jesuit confessor, and had previously been +in the service of the Jesuits, still seems to many writers to justify +a grave suspicion. The evidence is inconclusive, but the outrage led +to a fresh discussion of the regicidal doctrines of the Society, and +the secrecy and sinuousness of its procedure. By that time, as we +shall see, the Marquis de Pombal was meditating the destruction of +the Jesuits in Portugal, and was in correspondence with their enemies +in France. These enemies were now reinforced by the brilliant and +powerful body of deistic and atheistic writers who were known as "the +philosophers," and a formidable mine was being prepared under the feet +of the arrogant and unsuspecting Jesuits. + +The spark that fired this mine was a particularly disreputable action +on the part of the Society. In 1753 the Superior-General of the +Jesuits in the Antilles, Father Lavalette, was summoned to Paris to +answer the charge of having engaged in commerce on a large scale. +Lavalette was one of those men of commercial instinct whom the Society +did not scruple to use in augmenting its wealth as long as they were +successful. Although he had, in the name of the Society, vast estates +in the West Indies and thousands of negro slaves (bought by himself, +in disguise, in the public slave-market), and it was known that he +had agents in Paris for the sale of his sugar and coffee, he came to +Paris with a number of sworn testimonies from local French officers to +the effect that the Jesuits had not engaged in "foreign commerce," +and was acquitted. He returned to conduct his flourishing business +on a larger scale than ever. He had spacious warehouses, and made a +profit of about 280,000 francs a year; and he now--though acquitted +on the understanding that he was not to engage in commerce--borrowed +large sums of money, and increased the profit by a shrewd, and +somewhat sharp, deal on the money-market. He overreached himself in +these practices, and, as other disasters simultaneously overtook his +business, some of his French creditors pressed for their money. + +The French Jesuits were divided in opinion on the issue. The shrewder +fathers at Marseilles were disposed to borrow money and meet the +obligations, but the Parisian authorities believed that they were still +strong enough to win a conflict, and they insisted that Lavalette must +plead bankruptcy. It was the last and most fatal of the long series of +blunders they had perpetrated; to say nothing of the moral aspect of +their procedure. The law was set in motion; in March 1761 the lawyers +of the Paris Parlement were set the task of judging their traditional +enemy, and the long trial, amidst intense excitement, ended in the +Jesuits, as a collective body, being condemned to pay the whole of +Lavalette's debts--about five million francs. In order to determine +the responsibility, the lawyers had compelled the Jesuits to produce +their Constitutions and other documents which they were eager to keep +from the laity, and this exposure led to a broader and more determined +attack on the Society. Their action in refusing to meet the obligations +of the West Indian business, by which they had profited so much, was, +and always will be, regarded as morally dishonourable. It is pleaded +on their behalf that the Jesuits are a "simple-minded" and spiritual +body of men, with no inclination or aptitude for commerce, and that +Lavalette had concealed his operations--as they compelled him to +state--from his superiors. Such statements merely increase the cynicism +of their procedure. We have found them repeatedly engaging in commerce, +and we know that the Jesuit system made it absolutely impossible for +an inferior, even if he wished to do so, to conceal large commercial +operations from his superiors. The Jesuit documents made this plain to +the whole of Paris, and their adversaries advanced to the last attack. + +The Parlement declared that the Jesuit Constitutions were unfit for a +body of French priests, and demanded that they should be altered; it +forbade the Society to form congregations among the laity, to teach the +young, or to receive novices. The Jesuits at court induced the King to +summon a meeting of the higher clergy and elicit a counter-declaration +in favour of the Society; but a fearful storm was now raging in +their ears. In their extreme apprehension they disavowed the most +characteristic Jesuit principles. They proclaimed that they accepted +the four articles of the Gallican Declaration of 1682, and that they +would be loyal to the Gallican Church even if their General commanded +them to do something contrary to its principles. They were fighting for +life; but men in France knew from their previous history in the country +that such declarations as this were merely diplomatic, and were set +aside the moment they returned to power. + +The struggle continued through the winter, and in the spring (1762) the +King annulled the measures taken against them, but bade them modify +their Constitutions. They were in future to have a Vicar-General in +France, independent of the Roman General, and to be subject to the +bishops. Louis had secretly consulted the Roman authorities, and urged +them that this compromise was absolutely necessary to save the French +Province; and, although General Ricci bitterly replied: "Sint ut sunt, +aut non sint" ("Let them be as they are, or not be at all"), the +proposal was openly made in France. But Parlement refused to register +the King's decree, and went on to close eighty-four Jesuit colleges. +All through the spring and summer the fusillade of pamphlets and the +fiery debates of Parlements were sustained, the Jesuits straining every +resource to avert the blow, and on 6th August 1762 the Paris Parlement +decreed that the Society must cease to exist in France. The Jesuits +were expelled from their residences, and a small pension was allotted +them out of the confiscated property. Their entire property in France +was valued at nearly 60,000,000 francs, and they had, as it proved, +forfeited this rather than pay the just debts of Lavalette. At the same +time the Paris Parlement condemned one hundred and sixty-four works +written by Jesuits between 1600 and 1762. + +Louis XV. signed the decree of suppression in December 1764, and +from school and palace, from humble residences among the poor and +the mansions of princes, the Jesuits sadly made their way toward the +frontiers of the land in which they had so long enjoyed and abused a +remarkable power. In vain was the Pope induced to protest against the +action of Louis XV. Some of the chief provincial Parlements condemned +the Pope's bull to be burned in the public square, and the Parlement +of Paris disdainfully rejected it. The vast majority of the nation +applauded the suppression; and, once their power was gone, the Jesuits +were overwhelmed by the flood of hatred that now rose freely against +them. It was useless to plead that a few sceptical lawyers or statesmen +had wrought their ruin. In a few localities they were still protected +by the Provincial authorities; but the country at large, by the mouths +of its officials and the great body of its clergy, rejoiced in their +fall. They sought at first to parry the blow with customary manoeuvres. +Large numbers of them laid aside their dress and name, and remained +to intrigue against their opponents; and in 1767 the Paris Parlement +decreed that they must all leave the country. Except for a few who +still remained as private teachers of the young, having ostensibly +quitted the Society, and a few who were sheltered in ultramontane +localities, the Jesuits were now ignominiously expelled from the land +of St. Louis. And few will read the long story of their work in France +and not acknowledge that it was a just conclusion of their intrigues, +shiftiness, selfishness, thirst for power, unscrupulous persecution of +rivals or opponents, and condescension to vice and crime. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 26: I have consulted Molinier's admirable edition of the +_Letters_ (1891). The editor gives the original Latin passages from the +Jesuit theologians, and it is after comparison of these with Pascal's +quotations or paraphrases that I reach the conclusion given in the +text. It is necessary to add that some of these doctrines were not +confined to the Jesuits. The point is that the Jesuits, as a body, +were characteristically lax. Probabilism, for instance (the pernicious +doctrine that a man may commit an action which is probably lawful, +though more probably sinful) was not invented by the Jesuits, but +they made it a basic element of their casuistry. They taught that a +man was free to follow one single lax theologian, if he were a "grave +authority," against the adverse opinion of all the others.] + +[Footnote 27: I have in earlier chapters quoted Father Jouvency's +volume of the _Historia Societatis_. This volume, recalling and +praising the action of the French Jesuits in the time of Henry III. +and Henry IV., was published in 1713, and gave such offence that the +Parlement suppressed it.] + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE EXPULSION FROM PORTUGAL AND SPAIN + + +In the Iberian Peninsula we have the same romantic story of the Jesuits +being cast down from a splendid prosperity and expelled with every +token of ignominy from countries in which they had almost attained +a spiritual dictatorship. Here again, moreover, our chronicle will +deal almost exclusively with the actions of a junta of court-Jesuits +who bring the calamity upon their Society. It would not be unnatural +to suspect that in this there is some partiality; that I ignore the +saintly or learned or philanthropic achievements of the majority and +bring into prominence only the court-intrigues and abuses of power of +a few. But a glance at the works of apologetic writers will show that +the candid historian has no alternative. Considering the number and +resources of the Jesuits in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, +their record is singularly barren of great and good deeds. A few +examples of shining devotion, which we will notice as we proceed, and a +few small scandals, which we will generally ignore, do little to vary +the undistinguished monotony of the general life. The majority of the +Portuguese and Spanish Jesuits merely continue the work of teaching, +preaching, and writing works of theology, in comfortable and unascetic +homes, which we have previously described. Our story, like the general +history of Spain and Portugal at the time, is mainly concerned with +courtiers and politicians. + +We begin with Portugal, where the first destructive blow fell on the +Society. A Portuguese Jesuit, Father Franco, has left us an admiring +chronicle of the doings of his colleagues down to the end of the +first quarter of the eighteenth century. His work (_Synopsis Annalium +Societatis Jesu in Lusitania_, 1726) entirely confirms the feeling +that the life of the vast majority of the Portuguese Jesuits is not +material for history; it is little more than a record of the deaths of +undistinguished (but always very saintly) Jesuits, with a few discreet +references to those events at court which are of real interest. It is +true that Father Franco appends a list of thousands of Jesuits who have +gone to spend or lose their lives in Brazil or India, but we shall see +that in the period with which we are dealing these missionary fields +provided much comfort and little danger. The heroic age was over; +it was the age when royal confessors enabled their brethren to sun +themselves indolently in the warmth of royal favour. + +The close of the reign of John IV. in 1656 saw the power and wealth +of the Jesuits greater than they had ever been before. We saw that +at the revolution of 1640, when Portugal won its independence from +Spain, the Jesuits had so nicely distributed their forces that some +were sure to be on the winning side; and John IV. was not the man to +inquire too closely into their conduct. His court soon filled with +Jesuits. Father Nuñez, a man of great piety and austerity, who had an +excellent moral influence on the noble dames of the court, guarded the +consciences of Queen Luisa and her children. Father Fernandez, a very +different type of Jesuit, was confessor to the King, and had great +political influence. He was a member of the State-Council and Bishop +of Japan, and he bore his dignities with a consciousness which greatly +irritated the nobles. When his humbler colleague, Nuñez, died, he +became confessor to the Queen also, and attained a great ascendancy +over the King. When the Viceroy of India, remarking that Jesuits were +forbidden to engage in commerce, took from the Jesuits in that country +property worth twenty thousand crowns a year, which they had acquired +by commerce, Fernandez induced the King to overrule him and order the +restoration of the property. In addition, John IV. gave large annual +sums to the foreign missions, and a comfortable sum as "viaticum" +to each priest who left Portugal for the missions; and he made them +presents of palaces, and showered other benefits on them. + +When John died, and Luisa became Regent for her young son, the angry +nobles made a vigorous effort to dislodge the Jesuits. John's elder +son, who had had a Jesuit tutor, had refused to marry, and had wished +to join the Society. Men recalled the earlier King Sebastian, and said +that the Jesuits were attempting to seize the crown. The Jesuit-tutor +was even accused of betraying the military secrets of the country; and +one of his colleagues, Father Vieira, was so badly compromised by a +letter of his which was intercepted that John had been compelled to +make a foreign ambassador of him; another Jesuit was the diplomatic +representative of Portugal at Rome. The nobles resented this situation; +but Fernandez was in too strong a position, and the rule of the Jesuits +continued under the Regency. Fernandez died, however, in 1660, and it +is a second Jesuit of that name (as is sometimes forgotten) who took a +leading part in the extraordinary events of the year 1668. + +The elder prince, Theodose, had died prematurely, and Alphonso +succeeded to the throne. Whether there was some incurably morbid strain +in the youth, or whether the Jesuit tuition had made him incapable +of serious political life, we cannot say; but, as he grew to manhood, +Alphonso VI. entered upon ways of violence and licence which recall the +youth of Nero. His court was filled with the wild companions of his +orgies, and he paraded his vices on the streets and in the taverns of +his capital. He exchanged his Jesuit confessor for a Benedictine monk, +snatched the reins from the hands of his mother, and threatened to +drag the country very speedily into the abyss which awaited it. Sober +nobles and statesmen looked on with alarm, and it was inevitable that +a conspiracy to dethrone him should shortly arise. But the details of +the revolution, in which the Jesuits were very active, reflect little +honour on its actors. + +Alphonso had married Marie Isabelle de Savoie-Nemours, whose Jesuit +confessor, Father de Ville, listened sympathetically to the story of +the outrages she endured. Father de Ville and his colleagues were not +less sympathetic when Marie Isabelle transferred her affection to the +King's handsome young brother, Dom Pedro, and they entered into a plot +to replace Alphonso by Pedro. The chief plotter seems to have been +Father Vieira, whom the French historian regards as the glory of the +Portuguese Province at that time. Vieira was not without ability, but +he was a turbulent and meddlesome politician, and so eccentric in his +religious ideas that he fell into the prison of the Inquisition. The +Jesuits secretly engaged the nobles in a plan to dethrone and divorce +Alphonso and replace him by his brother. Divorce is, of course, unknown +to the Catholic Church, but it has never failed to discover a flaw in +a marriage which it was expedient to undo, and, with something very +like levity or cynicism, the Jesuits and the Queen determined to accuse +the King of impotence and get the marriage annulled: a king who was +notorious for his amours and had had a child by one of his mistresses. +Pedro was then informed of the Queen's amiable disposition and the +support of the nobles, and the conspiracy began. + +The King was recalled from his licentious pleasures by an announcement +that the Queen had retired to a convent and demanded the restitution +of her dowry. He flew to the convent, but found his brother there with +an armed force to protect the Queen, and, after a fruitless struggle, +he was compelled to abdicate and to testify to the virginity of the +Queen. We have the word of the English ambassador that Father de Ville +and his colleagues were the chief authors of this audacious plot, or +"comedy," as the Jesuit apologist calls it. The marriage was dissolved +in March (1668), and it was arranged that a deputation of the Cortes +should wait upon Marie Isabelle, and entreat her to marry Pedro, as +Portugal was too poor to return her dowry. The marriage was celebrated +a few weeks later, Alphonso was sent into a comfortable exile, and the +Jesuits returned to power at the court. Sincerely as we may applaud the +purification of the sordid palace and the relief of the young Queen, we +must recognise that the procedure betrays a considerable lack of moral +delicacy. + +The gratitude of Pedro to his Jesuit confessor, Fernandez, and his +colleagues could not be other than princely. He even made Fernandez a +deputy of the Cortes (where he needed supporters), and we gather from +the stern letter (given in Franco) in which General Oliva denounced +this action to the authorities of the Portuguese Province that +Fernandez was very reluctant to resign the honour. Under threat of +punishment he yielded, but he maintained an absolute authority over +King Pedro and placed his Society in a stronger position than ever. In +the Jesuit documents of the time we find constant reference to "the +Fathers of the Palace" and the immense benefits they procure for their +colleagues. Through the King they secured a modification of the Spanish +Inquisition--which had lately imprisoned one of their ablest men--and +in many of the colonies they obtained a monopoly of the trade with the +natives and acquired a wealth similar to that of the Spanish fathers in +Paraguay. Pedro's second wife was no less generous to the Society than +Luisa had been, and the ex-Queen of England, who returned to Portugal +in 1693, joined in the enrichment of the Jesuits. When Pedro died in +1706, his son John V. continued to patronise the Society and enfeeble +the kingdom. There were now more than a dozen Jesuits at the Portuguese +court, and for many years it was hardly possible to approach the King +without their permission. + +During the long reign of the incompetent and superstitious John V. +Portugal sank rapidly into the decline that awaited her. Not only did +Jesuits undertake commerce in the colonies and absorb vast sums of +money in donations and annuities, but the Church at large is calculated +to have received about five hundred million francs, wrung mainly from +the decaying colonies, from the priest-ridden monarch. The Jesuits +are by no means wholly responsible for the scandalous expenditure +and economic folly of John V., or for the revival of the burning of +heretics and the erection of palatial monasteries. In his later years +the King transferred his favour to Oratorian and Franciscan priests, +and it seemed as if the long reign of the Jesuits was seriously +threatened. But this appalling clerical parasitism and disregard of +national economy, which were fast sapping the strength of Portugal, +were only the culmination of the sentiments which the Jesuits had +cultivated in the Portuguese court for a century. + +The King died in 1750, and the Jesuits returned to power under his son +Joseph. Father Moreira was the King's confessor, and Father Oliveira +the tutor of his children; Father Costa was the spiritual guide of his +brother Pedro, Father Campo of his uncle Antonio, and Father Aranjues +of his uncle Emmanuel. The junta was completely restored, and the +government was again virtually in the hands of the Jesuits. There had, +however, now come into the political life of Portugal a man who was +destined to shake the European power of the Jesuits and, within the +short space of ten years, to drive them from the Empire in poverty and +disgrace. + +Sebastian Joseph de Carvalho, Count of Oeyras and Marquis of Pombal, +had been a member of one of the Jesuit Congregations for laymen and +had obtained office, as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, +with their cordial agreement. There is nothing either mysterious or +discreditable in his hostility to the Jesuits. Even if it be true that +he at times fought them with their own improper weapons, the ground of +the conflict is plain. He perceived, as every non-Catholic historian +perceives to-day, that their rule was as mischievous to the State as +it was profitable to their own Society, and, as Foreign Minister and +lay man of business, he recognised that their commercial activity in +the colonies was injurious to the laity and inconsistent with their +professions. To say that he was influenced by the works of the French +philosophers is absurd--he had no sympathy with their ideas--nor is +it less unjust to say that he wished to protestantise the Portuguese +Church. It was precisely as a Catholic and a patriot that he set out to +reform the swollen and degenerate Church and invigorate the national +economy. We need not imagine vices in Pombal when the defects of the +Jesuits are so flagrant. + +The strong man was fortunate in having a weak, timid, and indolent +monarch, and hardly less fortunate in the fact that the King had a +stronger and more attractive brother on whose associates suspicion +could easily be cast. It is difficult to-day to ascertain what truth +there is in the charge that Dom Pedro aspired to the throne and had +the secret support of the Jesuits. King Joseph was not indisposed +to believe such a charge, and events soon occurred which gave it +plausibility. In 1752 the Portuguese proposed to cede Sacramento to +Spain in return for a part of Paraguay in which the Jesuits had seven +of their profitable "reductions," and, when the troops went to enforce +the change of frontiers, the pupils of the Jesuits made a sanguinary +resistance. It is possible to quote letters in which the Jesuits +advised submission, but a _secret_ letter from one of the leading +Spanish Jesuits to the American fathers was intercepted and was found +to advise resistance. Further troops were sent, the Jesuits and their +pupils were expelled, and Pombal drew up and circulated a memoir on the +action of the Jesuits and the virtual slavery which they maintained in +the reductions. Their monopoly of trade with the natives was abrogated, +and Pombal was interested in a company which sought to secure the +trade. The Jesuits fiercely attacked this change, and two members of +the Society were exiled. + +For a time the campaign of Pombal was then arrested by the appalling +earthquake which devastated Lisbon in the year 1755. The timid and +superstitious King was undecided as to the nature of the omen. At +first, when it was found that Pombal's house had been spared while +seven Jesuit houses had been wrecked, he was disposed to see in the +catastrophe a punishment of the sins of the Jesuits; but those artful +casuists easily persuaded the country that the only new event in the +life of Portugal to account for this outpour of divine wrath was the +persecution of the Society, and their zeal in succouring the homeless +earned for them a great deal of sympathy. The exiled Jesuits were +recalled, and they seemed to recover all the ground they had lost in +the preceding ten years. + +With a maladroitness which we recognise so often in the annals of the +Society, the Jesuits then went on to attack Pombal, and their churches +rang with denunciation of the great reformer. With all his faults +Joseph I. had wisdom enough to choose between the Jesuits and his +able minister. Pombal had effected more real reform in Portugal than +Jesuit politicians had done in their two centuries of influence; he had +abolished _autos da fe_, curbed the power of the Inquisition, clipped +the parasitic growth of monks, set bounds to the pretensions of the +nobles, and made great reforms in every branch of the administration. +He was a hard and ruthless man, sharing, to some extent, the Jesuit +feeling that the end justified the means, but he was a sincere and +enlightened patriot. He retained his influence over the King and took +the next step in his campaign against the Society. + +It was not until 1756 that the resistance of the natives in the +Jesuit reductions was finally overcome, and the proofs (which we will +see later) of secret Jesuit provocation deeply impressed the King. +There was at that time on the papal throne a Pope who had repeatedly +condemned the Jesuits. We shall see later that their behaviour on the +Chinese and Indian missions was, in a different way, as irregular as +their behaviour in South America, and Benedict XIV. severely condemned +them. His chief minister, Cardinal Passionei, was also opposed to the +Jesuits. King Joseph now submitted to the Vatican an account of the +conduct of the Jesuits in South America and asked that they should be +reformed. Meantime, in the autumn of 1757, Pombal persuaded the King +that the Jesuits were fomenting disorder in Portugal itself, and an +order was signed for the expulsion of all Jesuit confessors from the +court. In the night of 19th-20th September the servants and soldiers +entered the palace, and Fathers Moreira, Costa, and Oliviera awoke to +find themselves sentenced to removal from their comfortable offices. +Pombal then ordered that no Jesuit should be allowed to approach the +court, sent a very forcible justification of the King's conduct to the +other European courts, and pressed the demand for reform at Rome. + +On 1st April 1758 the Pope signed the decree for an inquiry into the +behaviour of the Jesuits, and Cardinal Saldanha was sent to South +America to conduct the inquiry. The proceedings at Rome had been kept +secret from the Jesuits until the decree was signed, and Pombal's +agents had secured the appointment of a cardinal who was no friend +of the Society. But both the Pope and the General died in the spring +of that year, and, when Cardinal Saldanha justly reported that the +Jesuits of South America had been wrongly engaged in commerce, the new +General, Ricci, appealed to the new Pope, Clement XIII., who was known +to be favourable to the Society. Clement appointed a commission of +inquiry which, being composed of friends of the Society and making no +investigation on the spot, declared the Jesuits innocent. + +The declaration was absurd and insincere, as we shall appreciate +when we come to examine the conduct of the Jesuits on the missions, +and Pombal saw that he must deal with the fathers in Portugal. In +June (1758) the cardinal-patriarch had laid an interdict on all the +Jesuits in the diocese of Lisbon, and public opinion seemed to be +prepared for a drastic step. An event that occurred in the night of +3rd-4th September of that year gave Pombal his opportunity. As the +King returned from the house of his mistress, the Marchioness Tavora, +several shots were fired at him, and a large number of members of +the Tavora family were arrested and put to the torture. One of the +prisoners, the Duke d'Aveiro, said, under torture, that the Jesuits +were privy to the conspiracy, and eight of the leading fathers were +arrested and tortured. The duke afterwards retracted, and it must be +said that, beyond this worthless declaration, there is no positive +evidence to connect the Jesuits with the outrage, though they had +been in close correspondence with the Tavoras. They were, however, +not punished on that ground with the other prisoners. Only one of the +Jesuits was executed, but for heresy, not treason; the others were kept +in prison, while all the Tavoras were executed. + +Instead of attempting to proceed against the Jesuits on such +discreditable evidence Pombal took the more effective ground that +their moral principles, especially in regard to assassination, were +the ultimate source of such outrages, and a very fierce controversy +ensued. It seemed to become gradually plain to all that the long +conflict of the Jesuits and their opponents was about to enter on +its last stage. There were bishops who supported Pombal, and bishops +who appealed to the Pope to check his progress. What Pombal mostly +feared was the stirring of the ignorant and superstitious masses, and +he proceeded with great caution. Before his project was realised in +Portugal, the Jesuits of the colonies were on their way, under guard, +to the mother-country, and, when they arrived, the Jesuit houses were +surrounded by soldiers, the more active fathers were transferred to +prison, and the rest were prevented from communicating with the laity. +By the month of April 1759 about 1500 Jesuits were in jail or under +guard. The King then informed the Pope that he was about to expel the +fathers from his dominions. When Clement protested, stronger evidence +of their intrigues was produced, and it is the general feeling of +impartial contemporaries (like the English historian Coxe) and later +authorities that some of these documents were forged. Clement still +refused to sanction the expulsion, and a ruthless and indefensible +step was taken by Pombal. On the feast of St. Ignatius (31st July) six +Jesuits were condemned to be broken on the wheel, as if some value were +now attributed to the evidence of a tortured witness. + +This unjust sentence was not carried out, probably from a fear that +the Pope would seriously question the jurisdiction of the civic +authorities, but the plight of the Jesuits was lamentable. It was in +Portugal that they had first attained power and wealth, and they had +enjoyed an almost uninterrupted dominion for two centuries; now they +lay on straw in the common jails, or tremblingly discussed the dark +future in their overcrowded residences. On the first day of September +the sentence of expulsion was enforced. The younger Jesuits were +offered a dispensation from their vows by Cardinal Saldanha, but few +accepted it, and the majority of them were put on ship and conveyed to +the Pope's dominions. Pombal was cruel and unjust to the end in the +realisation of his design; it is possible that he feared their later +activity on foreign soil. There may be some exaggeration in the stories +of their hardships, and indeed such a sentence could not be carried +out without hardship, but one cannot defend his action in keeping 221 +of the Jesuits in the jails of Portugal. One of them, Father Malagrida, +an old man of seventy-two, seems to have been a little deranged by his +imprisonment, and certain works which he wrote in prison were submitted +to the Inquisition. He was condemned to be burned alive by the very +tribunal which the Jesuits had been instrumental in establishing in +Portugal. Of the 200 Jesuits, 88 died in jail, and the rest lingered in +their humiliating captivity until the death of Joseph I. and dismissal +of Pombal in 1777. By that time their Society had ceased to exist. + +Such was the tragic issue of Jesuit history in the land which they had +been accustomed to regard as the safest and most generous country in +which they had taken root. However severely we may censure the detailed +procedure of the Marquis de Pombal, his action was in substance just +and patriotic. Portugal, which, in the sixteenth century, had promised +to become one of the greatest powers in the world, had sunk to a +humiliating depth, and its decay had proceeded apace with the power +of political Jesuits. They were incapable of a patriotic conception +of the task of governing, and they took advantage of and encouraged +the economic folly of living on overburdened colonies. If they were +unwilling to discharge the proper duties of priests and refrain from +intrigue for political power, they must depart. + +We have already seen how this bold stroke echoed in France and +encouraged the enemies of the Society. We must now turn to Spain and +see how "the most Catholic majesties" of that country came to follow +the terrible example of Pombal. The general outline of the story +is somewhat similar to that of the story of Portugal. A series of +weak and incompetent rulers occupy the throne; they are dominated +(generally) by a group of court-Jesuits, who teach them that the main +duty of a king is to be chaste, zealous for the faith, and generous +to the Church; the broad empire of Spain is repeatedly shorn, as its +increasing weakness is exposed; and at length a strong man realises the +evil of Jesuit domination and induces the King to send the fathers back +to the Pope's dominions from which they came. In one respect the story +is even more unpleasant than that which we have just concluded. Chaste +as the Spanish monarchs generally are in this period, they are so weak +and purblind that the court is filled with the most sordid intrigues +for power, and the Jesuits are deeply involved in these intrigues. + +We left the Society in Spain enjoying a splendid prosperity in the +early years of the reign of Philip IV. Readers of Major Hume's +brilliant _Court of Philip IV._ (1907) will not need to be reminded +that this was "the gayest and wickedest court since the days of +Heliogabalus," and that Madrid was in a repellent condition of vice +and decadence. The King's confessor was not a Jesuit, but a worthless +Dominican, and there were spirited struggles between the rival orders. +However, the Jesuits still guided the consciences of most of the nobles +and wealthy people, and were generously patronised by the King. They +prospered richly in the decaying kingdom, were indifferent to the +periodical national disasters, and claim only that they produced such +brilliant casuists as Escobar. At the end of this long and dreary reign +the chronicle of the Society becomes more interesting. + +An infant of four years, Charles II., inherited the throne, and +this gave the Jesuits an opportunity under the Regency of Maria +Anna, daughter of Ferdinand III. Queen Anna had brought with her +from her German home a very learned Jesuit, Father Nidhard, who +was her confessor. It was quite natural that this father should +attain predominant power at the death of the King, and we may regard +it as a piece of particularly frivolous Castilian gossip that the +sixty-year-old priest had a more tender relation to the Queen than +that of political adviser. We may further grant that Nidhard's power +was used unselfishly, and he was true to the ascetic ideal of his +Society. But he was flagrantly false to other and more important rules +of the Society in occupying the position he did, and he added a heavy +contribution to the accumulating hatred of the Society. He was not +only royal confessor, but a Councillor of State--in fact, the first +minister--and Grand Inquisitor. He had pleaded his rule when the Queen +pressed these dignities on him. She obtained a "dispensation" from +the Pope, and Nidhard then posed as a Jesuit Ximenes and ruled Spain. +The papal document gives him no moral justification. Had he and his +superiors willed, he could at once have been transferred to Germany. +They acquiesced in his political position on account of the power it +gave them. + +The Spanish nobles chafed under the rule of a priest and a woman and +were irritated to see the decay of the nation continue. In 1668 they +lost much of the Low Countries in the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, and the +independence of Portugal was recognised. Don Juan, a natural son of +the late King, seized the opportunity and attacked the Jesuits. They +appointed the prince governor of the Low Countries, and he refused to +go. They forbade him to approach the capital, and he boldly advanced +to Madrid and demanded the dismissal of Nidhard. The troops and people +supported him, and, shedding bitter tears, the Queen was obliged to +"permit Nidhard to retire from office." The crowd threatened to end +his career at once, but he escaped to Rome, where he became Spanish +ambassador, and afterwards Cardinal and Archbishop of Edessa. He had +greatly strengthened the hostility to the Jesuits in Spain. + +The long and disastrous reign of Philip was followed by the long +and disastrous reign of his weak-minded son, and Spain decayed with +frightful rapidity. Piety flourished--on one occasion fifty heretics +were put to death for the entertainment of the young Queen--and the +misshapen King set an admirable example of chastity. Few were sensible +of the greater obligation of arresting the decay of the land, and the +Jesuits were content to float on the sluggish stream. It is probable +that their wealth reached its highest point during the reign of Charles +II.--"one of the most disastrous reigns on record," a distinguished +historian calls it. But there would be little interest in chronicling +the princely gifts and legacies they received and the handsome houses +they erected. Charles died of old age in his fortieth year (1700), and +was persuaded to leave the throne to the Duke of Anjou and thus ensure +the protection of Louis XIV. for the unfortunate country. From this +point the story of the Spanish Jesuits assumes a livelier complexion. + +Philip V., a youth of seventeen, was entrusted by Louis XIV. to the +care of the French Jesuit Daubenton. Father Letellier was at that +time the spiritual guide of the grand monarch, and he had recommended +his friend and colleague Daubenton for the important post of ruling +the Spanish King's conscience. Daubenton was a stout little man who +concealed an immense aptitude and eagerness for intrigue under an +air of severe detachment from worldly affairs. On the other hand, +a brilliant Frenchwoman, the Princess Orsini, was sent to sustain +the interests of France in the Queen's circle, and she succeeded in +obtaining so strong an influence that we find her at times writing, +without much exaggeration, of "my administration." She was _camerara +mayor_ to the young Maria Luisa--a mere girl--and her great power drew +on her the hatred of the Spaniards and of some of the French. By the +year 1703 the court was seething with intrigue. The memoirs of the Duke +de Saint Simon, the work of the contemporary English historian Coxe, +and the letters which passed between the Spanish and French courts +indicate that Daubenton was the most active and insidious agent in the +cabal against the Princess Orsini. A very sordid intrigue ran through +the whole of the year 1703, and it ended in the recall of the princess +to France. The Queen was, however, so angry that the plot was exposed +to Louis XIV.--it is authoritatively narrated in the correspondence +of Louis and Philip--and Daubenton was dismissed from the court in +disgrace and the Princess Orsini permitted to return. + +Another French Jesuit, Father Robinet, succeeded Daubenton, and the +fate of his predecessor did not intimidate him from taking an interest +in politics, though he at first made the same pretence of aloofness +from secular matters. The next ten years, however, passed without +notable incident, and the Spanish Jesuits continued to accumulate +wealth. Saint Simon tells us that on one occasion a ship from South +America discharged at the quays of Cadiz several boxes addressed +to "The Procurator-General of the Society of Jesus." The contents +were said to be chocolate, but the weight was extraordinary and the +officials decided to open one of the boxes. It was, apparently, full +of bars of chocolate, but the weight of each was so mysterious that +they were more closely examined. They were bars of solid gold, +thickly coated with chocolate. This incident probably gave support to +the rumour in Spain that the Jesuits had hidden gold mines in their +carefully guarded reductions, but we may more probably recognise the +direction taken by the great profit on the reductions and the reason +for the determined efforts of the Jesuit authorities to support their +fathers in this uncanonical industry. + +Queen Luisa died in the year 1714, and it was believed at the court, +and is not improbable, that Princess Orsini aspired to succeed her. She +was then more than sixty years old, but she still had great charm and +ability and seemed to be making a tender impression on the chaste and +pious and weak-minded young King. Robinet put an end to her ambition +with a bold retort. When Philip asked him one day what the latest news +was from Paris, he said that it was rumoured that the King was about +to marry Mme Orsini. Philip angrily denied it, and the princess very +shortly passed out of the political life of Spain. There were, however, +many others interested in the exile of Princess Orsini, and the share +of Father Robinet must not be exaggerated. Spain had continued to +decay. At the peace of 1713 her empire was shorn of Sicily, Milan, +Naples, Sardinia, the Netherlands, Gibraltar, and Minorca. Philip +consulted his Jesuit advisers several times a day, but neither they +nor his other counsellors could do more than intrigue for power in the +shrinking kingdom. The Abbé (later Cardinal) Alberoni was now rising to +power, and was associated with Robinet in the ruin of Princess Orsini. +Alberoni persuaded Philip that Elizabeth Farnese was just the quiet +and modest young princess he desired for his second wife, and Philip +yielded. But Elizabeth, a haughty and passionate maiden, was instructed +beforehand in her duty, and at their first meeting she brutally +dismissed the princess. Then Alberoni and Robinet quarrelled about the +appointment of a new Archbishop of Toledo. Robinet secured the dignity +for a friend of the Society (1715), and he in turn incurred the anger +of the Queen and Alberoni and was exiled to Germany. + +Before he left, Robinet persuaded Philip to recall Daubenton to his +side, and from that moment the court intrigue turned against Alberoni. +In this Daubenton played a subordinate, but important, part. The +English and French courts, as well as many of the Spaniards, were +eager for the dismissal of the Italian favourite, and Daubenton, who +confessed Philip twice a day and had other consultations with him, was +employed by them to poison the King against his minister. Philip was +persuaded that the great plans of Alberoni contained a danger to the +country and he dismissed him. In this case the Jesuit confessor allowed +himself to become the tool of the enemies of Spain and intrigued +against its ablest statesman. + +In the year 1724 Philip handed the crown to his son Louis, and retired +to consecrate his useless life to religious devotions. There is no +serious evidence that the Jesuits pressed Philip to resign, though they +certainly tried to dissuade him from resuming the crown, and they had +taken part in marrying Louis to the daughter of the Duke of Orleans. +However that may be, Louis died a few months later and Philip returned +to the throne. + +Daubenton had died in 1723, and his place had been taken by the Jesuit +Bermudez, who sustained the tradition of intrigue. The successor of +Alberoni was a Spaniard from the Low Countries, Ripperdá, who was +obnoxious to the Jesuits on many grounds. In Holland he had consulted +his ambition by turning Protestant, and on his return to Spain, where +he found favour with the King, he promptly recovered his belief in +the older creed. The Queen's confessor, a Jesuit who rejoiced in the +title and robes of Archbishop of Amida, intrigued against this singular +adventurer and overthrew him. Here again the Jesuit merely used his +opportunities to voice the resentment of many others, nor do historians +regard the downfall of Ripperdá with any sympathy, but the intrigues +of the spiritual guides of the court were now so flagrant and so much +discussed in Europe that Philip was angry. When, shortly afterwards, +Father Bermudez offended the Queen by stealthily communicating to the +King letters from France, to be concealed from her, and was found to +be intriguing like his predecessors, he was dismissed from office. +It was related in the court that Bermudez offered to swear on the +crucifix that he was innocent, and that Philip answered: "I have too +much respect for the image of Christ to suffer you to perjure yourself +thus." Bermudez was dismissed, and an Irish Jesuit, Father Clarke, +was made royal confessor for the remainder of the melancholy reign of +Philip V. + +The accession of his son, Ferdinand VI., in 1746 brought little relief +to the country and no change in the power of the Jesuits. Ferdinand, +a weak and virtuous monarch, of the type which proved so congenial to +the Jesuits, was devoted to the Society. His confessor, Father Rabago, +was his chief adviser, and courtiers gathered thickly about the Jesuit +in the hope of winning his influence. His position and power, and the +feebleness of the monarch, made him bolder, and a few years later he +ventured upon an action which was to have disastrous consequences for +his Society. In spite of all the efforts of the Jesuits Spain agreed to +cede a part of Paraguay containing seven of the Jesuit reductions to +Portugal, in exchange for Sacramento, I have already mentioned this +incident in speaking of Portugal, and will narrate in a later chapter +what happened in Paraguay. Briefly, an army of 15,000 Indians from the +reductions--not merely the seven reductions in question, which would +not afford more than a few hundred soldiers, but evidently the full +force of the Jesuit troops drafted from the whole of their scattered +reductions--drew up in the path of the Spanish and Portuguese troops, +and it was only after many battles, and at the end of three years, that +the agreement between the two governments could be carried out. + +The Marquis de Pombal, who was then in power at Lisbon, at once claimed +that the Jesuits had inspired this treasonable resistance. It would +be difficult for any impartial person to imagine that this army had +been mobilised from the whole area of Jesuit influence and maintained +for so long a period against the will of the Jesuit fathers, who so +completely dominated the Indians and were accustomed to lead them to +battle. Ferdinand hesitated, but at last Pombal intercepted a secret +letter from Father Rabago to the Spanish fathers, in which he urged +them to resist. The English ambassador, Sir Benjamin Keene (quoted by +Coxe in his _Memoirs of the Kings of Spain_), tells us that this letter +and other proofs were put before Ferdinand, and the King expressed +great indignation with the Jesuits in his presence. Coxe himself, who +is often quoted by the Jesuits as an impartial authority, says that +the letter was "undoubtedly" genuine. Rabago was, he says, ignorant at +first of foreign affairs, and ruled by a junta of his colleagues in his +direction of the King, but he became ambitious and intrigued against +the power of the leading statesmen Carvajal and Enseñada. The letters +intercepted in 1754 opened the King's eyes, and when, in the following +year, the confessor was detected in his intrigues against Enseñada, he +was peremptorily dismissed from office. + +Ferdinand continued to trust the other Jesuits and resist the pressure +of Pombal, but he died in 1759, and an abler ruler, Charles III., +came to the throne. Charles was a devout Catholic and was devoted +to the Society. He was, like his predecessor, deaf to the warnings +and entreaties of Pombal, and the ruthless expulsion of the Jesuits +from Portugal (in 1759) only increased his benevolence toward them in +Spain. All their errors were forgotten, and Pombal's charges against +their conduct in the colonies were warmly rejected. Few could have +anticipated that, under such a ruler, in less than ten years from his +accession, the gorgeous structure of Jesuit prosperity in Spain would +be thrown to the ground and the fathers ignominiously expelled. + +The first action of the Jesuits to modify the feeling of the King +toward them was their opposition to the canonisation of Bishop Palafox. +Charles keenly desired that the highest honours of the Church should be +paid to this saintly Spanish bishop of the previous century, but, as we +shall see later, Palafox had submitted to Pope Innocent X. a very grave +indictment of the conduct of the Jesuits and, if he had been canonised, +his letters "would have brought disgrace on the Society," as the Jesuit +historian Cordara says. Cordara admits that the means they adopted to +prevent canonisation were not approvable; they were, in fact, chiefly +bribery and an unscrupulous vilification of the bishop. The process +did not get beyond the stage of declaring the bishop "Venerable," and +Charles was displeased with the Jesuits. + +In 1766 a less clear, but much more serious, grievance arose. An +attempt to shorten the long cloaks and broad-brimmed _sombreros_ of +the Spanish people, which favoured assassins, led in the spring of +1766 to a revolt at Madrid. Charles was a stern maintainer of royal +authority, and the outbreak greatly angered him. His chief minister +Aranda, a scholar and politician of the liberal school, who was in +sympathy with Choiseul and Pombal and opposed to the Jesuits, now +succeeded in persuading the King that the Jesuits had inspired the +revolt. According to the official "historian" of the Society, the only +ground for this was that the Jesuits had flung themselves bravely upon +the angry mob and disarmed it; which aroused an improper suspicion +of their power. The historian is careful not to relate that in the +autumn of the year a lawyer named Navarro was arrested for bringing +a false charge against certain monks (whom the Jesuits disliked) in +connection with the riot, and that, when the case turned against him, +he declared that the Jesuits had prompted him to do this in order to +avert suspicion from their own conduct. Charles was convinced that they +were the authors of the riot, and he was now prepared to listen to the +charges of Pombal and Choiseul. + +It was then submitted to the King that the Jesuits were conspiring +to replace him on the throne by his brother Louis. One of our best +authorities, Coxe, declares that a forged letter in this sense, +purporting to come from General Ricci to the heads of the Spanish +Jesuits, was used amongst the evidence. However that may be, the King +was convinced, a searching inquiry was made into the condition and +activity of the Society, and the King entrusted to the willing hands +of Aranda the task of destroying it. Aranda realised that secrecy +was essential to success, and he and a few confidential colleagues +stealthily drew up the indictment of the Society. Such precautions +had to be taken to outwit the Jesuit spies that the minister would +take pen and ink in his pocket, in order that it should not be known +that the King was signing a document. By the beginning of 1767 it was +decided to banish the Jesuits from the Spanish dominions, and Aranda +set to work to arrange the expulsion without giving the Jesuits an +opportunity to provoke a rising in their favour. Sealed orders were +sent to the local officials all over the empire, and it was strictly +enjoined under pain of death that they were not to be opened until the +evening of 2nd April.[28] + +By the end of March the Jesuits must have been aware that some grave +step against them was meditated, but the secret was well kept and +the plan carried out to the letter. Some time after midnight on 2nd +April the troops silently gathered round the six Jesuit colleges at +Madrid and all the other houses and residences of the Society. The +sentence was carried out simultaneously, with perfect order. The +astounded Jesuits awoke to find a soldier and official in every cell, +and they were ordered to dress and proceed to the refectory. There the +royal decree of banishment was read to the assembled community, and +they were promptly conducted by the troops, with such small personal +possessions as their breviaries and their tobacco, to the appointed +port. They were put in separate carriages, and carefully secluded from +each other and the people until they were aboard ship. It seems that +Aranda's precautions were excessive. The Jesuits complain rather of +the harshness of the soldiers than attempt to discover any sympathy +to which they might appeal. Sympathy and anger there were, of course, +as well as delirious rejoicing, when the fall of the Society became +known. But before the country had fully realised that the proud Society +had been doomed to exile by a Spanish king, the 6000 Jesuits of Spain +and its colonies were mournfully crossing the Mediterranean, in +overcrowded vessels, toward the coast of the papal states. A pension +was allotted to each out of their confiscated property, but they were +informed that the pensions of all would cease if one of their number +ventured to assail Spain and defend the Society; this was not an unjust +measure in view of the fact that no Jesuit could publish without +authority. + +Another very painful experience awaited the fathers at the Italian +shore. Charles sent word to the Pope that he had found it necessary +to banish the Jesuits, and he was committing them to the Pope's "wise +and holy direction." The letter is not as disrespectful as this may +suggest, but Clement XIII. was so angry that he took an unpardonable +step. It will be remembered that Pombal had previously unloaded his +ships on the papal shores, and the suppression in France had driven +large numbers to Italy. We may assume that the aim of Pombal, Choiseul, +and Aranda was to dispose the Pope to receive their demand for the +abolition of the Society. Clement was so angry that he refused to +receive the wretched exiles. The case is not, as is sometimes said, +that he forgot to send, or refrained from sending, orders to receive +the Jesuits. When the first vessel, bearing 600 dejected priests, made +for the port of Civitá Vecchia, it was warned off by the roar of papal +cannon, and for some weeks the miserable men tossed on the waves of +the Mediterranean in sight of the inhospitable papal states. In the +end they were dispatched to Corsica, to enjoy their slender pensions. +Some apostatised, and some crept back in disguise to their native land, +and were hunted as traitors; but in six years their last hopes were +extinguished by the papal abolition of the Society. + +The verdict of the historian on this romantic fall of the Society of +Jesus in the two countries which seemed especially adapted for its +operations must always be coloured by his creed. Protestant historians +have at times commented on the harsh execution of the sentence and the +character of some of the evidence on which it was obtained, but none +questions the justice of the expulsion. On the other hand, although +the Catholic Church was, to say the least, equally divided on the +matter at the time, no modern Catholic historian would admit the +justice of the sentence. I do not propose to consider this in detail +until we come to the abolition of the Society by the Pope. Indeed, we +cannot quite appreciate the whole case of the Spaniards and Portuguese +Catholics against the Jesuits until we have examined their conduct in +the colonies. When we have covered the whole ground we shall be in +a position to weigh the stern and lengthy indictment which Clement +XIV.--who is wilfully misrepresented by Catholic writers--passes on the +Society in pronouncing the solemn sentence of death. For the moment +I need only say that, apart from their great irregularities in the +colonies, the Jesuits were hated in Spain and Portugal on the ground +that, in spite of their high professions, they sought and accumulated +wealth, indulged in commerce, lent themselves to political intrigue, +wronged other spiritual bodies, were lax in moral principles, and +drained the resources of the decaying country without rendering it +any proportionate service. This record of their deeds must suffice to +enable the reader to say if the indictment and sentence were just. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 28: Coxe puts the expulsion on the morning of 1st April, and +the signing of the decree on 2nd April. This seems to be an error.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE FOREIGN MISSIONS + + +Nowhere, perhaps, is the conflict of evidence so sharp in regard to the +Jesuits as when we turn to consider their activity outside of Europe. +On the one hand we have the _Edifying Letters_ which the missionaries +themselves sent to their Roman authorities for publication in Europe. +From these letters the apologetic writers construct a picture of the +most charming devotion and spiritual success; we are invited to see +thousands of Jesuits breaking every home-tie in order to carry the +gospel of Christ across seas infested with Dutch and English enemies, +to lands whence only one in a hundred will return, and where the tooth +of the serpent, the poison of the tropics, or the knife of the savage +awaits them; we are told how they advance unarmed into the forests, +and fierce tribes surrender to the feeble symbol of the crucifix, how +they charm the jealous monarchs of the east with their vast learning +and open to other missionaries doors which had been closed against them +for centuries, how from the rawest savage material they make ideal +republics such as Plato had despaired of making out of the enlightened +Athenians. + +From the other side we learn that these _Edifying Letters_, which so +plainly announce their purpose, are "pious lies"; that they wilfully +exaggerate conversions and martyrdoms, and convey a wholly false +picture of Jesuit activity; that the Jesuits are engaged in a vast +commercial activity all over the globe, are utterly unscrupulous in +protecting their monopolies and in accumulating wealth, and make the +most scandalous concessions to paganism in order to obtain numbers +and influence. These things, moreover, are said by Catholic priests +and prelates, not by jealous merchants and free-thinking politicians. +Prelates of indisputable sanctity send to Europe the sternest and +gravest charges against the Jesuits, and declare that they have +been subjected by the Society to the most virulent and unprincipled +persecution. We have therefore to make our way here with extreme +prudence. Fortunately, many of the charges against the Jesuits receive +serious consideration at Rome, and from the evidence which is submitted +to, and generally endorsed by, the Roman tribunals, the historian is +at times enabled to reach a confident verdict. Let us begin our survey +with the action of the Jesuits in the far east. + +At the beginning of the period we are considering Japan is closed +against the Christian missionaries, and all the blood that has been +shed on its soil proves sterile. We saw that the emperors had at +length determined to extirpate the new religion, and a final revolt +of the surviving Christians in 1638 led to the completing of the work +of destruction. One or two Jesuits afterwards penetrated the country, +in the disguise of merchants, but they were arrested or forced to +leave. The artful Japanese devised a test of faith which should have +defeated the zeal of the missionary; every European immigrant had to +spit or trample on the crucifix before landing. It is said by a serious +authority, one of the General Commandants of the French East India +Company (Martin, of Pondicherry), that the Jesuits found a casuistic +way out of this difficulty and insulted the crucifix; they were, they +said, merely regarding it as a piece of wood and metal. However that +may be, the last Jesuit--an apostate who repented--was executed there +in 1652, and the fathers of the "Japanese Province" were scattered over +the other eastern missions. + +China had, in the meantime, become a most attractive field of labour. +It will be remembered that the Jesuit Ricci had at last found a way to +penetrate the Chinese defences; he had concealed his religion, dressed +as a Chinese scholar, and won great prestige as a mathematician and +astronomer. He had obtained great influence at the court, and other +Jesuits had followed his example. Their services to the court were +rewarded with permission to preach their doctrines in the provinces, +but this work was often checked by local persecution, and the Jesuits +directed their chief efforts to the court and the educated class. +The tradition started by Ricci was maintained and developed, and a +very strange group of missionaries gathered about the emperor. Chief +amongst them was Father Adam Schall, a very able mathematician and +intimate friend of the emperor. He could cast horoscopes, found cannon, +admire the works of Kung-fu-tse, and behave in every way as a Chinese +gentleman. He found a substantial agreement between educated Chinese +religion and Christianity--especially by keeping the crucifix out of +sight--and genially sanctioned the worship of "Heaven," the veneration +of Kung-fu-tse, and the cult of ancestors. The educated Chinaman is, +as we know to-day, an Agnostic, and he concluded that the Jesuit was +an almost equally liberal interpreter of popular superstitions. He +therefore welcomed these western gentlemen who could read the stars, +make fancy clocks, found cannon, direct armies, and paint pictures +better than the native scholar. + +The Jesuits had previously helped the Chinese to repel the Tartars, but +a more formidable invasion occurred in 1636, and, to be quite safe, +they divided their forces. Schall joined the Tartars at Peking and read +in the stars that they would conquer; some of his colleagues remained +with the threatened dynasty, declared that the stars were in _their_ +favour, and induced some members of the royal family to accept baptism. +The Tartars won, the opposing Jesuits were recalled, and Schall passed +into the confidence of the new emperor. He became a mandarin of the +first class and president of the tribunal of imperial mathematics. He +dressed in gorgeous silks, and his palanquin, borne by twelve servants, +was attended by a strong body-guard with the usual Chinese symbols; +also--if we believe the missionary Sala, as seems reasonable--his +beautiful palace contained two charming Chinese ladies and, in the +course of time, two children. But the emperor died ten years later, a +persecution was initiated, and Father Schall died lamentably in prison +in 1666. All the Jesuits--nineteen in number--were imprisoned, and +their 151 churches were closed or destroyed. + +In 1669 the young Emperor Kang Hi, son of the Tartar conqueror, +attained his majority and released the Jesuits. Father Verbiest took +the place of Father Schall, and as his military services enabled the +emperor to quell an insurrection, he obtained permission to summon +fresh "mathematicians" from the west. France was now the great +expanding Power in Europe, and the new field, with its prospect of a +monopoly of commerce, was secured for Louis XIV. Six learned French +Jesuits arrived in 1688, and from that time until the end of the +century they grew in power and wealth. As artists, astrologers, or +mechanicians the priests made themselves indispensable at court, and +the lay-brothers brought western skill in medicine and surgery. One of +them received 200,000 francs' worth of gold for curing the emperor. +They also imported clocks, wine, and other western products, and, +from merely approving, they passed on to an active share in the great +Chinese industry of lending money at a profit, which was then sternly +condemned by their Church. The rival Catholic missionaries reported +that the three Jesuit houses at Peking made 80,000 francs a year by +usury; though the Jesuits protested that they did not charge more than +twenty-four per cent. Father Gerbillon was now head of the mathematical +tribunal and diplomatic agent on Russian affairs. Father Martini was +the military expert, and, as a mandarin of the first order, exhibited a +dragon on his fine silk robe. + +There was one very serious thorn in the side of these prosperous +Jesuits. Dominican, Franciscan, and other missionaries had followed +them into the country, and were expressing the most cordial abhorrence +of their procedure. Their arrogance, their unpriestly occupations, +and their commerce and usury were bad enough, but they were not even +preaching the Gospel. They suppressed the doctrine of the Redemption, +did not anoint dying women (out of concession to Chinese delicacy), +and permitted their converts to join in the rites of the old Chinese +religion. The Dominicans and Franciscans disturbed their profitable +policy by thrusting the crucifix before the eyes of the amazed Chinese, +and there were fierce wrangles. The friars appealed to Rome, and in +1645 the Propaganda condemned the Jesuit concessions. The Jesuits +ignored the condemnation, on the ground that it was issued on false +information, and sent Mandarin Martini to Rome. Martini unblushingly +asserted that the rites they permitted were purely civil in character, +and he was able to return with an authorisation of their practices. But +the Dominicans sent a fresh envoy to Rome, and, in the meantime, the +terrible Jansenist Arnauld had learned the facts and was holding up the +Jesuits to the ridicule of Europe. + +All the machinery of intrigue at Rome was now in motion, and in 1684 +three bishops who belonged to the rival French Congregation of Foreign +Missions were sent out to make an investigation. When the Jesuits found +it impossible to persuade these commissioners that the early Chinese +had received a knowledge of the true God from the children of Noah, +that the cult of ancestors was equivalent to the services in honour +of the souls in purgatory, and so on, they used their court-influence +ruthlessly against them and the missionaries. In the course of time, +however, an adverse report reached Rome, and a serious inquiry opened. +The ten Jesuits at the Chinese court wrote to say that the emperor +himself endorsed their interpretation of the Chinese doctrines and +rites, but, although the new Pope, Clement XI., was favourable to +the Society, and Père la Chaise threw the influence of France into +the scale, the testimony of the other missionaries was too plain to +be ignored. An experienced missionary and able young prelate, Mgr. +(later Cardinal) de Tournon, was sent out in 1703 to examine the Jesuit +practices in India and China. + +The adventurous voyage of Mgr. de Tournon, Patriarch of Antioch, would +fill an interesting volume. We shall see presently what the practices +of the Jesuits were in India, and will not be surprised that he +promptly condemned them. From that moment until he died heart-broken, +six years afterwards, in a Christian jail, he was thwarted and +tormented by the intrigues of the Jesuits. He reached Canton in the +spring of 1705, and was informed that the emperor refused to see +him. The position of the Jesuits at court was such that not even a +child could fail to recognise their direction in this decision, and +a great scandal was caused. It was twelve months before the legate +was permitted to pay the Pope's respects to the emperor, and, as he +politely insisted that the Jesuits were falsely representing the +Church, he was driven from the country and committed to the care of +the Portuguese authorities, who were controlled by the Jesuits. When +he reached Macao, this papal legate found that the Viceroy of India, +the Archbishop of Goa, and the Bishop of Macao forbade him to exercise +his powers in any country under the Portuguese flag. When he justly +replied by excommunicating the Bishop and Captain-General of Macao--and +the Pope recognised the integrity of his conduct by making him cardinal +in that year (1707)--the Portuguese authorities imprisoned him. He +died in prison three years afterwards, at the early age of forty-two. +The only priests in the east whom he had felt compelled to censure +were the Jesuits, and the letters of de Tournon himself and of the +priests of his suite (one of whom was imprisoned in a Jesuit house) +emphatically attribute all the outrages they suffered to the Jesuits, +who intercepted their correspondence in order to conceal the facts +from the Papacy. It is even stated by some of these priests that the +stubborn cardinal was eventually removed by poison. + +Since we know that the Jesuits had paramount influence at Peking, +Macao, and Goa, and could easily have secured a proper treatment of the +Pope's representative, we are compelled to believe these witnesses. +Crétineau-Joly's statement, that "they did not dare to intervene +between the emperor and the legate," is little less than frivolous. +They directed the whole proceedings--as usual, through others. De +Tournon's assurance that, when a priest was tortured to give evidence +against him at Peking, there were two Jesuits listening behind a +curtain, is quite in harmony with their ways; about the same time in +Paraguay, when a bishop was violently assaulted by the armed pupils of +the Society, there were two Jesuits concealed in the trees directing +them. We shall see that every prelate, in any part of the world, who +sets out to expose the misdeeds of the Jesuits, experiences the same +outrages as did the unfortunate Cardinal de Tournon. + +The Jesuits both of India and China ignored the commands of the Pope's +solemn representative, and clung to their lucrative missions. In 1706 +they persuaded the emperor to forbid any missionary to attack Chinese +rites, and, as the fierce controversy continued and the banishment +of the more active prelates proved fruitless, they obtained an edict +expelling all missionaries who followed the instructions of the late +legate. The scandal was, however, now known throughout Christendom, and +on 25th September 1710 Clement XI. solemnly condemned their practices. +Again they quibbled, observing that some of their practices were not +specifically condemned, and a new papal bull (_Ex illa die_) was issued +on 19th March 1715, enacting that all missionaries must take oath to +abandon the forbidden practices. The emperor denounced the bull, and +imprisoned the prelate who communicated it to the Jesuits, and a third +representative was sent to China by the Vatican. In spite of certain +concessions (afterwards condemned by the Papacy), Mgr. Mezzabarba had +little more success than his predecessors, and the Jesuits continued to +maintain their compromises and tempt the Papacy with glowing promises +of success. There were, they said, nine members of the royal family +and hundreds of influential Chinamen ready to embrace Christianity as +they expounded it. Innocent XIII., now fully informed by Mezzabarba, +severely condemned them (1723), and we know from a private letter +of the Jesuit historian Cordara that he was preparing an "atrocious +decree" against the Society when he died in 1724. + +As the immediate successors of Innocent XIII. were open to Jesuit +influence, they were enabled to maintain their position and practices +on the Asiatic missions until the middle of the eighteenth century. +In other words, these religious who were especially bound to obey the +Pope, defied the Papacy for nearly one hundred years (since the first +condemnation), and committed every outrage against its representatives. +In the meantime their great patron Kang Hi died (1722), and the +exasperated Chinese began to destroy the conflicting missions. There +were then, it is said, several hundred thousand Christians in China, +though the sequel will show that these were almost entirely of the +poorer classes, won by material services and ready to return to Taoism +at the slightest pressure. The new emperor proscribed Christianity, and +banished all the missionaries except the more learned of the Jesuits. +A letter written by one of these Jesuits gives an account of their +situation. As engineers, astronomers, and diplomatists they were still +sheltered and rewarded by the Chinese court--he adds that they remained +partly in the interest of French (and their own) commerce--but the +educated Chinese disdained their religion, and they were reduced to a +furtive ministration to the rapidly shrinking body of poor converts. + +This situation lasted until 1743, when Benedict XIV. at last vindicated +the dignity of the Papacy and issued his famous bull _Ex quo +singulari_. A second and more drastic bull, sternly condemning their +contumacy, appeared in 1744, and they were now forced to submit without +reserve. From that time the Chinese mission melted away. As far as the +Jesuits were concerned, it had never had any religious solidity. A few +Jesuits who attempted to sustain the converts in the provinces were +put to death, and the court Jesuits were restricted to their hydraulic +engineering, surgery, philology, and astrology. They lingered for a +generation at Peking, the strangest figures in the whole clerical +universe, but the Chinese showed no sign of relenting, and they died, +one by one, in their singular employments. Their death closed the +stirring but sterile episode of the first attempt to Christianise China. + +Before we turn to India, the next important centre of Christianity in +the far east, we must glance at their fortunes in subsidiary missions. +Their letters tell how they entered the Philippine Islands in 1665, and +had a miraculous success among the very lowly, but generally peaceful, +natives; one Jesuit is said to have baptized 50,000 of them (mostly +children, apparently) in four years, and founded eight churches and +three colleges. One priest to eight churches, and eight churches to +50,000 converts, give us the true measure of their success. They were +generally content to pour the baptismal water over the heads of all +who could be induced to accept it, by material benefits or a confused +belief in its magical properties, and send the inflated statistics to +Europe. In spite, however, of wars amongst the natives and occasional +persecution they built up a prosperous mission. Its story is tainted by +commercial activity and unprincipled behaviour towards the rest of the +clergy. We shall see later that they had vast estates in California and +Mexico, and from these they conducted a large and regular traffic, in +their own ships, with Manila. Archbishop Pardo, of Manila, condemned +this traffic, and ordered them to distribute the value of their +property among the poor. He suffered the customary fate of prelates who +interfered with the operations of the Society. Whether the governor of +the Philippines was bribed, or merely persuaded by the fathers, we need +not attempt to determine; but his officers seized the Archbishop during +the night and deported him to a neighbouring island. Thirty years +previously Pardo's predecessor, Archbishop Guerrero, had been treated +with the same outrages. + +In Cochin China, Tong King, and Siam the story of the Jesuits is +much the same as in China, and need not be told in detail. A Father +de Rhodes, a missionary of the early and ardent type, penetrates +Cochin China in 1640, and in spite of resistance and persecution, +makes 40,000 "converts" and builds seventy "churches" in a few years. +Modern missionary experience in Asia enables us to test these absurd +claims. Father de Rhodes was caught and expelled, and the next +group of missionaries adopted the Chinese policy. They induced the +King to regard them as great mathematicians and skilful engineers, +and propagated a mild form of Christianity, as in China. This led +to a similar, but even more virulent, conflict with the non-Jesuit +missionaries. When the papal bull _Ex illa die_, condemning their +practices, arrived, they airily remarked that it came from Amsterdam, +not Rome, and ignored it. Very violent quarrels occurred with the +French non-Jesuit priests, whom they denounced as "Jansenists"; and +these priests accused them of the most sordid vice and outrage. We +shall see that the charge of loose living must be admitted; but whether +they poisoned hostile priests, and had refractory native women stripped +to the waist and flogged, are questions which must remain open. The +profane historian is naturally embarrassed when two groups of priests +flatly accuse each other of lying, and one group certainly _is_ lying. + +At length the Vatican sent a bishop to investigate the situation in +Cochin China, and we are, perhaps, justified in following the report +of this impartial Papal Legate. He found great moral as well as +theological laxity among the Jesuits. One father, in high authority, +had had a concubine for twenty years, and took her with him when he +visited the sick; and there was much drunkenness and violence against +their opponents. The papal agents were bribed to support them, and +the pagan officials were easily induced to admire and sustain the +more genial ways of the Jesuits. The Legate officially forbade them +to practise usury, to sell worthless drugs at exorbitant prices to +the natives, to dress in gay purple and bind their flowing locks +with coloured ribands, and so on. His decree is a flash of light on +Jesuit practices among natives. One curious incident in his reports +is worth noting. A Franciscan monk, a feeble old man of sixty, had, +to please the Jesuits, established a church in face of that of the +French missionaries. The Legate ordered him to remove, and the monk +presently came to say that he was unable to remove as the Captain of +the Guardians of the Royal Dogs (a young Jesuit "mathematician") had +appointed him a Guardian and sent him several dogs, because the air of +his district was good for dogs. In a word, the Jesuits used their full +influence at court to thwart and persecute the Legate, and he died in +distress shortly afterwards. + +Siam had received two Jesuits in 1630. They came as envoys of the +governor of the Philippines, and so charmed the King that they were +invited to stay. When Spanish vessels followed them, the Siamese were +indignant; but the quarrel was adjusted, and in 1685 six learned +"mathematicians" of the great King Louis XIV. came, with gorgeous +parade and an imposing military escort, to the Siamese court. The +Jesuits were now everywhere diplomatic agents for the expansion of +French commerce, if not French territory, and the work in Siam was +facilitated by a French adventurer, named Phaulcon, who had won the +King's confidence. The King asked for more "mathematicians," and +fourteen Jesuits eagerly responded. But with them (in 1687) came a +French squadron and several regiments, who proceeded to occupy and +fortify positions in Bangkok and Merguy. The King soon detected that +the learned mathematicians and the minister Phaulcon and the French +regiments had a close and secret understanding, and this remarkable +attempt to spread the gospel came to a premature close. Phaulcon lost +his head, and the mathematicians were banished. + +We have seen in a previous chapter how the Jesuits had applied their +elastic principles to the conversion of India, the original and central +field of the Asiatic missions. After sending most imposing figures +of baptisms to Europe during a century, they announced, we saw, that +the work had been profoundly unsatisfactory, and some new plan of +reaching the educated Hindus must be adopted. So Father de Nobili had +dressed as a Hindu priest of the most sacred caste, had adopted all the +emblems and practices of the caste, and had behaved throughout life in +such a way that the other members of the Saniassi sect were unable to +discover that he was a Christian. Father Britto, Father Beschi, and +other Jesuits succeeded him in this fantastic rôle. Rome was solemnly +assured, as it was from China, that the rites and emblems of the +Saniassi (which are saturated with Hindu mythology) were "purely civil" +in their nature; local prelates (who were frequently ex-Jesuits) and +Vatican officials were bribed or persuaded to sanction this fiction; +and for more than a century the Jesuits permitted a number of members +of the Society to don the sacred clothes and practise the rites of the +Saniassi. + +The melodramatic temper which the Jesuit spirit fostered in members of +the Society counted for a good deal in this singular development of +their missionary enterprise. Regarded from the point of view of the +purpose which they held to justify it, one must pronounce it a failure. +Very few high-caste Hindus were converted, and even these few only +accepted a quite emasculated version of Christianity, as a rule. Some +of the Jesuit-Saniassi did succeed in obtaining considerable prestige. +They rode about on fine horses, and were borne in palanquins while +natives cooled them with peacock-feather fans, and greatly impressed +the ignorant natives. One of them, Beschi, so captivated a local prince +that he became his first minister, and rode about with an escort of +thirty horsemen and a native band. These successes among the educated +Hindus were, however, only won by a concealment of the distinctive +elements of the Christian faith and an insinuation that the enlightened +priests at Rome itself (as distinct from the common missionaries) held +the same liberal view of the creed. + +It was still mainly among the poorer classes and the pariahs, whose +poverty made them more susceptible to missionary influence, that +the converts were found. We may regard with suspicion the enormous +figures of conversions effected by them which individual Jesuits sent +to Europe,--one of the Apostolic Vicars for India bluntly describes +them as "lies,"--but hundreds of thousands of the natives were in +some measure gathered into the Christian fold. We are sometimes asked +to admire the levelling of caste-barriers which this inclusion in +a common fold would entail, but the Jesuits fully respected the +caste-barriers. Some of their number are entitled to high praise for +becoming pariahs among the pariahs,--dressing in their ragged clothes +and eating their vile food,--but the high-caste Jesuit would not glance +even at his pariah-colleague if he met him on the road. He would not +enter a pariah's hut; the dying pariah had to be carried out under +a tree to receive his ministration, and, if he were too ill to be +removed, he died without the sacraments. The pariahs were not allowed +in the church; they were herded in an enclosure by the side of it to +hear the Mass, and the sacraments were often administered to them +through a window. + +These were not the only grievances which the other missionaries, who +could not report their tens of thousands of conversions, had against +the Jesuits. It was equally proved that they laid little stress on the +doctrine of redemption, as in China, and made very material concessions +to paganism. They omitted parts of the ceremony of baptism which the +Hindus disliked (the use of saliva and the breathing on the convert): +they did not give saint-names to the converts, and advised them not to +call themselves Christians, but (in a familiar Hindu phrase) "followers +of the true God": they married mere children, long before the time of +puberty, and they allowed the married girl to wear the _taly_ according +to the pagan custom:[29] they blessed and distributed the ashes of +cow-dung which the natives esteemed: they permitted their converts to +wear, and sometimes wore themselves, emblems of Vishnu. It seems that +in some places they placed no cross over the altar. + +These extraordinary concessions--they are commonly known as +"the Malabar rites," as the Jesuits were chiefly established in +Malabar--were fiercely assailed by the other missionaries and reported +to Rome. In 1703, as we saw, Mgr. de Tournon was sent to inquire +into the quarrel, and he condemned the more flagrant of the Jesuit +practices. When the Legate passed on to China, the Jesuits and the +local prelates (either Jesuits or friends of the Jesuits) entirely +ignored his commands, and the feud continued. It must be borne in +mind that the Jesuits had now supreme influence at the Portuguese +as well as the French court, and officials naturally bowed to their +wealth and power. For a considerable time they had received from the +Kings of Portugal immense subsidies for their missionary work, and +their commerce and intentness on gifts and legacies had added to this +wealth. The manager of the French East India Company at Pondicherry +tells us that the Jesuits in India surpassed the English and Portuguese +merchants, and only fell short of the Dutch, in trading activity. In +his time there was a debt of 450,000 _livres_ on the books of his +company in the name of a Jesuit (Father Tachard). Their wealth was very +great, and they did not scruple to use it in the maintenance of their +position as well as in attracting converts. + +But the Malabar rites, and Chinese rites, and Jesuit-Brahmans were +now, as we saw, a scourge in the hands of the Society's critics in +Europe, and the Papacy was forced to suppress them. As we have so often +realised, the Jesuit repute for broad sagacity and statesmanship, +as distinct from astuteness and capacity for intrigue, is without +foundation. The Roman Jesuit authorities could have destroyed the +system in a year, yet they sustained it for a hundred years, and, +with blind stubbornness, allowed an indelible stain to be fixed on +the Society, and were responsible for the sudden collapse of their +missions. When Benedict XIV. fearlessly and peremptorily condemned +them, there was a formidable reaction among their converts, and the +hundreds of congregations rapidly disappeared. Their apologist would +have us believe that they submitted in 1741 (the year before Benedict's +first bull), but that "distance and the difficulty of communication +retarded the arrival of their letters at Rome." Ignoring the foolish +remark about the difficulty of communication, we may observe that the +year 1741 was seventeen years after their official condemnation by the +Pope's representative; that Clement XII. had condemned them in 1734 and +1739, and they had ignored his decrees; and that, so far from having +submitted in 1741, Benedict XIV. found them contumacious to his bull +of 1742, and had to issue another in 1744. They submitted in 1745, and +the structure they had raised by two hundred years of devotion and +dissimulation rapidly decayed. + +The missions in other parts of Asia had little success. Ceylon was +invaded by two fathers in 1616, but when these were executed in 1627 +and 1628 the mission seems to have been abandoned. It is interesting to +find that they even entered the almost impregnable capital of Thibet. +Two of their more devoted and austere missionaries crossed the vale +of Cachmire and the bleak mountains on foot, and reached Lhasa. The +expedition had no result, and was not repeated. In nearer Asia also +the work was only moderately successful. Armed with diplomatic papers +from the French court, instead of the crucifix of which they sometimes +boast as their only weapon, they entered the dominion of the Turk, and +wrangled with Greeks, Nestorians, Armenians, and other Christians over +the infallibility of the Pope. They founded residences at Thessalonica, +Smyrna, Trebezon, Damascus, etc., and pushed on to the banks of the +Euphrates. In 1682, two Jesuits, magnificently equipped and loaded with +presents, approached the Shah of Persia as envoys of Louis XIV., and +received permission to preach the Christian gospel. Within a quarter of +a century they had, they said, baptized 200,000 of the natives. Then +the Persian ruler turned a hostile eye on the growing body, and it +melted more rapidly than it had grown. The age of Louis XIV. was over, +the French dream of expansion laid aside, and the flow of French money +interrupted. + +A fresh attempt was made in 1677 to induce the Copts of Egypt to +recognise the authority of the Pope. The now familiar device was +adopted of impressing the monarch with a show of learning and art, +and trusting to sow the Christian seed insidiously in his dominions. +In twenty years of assiduous labour the scholar-missionaries added +much to the slender geographical and archæological lore of Europe, but +their secret religious mission failed. Abyssinia also still resisted +their efforts. They converted an Emperor, and he was slain in civil war +for endeavouring to force the new creed on his people; they secured +the favour of his successor, and a Jesuit at last obtained the real +dignity of Patriarch of Abyssinia. A threat of civil war moved the +Emperor to restrict them, and, when they were found to be inspiring +their converts with seditious sentiments, they were once more expelled +and--save for an occasional invasion in disguise--their work was wholly +destroyed. It may be added that some of the more heroic of the Jesuits +penetrated the Congo, and endeavoured to reach the blacks at Tetuan, +Angola, and the Guinea coast. Others followed the negro to America; +and the noble and self-sacrificing labours of a Father Peter Claver for +forty years (1615-1654) must be put in the scale against their general +demoralisation. + +We turn now to the famous missions of South America, and must endeavour +to attain an impartial estimate of their work, especially among the +natives of Paraguay. I have previously described the model villages, or +"reductions," which form the central interest of the Jesuit missions +in America. From the beginning of the seventeenth century the fathers +decided that they would not co-operate with the Spaniards of the South +American towns. For this there was an admirable motive, and we saw that +the spirit which animated the early missionaries in that region was +excellent. They went out in couples or singly, unarmed, into the vast +forests and along the great rivers in search of converts. The natives +at first fled before them. A Spaniard was, to them, a man with superior +weapons who sought only to enslave the natives and make wealth by +their toil. It was at first for the purpose of removing this natural +prejudice that the Jesuits dissevered themselves from the colonists +and obtained from the King a declaration that the natives who had +been baptized should never be enslaved. Later they obtained for them +exemption from military or other service, and from any kind of local +taxation. These things at once angered the great body of the Spanish +colonists, and attracted the less savage natives to the missions. They +therefore next secured permission to colonise independently of the +laity, and, in 1610, founded the first reduction. They sent trained +natives back into the forests, with axes, knives, mirrors, and other +enticing presents, and the fathers themselves boldly penetrated +time after time, so that by 1630 they had about 100,000 natives in +their reductions. For some years their colonies were then devastated +by a hostile tribe; but the Jesuits obtained from the Spanish King +permission to arm their pupils, formed an army of several thousand +drilled and well-equipped troops, and more than recovered their ground. +In the course of time they came to have 300,000 natives in their +reductions. + +No payment was made to the workers in these reductions. After labouring +to show that they were not very productive, the apologist for the +Jesuits is driven to plead that the fathers "did not think it proper +to give ideas of cupidity to Christians": an admirable sentiment, if +the Society had not itself appropriated the superfluous wealth of the +communities. Nor is it more convincing to be reminded of the natural +indolence of the natives. They were not indolent in the reductions. +Public and harsh penances were inflicted for laziness, and the hours of +work, sleep, play, and prayer were rigorously fixed. Rough huts, light +clothing, and sufficient cheap food were distributed weekly; festivals +were frequent, and were enlivened by the flute, the song, or the dance; +morality was so strictly controlled that the natives were watched even +during the night. It does not seem just to compare them with slaves, or +suggest that, as long as they behaved well, they were hardly treated. +That they were not nearly so civilised as the roseate letters of the +Jesuits describe will appear presently, but it was much that 300,000 +natives were induced to lead regular and disciplined lives. It is +absurd to speak of "ideal republics" when the workers dwelt in wretched +huts, had no corporate property or power, worked all day for masters +who rendered no account to them or any other, and could, when they +were on the march, at once revert to savagery. But they were in a far +superior position to that of the enslaved, brutalised, wine-sodden +natives who fell into the hands of the lay colonists. + +The antagonism to the reductions was in principle economic. The Spanish +traders felt that they were prevented from exploiting the natives, +a grievance with which we may or may not sympathise, and bitterly +reproached the Jesuits with indulging in commerce. When "Edifying +Letters" were published which described the Jesuits marching out once +more from their pleasant reductions, facing the untamed savages or the +beasts and serpents of new regions with the crucifix in their hands, +people scoffingly observed that new reductions would increase the +income of the Society. The Jesuits retorted that contact with Spaniards +would mean disease and vice among their pupils, and they would rather +manage the villages--they did not, of course, admit that they indulged +in commerce--than admit European laymen. That they made a large profit +out of 300,000 meagrely rewarded workers it is impossible to doubt, but +how are we to judge the sincerity of their statement that they retained +control solely from religious and moral motives? + +Possibly the facts of their relations with the bishops of Paraguay +will enable us to decide, if their action on other foreign missions be +not regarded as sufficient. These facts are, of course, challenged by +Jesuit writers, but the authority is too serious for us to set them +aside on that account. Dom Bernardine de Cardenas, a Franciscan monk +who became Bishop of Paraguay, sent Friar Villalon to the Spanish court +and the Vatican to complain of the Jesuits. I state the facts as they +are given in Villalon's memorial to Philip of Spain; and those who +think that they are discredited because the Jesuits denied the more +flagrant charges and the Spanish court, ruled by Jesuits, rejected +them, are free to impute the mendacity to the bishop rather than to the +Jesuits. + +The two predecessors of Cardenas had had much trouble with the +Jesuits, but for a year or two after his consecration he was on very +friendly terms with them. They did not from the first affect to regard +his consecration as invalid, as their apologist says; that idea +(afterwards refuted by the Papacy) occurred to them in the course of +the quarrel. In 1644, Cardenas announced that he was about to visit the +reductions, which formed part of his diocese, and the Jesuits offered +him 20,000 crowns to omit that part of his visitation. He refused, +and they discovered a scruple about the validity of his consecration. +As Cardenas insisted, they spread the report in the reductions that +Spanish priests were coming who would interfere with the women, raised +a troop of eight hundred Indians, and advanced toward the episcopal +town of Assumption. The governor, a brutal man, had previously +quarrelled with the bishop, and one would imagine that it hardly needed +a bribe of 30,000 crowns to secure his co-operation. It is at least +quite certain that, as he travelled, the bishop was seized by the +governor at the head of the Jesuit soldiers, brutally treated, and sent +into exile 200 miles away. + +Cardenas made his way with great difficulty to La Plata, placed his +case before the higher tribunal of the Royal Audience, and was awarded +his see. Near the city he was, however, again arrested by the Jesuit +troops, and sent back to his wretched exile. In 1647 there was a +change of governor, and he returned, to the great joy of the town. +The Jesuits, however, intrigued with his clergy, allowed two of his +canons to set up a rival chapter in their residence, and turned the +new governor against him. He was besieged in his cathedral for fourteen +days; but a compromise was accepted, and, when the governor died two +years afterwards, the citizens nominated Cardenas himself governor, in +accordance with their legal right. The Jesuits then set up a rival for +the governorship, secured, by intrigue and bribery, his recognition by +the authorities at La Plata, and put 4000 of their armed Indians, under +Jesuit leaders, at his disposal. Leaving behind them a trail of outrage +which does not harmonise with the Jesuit description of their pupils, +these troops flung themselves upon the armed and angry citizens. In +the battle that followed 385 Indians and a Jesuit were slain, but the +citizens were overpowered. + +Meantime the Jesuits made use of an extraordinary privilege which they +professed to have received from Pius V. and Gregory XIII. They said +that, in case of a dispute between themselves and the bishop, they had +the right to nominate a judge (or _conservator_), chosen by themselves, +to arbitrate. We have seen them use this privilege in the remote +Philippines, and shall meet it again. It was a gross and ludicrous +claim, as the Jesuits always took care to choose a judge who would +declare in their favour; indeed, Pope Innocent X. afterwards declared +(as we shall see) that they had no such right. They chose a friend, +a corrupt member of one of the laxer religious congregations, and he +excommunicated the bishop. The Jesuit troops then seized the prelate +and transported him some 200 leagues from the city. From his exile +he sent Father Villanon to Spain, and, though the friar was waylaid +and rifled by the Jesuit troops, he succeeded in reaching Madrid and +informing the King. It happened that the King had only a few years +before received authentic information of a similar outrage in Mexico, +and had sent a stern reprimand to the Jesuits, in spite of the group +of court-fathers. There seemed, however, no prospect of peace, and +Cardenas was transferred to another diocese. + +From 1650 to 1750 the province of Paraguay enjoyed its prosperity with +little interruption. The troops, which were trained and equipped at the +various reductions, amounted in time to an army of 15,000 finely armed +men, with the fighting instincts of the savage and the best weapons +that Europe could supply, so that neither the unconverted tribes nor +the Spaniards could assail them. Heroic efforts were made, though with +very moderate success, to extend the area of the missions. The Society +never lacked men of the most intrepid and self-sacrificing character, +and numbers of them left their bones to bleach in the infested forests +or on the scorching plains. One must be lamentably prejudiced to refuse +to see the heroism of these brave apostles; but it would be an equal +evidence of prejudice to fail to recognise that, whether they realised +it or no, they were the apostles or pioneers of the vast and profitable +industrial system in which the Jesuits were improperly engaged. Time +after time royal or ecclesiastical inquisitors were sent--no voluntary +and serious inquisitor was ever admitted--to examine the reductions +and draw up a flattering report for the Spanish or the Roman court. I +have said that the reductions were admirable in comparison with the +miserable condition of the other natives who fell into the hands of +the Spaniards and Portuguese; but that the Jesuits were engaged in +commerce, that they exploited their natives for the benefit of the +Society, and that they were prepared to adopt the most unprincipled +measures to protect their monopoly, is an historical platitude. + +In 1750, Ferdinand VI., as a reward for the military services which +their troops (always led by Jesuits) rendered so frequently to +his officers, exempted them from the little taxation--a fee to the +crown--to which they were subject, and an era of greater prosperity +than ever seemed to open. In that very year, however, as we saw, Spain +and Portugal came to an agreement which was fateful for the Society. +Portugal ceded Sacramento, a place of great strategical importance, to +Spain in exchange for a part of Paraguay which contained seven of the +reductions. The court-Jesuits tried in vain to defeat this arrangement, +and troops were sent to take over the territory ceded to Portugal. +They were confronted by a force of 15,000 troops, gathered from the +whole of the Jesuit reductions, and a bloody battle ensued. It was, in +fact, only after a prolonged struggle, and by bringing superior troops, +that the joint Spanish and Portuguese army conquered the insurrection. +From sheer cupidity the Jesuits had dealt a fatal blow at their own +prosperity. + +Their apologist would have us believe that the fathers used all the +influence they possessed to restrain the natives and secure their +submission. On the face of it, such an assertion is a piece of mere +effrontery. The natives, especially the native troops, never moved +without Jesuit directions, and these troops were evidently drafted +by the controllers of the province from all the various reductions. +The correspondence of the Spanish and Portuguese commanders fully +inculpates the Jesuits; and, as we saw, the Portuguese authorities +intercepted letters in which Father Rabago directed the local Jesuits +to organise a resistance. Even the pious Spanish King was convinced +that they were responsible for the insurrection. They could combat King +or Pope when the fortune or power of the Society was threatened. And +for their reluctance to sacrifice seven out of their fifty reductions +their fate was sealed. Within ten years the order came from Spain +to remove all the Jesuits from their homes and ship them to Europe. +The government acted on this occasion with craft and secrecy, and +left no room for insurrection; the dejected missionaries arrived at +the mother-country only to learn that the Society was ignominiously +proscribed throughout the King's dominions, and that half of Catholic +Europe was clamouring for their annihilation.[30] + +The Portuguese fathers in Brazil were less enterprising than their +Spanish colleagues. In the course of the sixteenth century they +spread along the banks of the Amazon and converted a large number of +the natives. When the Dutch took the town of Maragnon in 1641, and +threatened their work, the Jesuits were very active in inspiring the +successful rising against them, and they were rewarded by the King +with privileges for their protégées. In 1653, Father Vieira, whom +we have met in the chapter on Portugal, came out to Brazil, and the +work proceeded more rapidly. The apologetic writers ask us to admire +the noble conduct of this gifted father in abandoning the comfort of +the court for the steaming forests and rough natives of Brazil; but +we have seen that Father Vieira's countrymen had more to do with his +departure than any lofty sentiment he may have possessed. He applied +his impetuous temper and great ability to the work of the mission, +and it rapidly advanced in organisation and profitableness, until the +American-Portuguese in turn sent Vieira upon another stage of his +stormy career. The reductions or colonies of Brazil were not organised +and controlled as firmly as those of Paraguay. The luxuriance of the +soil dispensed the natives from assiduous labour, but the colonies +were not without profit, and, when the Jesuits obtained from the King +a declaration that all the natives in his American dominion must pass +under their control, the planters and merchants entered into bitter +hostility. Twice they expelled the Jesuits, and twice the priest-ridden +court secured their return. At last Pombal came to power in Portugal, +and, as we saw, the Jesuits were withdrawn and cast upon the shores of +the Papal States. + +Instead of minutely examining the slender colonies which had meantime +been founded in Chile, Peru, and other parts of South America, we +will pass at once to the north and conclude with a short account of +the missions in Mexico, California, and Canada. Here the famous case +of Bishop Palafox at once claims our attention, and I feel justified +in relying implicitly on the two letters in which this saintly and +learned prelate stated his grievances to Pope Innocent X. When these +letters were published, ten years after they were written, the Jesuits +exclaimed that they were forged, and Crétineau-Joly very dishonestly +insinuates that there is ground to suspect this. Not only are these +letters expressly mentioned in a decree of the Congregation of Rites +(16th December 1660), and not only did Pope Innocent issue three briefs +against the Jesuits in virtue of them, but Arnauld showed, at the time +of the original controversy, that Palafox himself, foreseeing the +manoeuvres of the Jesuits, had left with the general of the Carmelite +monks a written attestation of his authorship of the second (and +more deadly) letter. We have, further, a reference to this letter, +prohibiting its circulation for peace' sake, in a decree of the +Spanish Inquisition of 5th February 1661. To doubt the genuineness of +the letters is frivolous, and the character of the writer is above +dispute. His virtues won for him the official title of "Venerable" from +the Vatican, and might have won a higher title but for the intrigues of +the Jesuits. + +Palafox was Bishop of Angelopolis, and in that capacity he attempted +to make the Jesuits pay his see the just tithes on the property they +inherited. They replied with abuse, and he then inquired by what +authority they preached and heard confessions in his diocese. They +arrogantly boasted of their special privileges, and refused to show the +documents, as they had a further privilege excusing them from doing +so; a claim which the Pope afterwards declared to be false. Palafox +informed the faithful that they had no powers for the ministry. At this +the Jesuits produced another of their remarkable privileges--the power +to appoint judges of the difference--and paid 4000 crowns each to two +Dominican monks of Mexico city to come and arbitrate. The viceroy also +was bribed, and the two monks were led into Angelopolis with a great +parade of trumpeters and guards. A notice was soon posted at the street +corners to the effect that the Bishop of Angelopolis was deposed and +excommunicated for his improper conduct, and, in June 1647, Palafox +fled to the hills from the growing violence. On 31st July, the feast of +St. Ignatius, a carnival-procession, starting from the Jesuit house, +bore round the town the most ribald, and even obscene, caricatures of +the bishop's office. Numbers of his supporters were banished, and bands +of soldiers and Jesuit spies wandered about the hills in search of the +wretched hut where Palafox was hidden. + +All these details are submitted to the Pope in the bishop's letters, +and, in order to make them intelligible, a remarkable account is +given of the worldly prosperity of the fathers. They hold, it seems, +the greater part of the wealth of Mexico. Two of their colleges own +300,000 sheep,[31] besides cattle and other property. They own six +large sugar-refineries, worth from half a million to a million crowns +each, and making an annual profit of 100,000 crowns each, while all +the other monks and clergy of Mexico together own only three small +refineries. They have immense farms, rich silver mines, large shops +and butcheries, and do a vast trade. Yet they continually intrigue +for legacies--a woman has recently left them 70,000 crowns--and they +refuse to pay the appointed tithe on them. It is piquant to add to this +authoritative description that the Jesuit congregations at Rome were +still periodically forbidding the fathers to indulge in commerce, and +Jesuit writers still gravely maintain that the Society never engaged +in commerce. It should also be added that the missionaries were still +heavily subsidised by the King of Spain, that there were (the bishop +says) only five or six Jesuits to each of their establishments, and +that they conducted only ten colleges. + +From his refuge Palafox had sent messengers both to Rome and Madrid, +and replies severely condemning the Jesuits were at once sent both +by the Pope and the King. Pope Innocent appointed a commission +of cardinals and bishops to examine the appeal of Palafox and +counter-appeal of the Roman Jesuits. They declared in favour of +the bishop on almost every point, and the Pope issued his first +brief in that sense (14th May 1648). On 25th June the King severely +condemned them for appointing a judge and defying the bishop. The +Jesuits affected to regard the papal brief as not binding because +it had not been endorsed by the Royal Council; a strange departure +from ultramontane principles. In a word, the King had to repeat his +warning, and the Pope had twice to repeat his orders, before they +abandoned their intrigues in Mexico, Madrid, and Rome. Palafox was, +however, invited to Spain--the King's letters treat him always with the +greatest respect--and it was concluded that, in the interest of peace, +he should remain in the motherland. Even in the grave the Jesuits +persecuted the saintly bishop, bitterly opposing his canonisation, but +his letters remain a terrible indictment of their behaviour on the +missions. + +There were other Jesuit estates and villages in California (or the +eastern part of North America), from which a profitable trade was +conducted with Manila by means of a fine frigate belonging to the +Society. In the Antilles they boasted an official monopoly of the +"spiritual administration" of the French islands. It is true that +this gave them a new opportunity for commerce, and that they did +much political service for the French government in return for +the privilege; but it is proper to add that many of the fathers +distinguished themselves by self-sacrificing labour among the negro +slaves. Their mission in Maryland was destroyed by the growth of +Protestantism, and it remains only to say a word about their fortunes +in Canada. + +The nomadic habits of the Indians and the ever-recurring warfare +prevented them from achieving a great success in Canada. In the +softer districts by the St. Lawrence and the lakes they succeeded in +establishing a few of their agricultural colonies, but their work +was arduous, dangerous, and not generally profitable, and even the +prestige of the French government, for which they acted as political +agents, did not enable them to convert a very large proportion of the +Indians. Moreover, much as we may admire the devotion and endurance +many of them displayed in seeking to win the fierce and roving +tribes, commercial eagerness taints their work indelibly. When they +first received permission to enter Canada from Henry IV., they were +long detained in France because they refused to come to an agreement +about trade with the lay colonists, and their first missionaries were +captured by the English in an endeavour to cross the seas without +this understanding. Eighty years later, when peace was made with the +formidable Iroquois, who had so often blighted their work, the Indian +spokesman insisted that they would not admit the Jesuits, as the +fathers sought only their beavers and their women. On the other hand, +no one questions the great political service they rendered to their +government in disposing the Indians to receive French authority and +embittering them against the English. Their story, until England took +Canada in 1759, and France itself disowned them a few years later, was +one of individual devotion overshadowed by a corporate occupation with +commerce and politics. + +We have now surveyed the vast field of Jesuit missionary activity in +the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and can appreciate the effect +when, in a few years time, the voice of the Pope will summon them to +lay aside for ever their black robes and their proud name. It would be +hypocritical to say that we cannot sum up in few words the impressions +gathered from this survey. Let us recognise in the first place that +thousands of the fathers displayed heroic zeal in discharging the work +which the Society laid on them. Frenchmen, Spaniards, Portuguese, and +Italians, often of noble birth and brilliant parts, faced the perils +of a mediæval voyage, wandered afoot over leagues of desolate mountain +or deadly forest, and laid down their lives courageously under the +plague or the sword. Yet there is another aspect which we perceive +just as clearly: another quality which we find in the silken courts of +China or Siam or Persia, the blaze of Indian or Brazilian villages, +on the plains of Paraguay or Mexico, and amid the snows of Canada. It +is everywhere, it is identical, and it is palpable. These men have +fallen from their ideals. In virtue of a vast and hypocritical system +of commerce they amass wealth and power, defend it with mean intrigue +and violent assault, blunt their moral sense in pursuit of more, relax +into sensuality and are lifted to arrogance. It is time that they have +a severe lesson. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 29: This _taly_ is described by the other missionaries as +a gross image representing a Hindu divinity equivalent to the Latin +Priapus. It was certainly mythological, and was suspended on a cord of +very clear mythological import. The Jesuits first declared that it was +a "civil custom," and then said that a "direction of intention" on the +part of the convert made it harmless. When Rome brought pressure to +bear on them, they invented a _taly_ with the cross on one side and the +emblem of Pillear on the other.] + +[Footnote 30: It is difficult to estimate the value of the Paraguay +reductions. Robertson, in his _Letters on Paraguay_, calculates that +the average Indian earned at least a hundred dollars yearly, and that +his food, hut, and clothing did not cost fifty. He estimates the total +value of a hundred thousand such workers and the property as about +£5,641,200.] + +[Footnote 31: In the English translation of Hoensbroech's _Fourteen +Years a Jesuit_ the figure is wrongly given as 30,000.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +IN THE GERMANIC LANDS + + +When we come to record the culmination of the earlier history of the +Jesuits in a solemn and reasoned condemnation of the Society by the +Papacy, we shall note a singular circumstance of the reception of the +news in Europe. The Catholic monarchs of France, Spain, Portugal, and +Naples applaud the act, and there is little serious demur to it among +the millions of southern Catholics under their control. The Catholic +Emperor assents very willingly to the destruction of the Society, +and the Jesuits and their friends cannot succeed in inspiring any +wide revolt in Austria and the neighbouring principalities. But the +Protestant King of Prussia and the Greek Catholic Empress of Russia +open the doors of their dominions to the fugitives from Roman lands, +and protest that the Jesuits have been ill-used. For two hundred years +the Jesuits have strained every nerve, and every canon of controversial +decency, in an attack on heresy and schism, yet they secretly ask +Frederick of Prussia to declare himself the "protector of the Society," +and they shelter from Catholic hostility in the court of Catherine of +Russia! + +On this singular circumstance much explanatory light will be thrown at +the proper moment, but I anticipate the fact itself because it suggests +a general point of view. Clearly, the behaviour of the Jesuits differed +in Catholic and in Protestant countries, and we have seen from the +start that Jesuit conduct in German Protestant lands often contrasted +very favourably with Jesuit conduct in Catholic countries. They do +indeed betray their unedifying jealousy of all other workers in the +papal army, they seek opportunities for intrigue and for acquiring +wealth, but the presence of large bodies of Protestant observers has +its effect on their moral and cultural standard. They adapt themselves +to the environment as we have found them do in China or India. However, +the group of countries which we are compelled to associate in this +chapter are very varied in creed, and we will glance at the outstanding +Jesuit experiences in each down to the time of the suppression of the +Society. + +Commencing with Scandinavia, we have first to consider the romantic +episode of the conversion of Queen Christina. The daughter of Gustavus +Adolphus succeeded to the throne in her sixth year, in 1632, and was +carefully trained for the task of ruling. Her native disposition, no +less than the masculine work which lay before her, made her resent +every tendency toward the softness of her sex, and she became a hard +rider, an assiduous student of art and letters, a companion of great +scholars, and a resolute spinster. For many years the Swedes were proud +of their Amazon Queen, as she loved to represent herself, and even +admired her command of southern culture and tongues (Greek, Latin, +French, Italian, Spanish). She slept only five or six hours, discussed +philosophy with scholars like Descartes (who was a month or two in +Sweden) at five in the morning, conversed with the ambassadors in their +own tongues, and might then hunt for ten hours in her amazon costume. +Altogether a romantic person, and the Jesuits approached her. + +We remember Professor Nicolai and Ambassador Possevin and other Jesuits +who had tried to convert Sweden. The new missionary, Father Macedo of +Portugal, was disguised as the secretary of the Portuguese ambassador, +Pereira. It may be that Macedo went merely to act as confessor to +Pereira, but he soon took an independent line. He found the way to the +Queen's study, impressed her with his learning, and confided to her +that he was a disguised Jesuit. Christina, in turn, confided that she +had doubts about Lutheranism, and would discuss with learned fathers of +the Society. Macedo discovered that the climate was too rigorous for +him, and, as the ambassador refused to give him leave of absence, fled +to Rome; and two very learned Jesuits, also in disguise, sailed in a +very roundabout way for Stockholm. Christina was soon converted by the +two "merchants," and, after some rather shady manoeuvres to secure her +art-collections and her revenues, she fled in the disguise of a man to +Brussels, where a brilliant gathering of Catholics welcomed her into +the Church (1655). + +As Christina had little to do with the Jesuits after her conversion, +and the Swedes promptly closed the gates against further Catholic +invasions, we might leave the story, but it is of some interest to +consider whether the "conversion" was genuine. There is good reason +to believe that Christina was tired of the bleak north, and decided +to secure her revenue, change her creed, and spend the rest of her +years in the sunny and artistic south. The Jesuits were to be the +guarantors of her orthodoxy to the Pope, on whom she must rely if the +angry Swedes cut off supplies (as eventually happened). She had no deep +religious feeling. When a Belgian Jesuit remarked that they might yet +see her among the saints, she answered that she would prefer to be put +among the sages; and it is said--though with less authority--that when +she was told that there was to be a comedy on the day of her public +reception into the Church at Innspruck, she observed that it was very +proper "after this morning's farce." She is, at all events, described +by some who knew her as "almost libertine in speaking of religion and +morals," and the amorous attentions of Roman cardinals did not improve +her piety. After a few years' enjoyment of her liberty, her passionate +nature brought serious difficulties upon her, and her life proved a +lamentable failure and waste of ability. + +In the kingdom of Poland the Jesuits found the most congenial home +that they ever discovered apart from the southern Latin countries +to which most of them belonged. Nor is this the only or the most +serious parallel; Poland, like Portugal, Spain, and France (after +1700), decayed rapidly after the Jesuits attained the height of their +power in the country. Catholic writers in the latter part of the +seventeenth century used to contrast the prosperity of the States which +had adhered to the Vatican with the failure or stagnation of States +which accepted the Reformation. France, Spain, Portugal, and Austria +were the great world-Powers, and, under Sobieski, Poland promised to +attain an important position. England, on the other hand, was still +a small empire; Holland was falling from its momentary greatness; +Norway, Sweden, and Denmark were regarded as half-barbaric; the Swiss +cantons were a small pastoral folk; the German Protestant States were +exhausted and distracted. The argument has recoiled on the Romanist +with terrible force. The Catholic States have increasingly decayed, or +defied the authority of the Pope; the Protestant States are the great +world-Powers. The Protestant colonies in America have become a great +civilisation; the Catholic colonies rise to prestige only in proportion +as (like Argentina) they abandon their creed. + +It has, therefore, been quite natural for writers on the Jesuits to +emphasise the fact that the countries in which they obtained the +greatest control have been the most conspicuous Powers to decay, and +the imagination instinctively recalls the picture of some giant of a +tropical forest gradually embraced and killed by a parasitic growth. +This picture should not be admitted too easily. Art, for instance, has +often prospered most luxuriantly when a civilisation was beginning to +decay, yet it was assuredly not a parasitic growth accelerating the +decay. It is possible that the Jesuits flourished _because_ the nation +was decaying, not that the nation decayed because they prospered. +The problem requires careful analysis and exact proof. We have seen, +however, in the case of Spain and Portugal that, in point of fact, +the prosperity of the Society was both economically and politically +injurious to those States--that the Jesuits really diverted into their +own organisation the wealth and power which should have contributed to +the well-being of the State--and we shall find the same situation in +Poland and Austria. + +In Poland, as in Austria, a Jesuit of the time would have contended +that the Society justified its wealth and power by its educational +work. We saw how the Society overran the country and, by intrigue and +violence, captured the function of higher education during the reign +of Batori. From that date Poland decayed, with a partial revival under +Sobieski. In the long and disastrous reign of Sigismund (1590-1632) +the decay was continuous, and the power of the Jesuits sustained. +One point is clear; there was a grave lack of virile and unselfish +patriotism, and Jesuit teachers were certainly not the men to inspire +it. The aim of Jesuit education was to promote the interests of the +Church rather than the State, and to their influence most particularly +were due the religious quarrels and the coercion of Protestant +minorities which distracted the kingdom, brought on it the hostility +of Protestant neighbours, and fostered selfish intrigue for power. The +reign of Wladislas (1632-48) had the same features, and they were more +marked than ever when a Jesuit, the late King's brother, John Casimir, +ascended the throne. There was now hardly a wealthy house, a school, +or a camp that did not contain its Jesuit. The cause of religion was +intensely promoted, but the cause of the country fell lower and lower, +and its disastrous and distracted condition compelled the Jesuit +monarch to abdicate after four years. + +The activity of the Jesuits is very well seen in the election of the +next king. The Poles were too democratic to admit the hereditary +principle; they elected their monarch, and each election was now the +occasion for a gathering of candidates from various parts of Europe and +a mass of bribery and intrigue. Reusch has published in his _Beiträge_ +(p. 231) a private letter of a Jesuit, Father Bodler, which shows the +Jesuits over half of Europe intriguing to secure at the election of +1669 a man who will suit their interests. Father Bodler, confessor +to one of the candidates, the Duke of Neuburg, writes of the secret +campaign to Father Veihelin of Munich. An English member of the +Society has been confidentially entrusted by the duke with the task of +deciphering a difficult private letter. As this letter (from Prince +Auersperg) caustically observes that the Jesuits divide their forces at +an election, so that some of them are sure to be on the winning side +(as we have seen so often), it is at once communicated by the English +Jesuit to his German colleagues and even translated into Latin for the +general. The general, it seems, has to be kept informed of all these +manoeuvres--while he edifies Europe with decrees against indulgence +in politics or commerce--and Father Bodler feels that he will be +blamed "if the matter turns out less favourably for the Society." Such +documents as this, generally discovered in Jesuit houses after the +suppression of the Society, differ very materially from the published +writings of the Jesuits. + +On this occasion neither the Duke of Lorraine nor the Duke of Neuburg, +for whom the Jesuits were working in apparent contradiction to each +other but with secret understanding, was elected. The Pole, Michael +Wisniowiecki, ascended the throne, and the Polish Jesuits held their +power amid the decaying nation. He was followed by the great Sobieski, +under whom the Society had more political influence than ever. Whether +in camp or court Sobieski was surrounded by Jesuits, and some of the +most important and disastrous points of his policy were inspired by +them. It was his confessor, Father Vota, who prompted him to reject +France's offer of alliance and accept that of Austria; and we know the +shameful ingratitude of Austria when Sobieski saved Vienna in 1683, and +how greedily it took its share of Poland when the country became weak +enough to be dismembered. The Poles tired of Sobieski's costly glory +and despotic rule and mischievous orthodoxy, and his later years were +embittered by a feeling of failure. + +Frederick Augustus of Saxony succeeded Sobieski. He had qualified for +the throne by corrupting half the Diet and abjuring the Protestant +faith, and, although he was naturally of a tolerant disposition, he +was compelled to allow the Jesuits and other clergy to continue to +weaken the country by religious persecution. Father Vota was entrusted +with the charge of his accommodating conscience, and concluded that +the opportunity was excellent for transplanting Catholic intolerance +into Saxony, to which Frederick Augustus was for a time forced to +retire. The apologist for the Jesuits relates that it was Frederick +Augustus himself who desired to coerce the Protestants, and that Vota +prudently restrained him. That would be a remarkable situation--a +loose and unprincipled monarch, who had embraced the Catholic faith +only as the price of a crown, restrained by the confessor of Sobieski +from persecuting his Protestant subjects--but we know that, in point +of fact, it was the Saxon ministers who had to restrain the Jesuit. +Augustus III., an orthodox voluptuary and worthless monarch, followed +upon the throne of Poland; the Jesuits continued to prosper and the +country to decay. We shall see how, when its helpless frame is torn by +its covetous neighbours, the Jesuits are still in full possession of +their wealth and power, and are the first to bow to and win the favour +of the Russian invader. There is, however, one incident of Polish life +in the eighteenth century on which it is necessary to dwell more fully. +We have an ample account of this repulsive event[32] and it throws an +unpleasant light on the activity of the Jesuits in Poland. + +In the summer of 1724 a Protestant of Thorn refused to lift his hat +when a Catholic procession passed, and he was assaulted by a pupil of +the Jesuit college. The Protestant authorities arrested the Catholic +for assault, and a riot occurred, in the course of which the Jesuit +college was stormed and destroyed. The royal authority was now invoked, +and the Mayor, Vice-Mayor, and nine other citizens of Thorn were +arraigned before the High Court at Warsaw for failing to prevent the +destruction of the college. A Jesuit was permitted, in the presence of +the judges, to deliver a violently inflammatory sermon on the outrage, +and the unfortunate men were condemned to death. A singular clause was +added to the sentence: it must not be carried out until a Jesuit and +six members of the Polish nobility swore to the guilt of the accused. +We know from their own words that the judges trusted in this way to +save the accused from the vengeance of the Jesuits. They persuaded +the Papal Nuncio to press the Jesuit superior not to send one of his +subjects to take the oath, and, when a Jesuit appeared nevertheless at +the appointed time, to swear away the lives of the innocent men, they +pointed out that a priest could not canonically take any action which +would lead to an execution. The Jesuits placidly replied that they had +sent a "lay coadjutor," instead of a priest, to take the oath. It is +true that, once they had sealed the fate of the men, they entered a +plea for mercy, but we are familiar with this hypocritical phrase in +the annals of the Inquisition. They tried moreover, at a later date, +to lessen the guilt of their conduct by mendaciously stating that +the Nuncio's letter arrived too late for consideration: an audacious +untruth, since we have the Jesuits' reply to the Nuncio, and we know +that the judges reminded them of the Nuncio's intervention before the +oath was taken. + +To the end of this miserable business their conduct was repulsive. +The municipality of Thorn was, of course, condemned to compensate +the Society for the destruction of the college, and they secured a +preposterous award of 36,400 florins. The citizens warmly protested +against this scandalous and onerous award, and it was eventually, +in spite of the protests of the Jesuits, reduced to 22,000 florins. +The Jesuits, we are assured whenever they plead bankruptcy, are too +spiritual to be good men of business, but their attitude in regard to +the loss of their property at Thorn was not weakened by spirituality. +They demanded (and, no doubt, needed) 8000 florins in cash. The +municipal authorities had not so large a sum to pay them, and it was +advanced by a merchant on the security of the plate of the executed +Mayor of the town. For the remainder of the debt the Jesuits took +the municipal estates of Lonzyn and Wengorzyn. They retained these +profitable estates for six years, and only yielded them when the civic +authorities paid them the full capital of the debt with 6 per cent. +interest for the intervening years. + +The situation of the Jesuits in Holland was, we saw, in many respects +similar to their situation in England, but the fact that several +provinces remained Roman Catholic gave them an advantage and kept the +country open to them. Utrecht, for instance, had only joined the other +provinces on condition that full liberty was given to Catholics and +Jesuits. From these Catholic districts the fathers advanced with great +zeal upon the neighbouring Protestant population. In spite of Jesuit +hatred of the Dutch, whom they represent throughout the seventeenth +century as the arch-enemy, they were treated with indulgence until +their own actions brought punishment on them. We saw that there was at +least evidence enough to convince the Dutch that the Jesuits had been +implicated in two attempts to assassinate their rulers, and when, in +1638, a Catholic plot to admit the Spaniards was discovered, another +storm against the Jesuits arose. Their apologist admits that there was +a plot, and that they were aware of it; but he finds no evidence that +they were parties to the plot. The evidence on which the Dutch relied +was supplied by a soldier, and is not in itself very impressive; but +several of the fathers were tortured and executed. The feeling seems +to have been that any plot to introduce the Spaniards would very +probably be of Jesuit origin, and the evidence was sufficient in the +circumstances. Few will seriously feel that there was a miscarriage of +justice. + +The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, which sent numbers of +persecuted Huguenots to England and Holland, greatly embittered the +Dutch and led to a fresh outburst against the Jesuits. They had at +that time forty-five residences and seventy-four priests in Holland, +but their prosperous mission was almost destroyed by the wave of anger +which rolled over the country. Severe disabilities were laid on them, +the Protestant crowds threatened their property, and it was rumoured +that the States-General was about to banish them. It is interesting +to-day to compare the eloquent pleas for toleration which they laid +before the Dutch with the private letters in which they apprised their +French colleagues that _their_ intolerance had brought the affliction +on them. + +The storm passed without very serious consequences, but it was not +long before the conduct of the Jesuits again endangered their mission. +We have already seen that from the time when the Vatican appointed +a bishop to control the missionary priests in Holland the Jesuits +conducted an extremely selfish crusade against him. They maintained +this opposition throughout the period with which we are dealing. +Neercassel, the Archbishop of Utrecht and Vicar Apostolic, complained +to Rome of their behaviour in 1669, and they retorted with the familiar +charge of Jansenism. Neercassel was summoned to Rome, but Innocent XI. +was on the papal throne and the Jesuits lost. They did not relax their +opposition, and when Peter Codde succeeded Neercassel in 1686 (the +Jesuits having failed, after strenuous efforts, to get a friend of the +Society appointed), the feud became more and more unedifying. In 1702 +they induced the Vatican to depose him and substitute a more congenial +prelate named Cock. Codde had been friendly with Arnauld, who had taken +refuge in the Netherlands, and an unscrupulous use of their influence +at Rome under Clement XI. secured his deposition. They could not, +however, induce the papal authorities to detain Codde, who belonged to +a good Dutch family, in the prisons of the Inquisition, and, when he +returned to his country, the Government took up his case against the +Jesuits. + +The situation they had brought about in the Church in Holland was +deplorable. The chapters of Utrecht and Haarlem refused to recognise +Cock as archbishop, and the faithful were in a state of confusion. For +years the Jesuits had jeered at the divisions amongst the Protestants. +These divisions were at least based on considerations of belief, and +the Protestants could heavily retort that their clergy, of any one +denomination, had never been rent into bitterly hostile factions on a +mere question of corporate interest. Codde resumed his ministry, and +the Jesuits, aided by the friendly Nuncio at Brussels, supported Cock +against him. In similar circumstances Queen Elizabeth had assisted the +English secular clergy against the Jesuits, and the Dutch Government +decided to do the same. Cock was expelled, and four of the leading +Jesuits were summoned before the States-General (1705) and ordered to +use their influence at Rome for the rehabitation of Codde or else leave +the country. The Dutch smiled when the Jesuits protested that their +slender influence would not sway the Vatican, and, when a negative +answer came from Rome, they were proscribed. They evaded the sentence, +but in 1708 they were expelled from the whole of Holland except the +privileged Province of Utrecht. When the resentment of the Dutch +cooled, however, they crept back into the country and ministered +stealthily to their followers. Even after so drastic an experience they +continued to lessen the merit of their strenuous and dangerous labours +by persistent hostility to, and abuse of, the rival clergy. + +In Belgium, which was now predominantly Catholic and had only passed +from the control of Catholic Spain to that of Catholic Austria, the +Jesuits prospered down to the time of the suppression of the Society. +The last remnants of Protestantism had been crushed under the heel of +the Spanish soldiers or driven to Holland, and the province was an +excellent field for tranquil work. The only notable episode is that, +in their eagerness to rise above the other clergy, the Jesuits pressed +Rome to apply to Belgium the famous test of belief which had been +devised for the "Jansenists" of France. Arnauld had many admirers in +Belgium, and the University of Louvain, especially, strongly resented +the prospect of being forced to say that there were in the obscure work +of Bishop Jansen five propositions which were not there. The Archbishop +of Malines and the Nuncio were won by the Jesuits, but Innocent XII. +hesitated to extend that miserable struggle to the peaceful Belgian +Church. The Nuncio deliberately withheld the Pope's brief until the +Jesuits made another attempt to win their demand, but in 1694 the Pope +insisted that only priests who were found to hold the five propositions +in question should be molested. As usual, the Jesuits failed to find +any one who held the famous propositions and the matter was abandoned. + +The story of the Jesuits in the States which now form the German +Empire and in Austria has not yet been systematically written, and +the material is a large and undigested mass of laudatory episodes and +drastic charges.[33] In Austria, or the Holy Roman Empire, as it was +then called, we might follow the fortunes of the Society with some +continuity, but it would add little, in regard to Jesuit character, to +what we have gathered from the records of France, Spain, and Portugal. +The central and most important fact is the continued influence of the +Jesuit confessors at the court. Amongst the interesting manuscripts +which were seized at the time of the suppression of the Society was +a document, dating from the time of General Acquaviva, giving royal +confessors secret instructions as to their duty;[34] openly, of course, +the Jesuit rule was to refuse such offices as far as possible, and +to confine themselves to purely spiritual matters if the office was +accepted. These instructions make the confessor a spy not only on the +monarch, but upon his ministers and civic officials, and direct that he +shall obtain information even about the private lives of his principal +subjects. We know from other confiscated manuscripts which have been +published (especially by Döllinger and Reusch) that this information +was regularly sent to Rome, and that at every important juncture the +confessor, who used to ask the monarch for time to consult God and +his conscience, sent a secret messenger to Rome (or consulted other +Jesuits) and acted on the policy of the Society. + +In this sense the Jesuits controlled the policy of Austria to a great +extent in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Father Lamormaini, +confessor to Ferdinand II., inspired the decree for the restoration of +church-property in 1629, as we saw, and afterwards secured the best +portion of it for the Jesuits; to whom nothing could be "restored," +as they had not owned any of the property. In the following year +Lamormaini practically decided the dismissal of Wallenstein. There was +no question of importance on which the Emperor did not consult him, and +the published documents show that there were times when the Jesuit, +acting on instructions from Rome, advised a policy which would profit +France rather than Austria; in 1635, for instance, he endeavoured (in +vain) to induce the Emperor to cede Alsace to France. We have a large +number of the Emperor's letters to Lamormaini, and they show that the +Jesuit was practically first minister, in secular as well as spiritual +matters. Other Jesuits were attached to the princes and nobles, and +the natural result was a great increase of the power and wealth of the +Society. Once more the suppression of the order and confiscation of its +documents have provided a confirmation of the suspicions of historians. +J. Friedrich (_Beiträge_) has published some of the confiscated +documents, including a statement drawn up in 1729 by the Procurator +of the Province of Upper Germany, Father Bissel. From this it appears +that the German Province of the Society advanced (at a high rate of +interest) 262,208 guldens to the Catholic Power for the purposes +of the Thirty Years' War, and the Jesuit college at Liège 200,000 +guldens. The Jesuit treasurer appends the remark that these loans must +be kept strictly secret, as a disclosure "might bring ruin on our +establishments." + +The death of Ferdinand II. in 1637 made no difference in the position +of the Jesuits. Ferdinand III. had been carefully trained by them, and +he was ever ready to endanger the welfare of his Empire and disturb +the peace of his subjects by furthering the designs of the Jesuits in +the Protestant Provinces, as we shall see presently. Leopold I., who +succeeded in 1657, was an even more fervent pupil of the Jesuits, and +had been destined for the priesthood. We may say, in a word, that the +Jesuits retained their wealth and power until, to their great anger +and disappointment, the Emperor Joseph II. light-heartedly joined +the other Catholic monarchs in the campaign for the suppression of +the Society, and even Maria Theresa refused to plead for them with +the Papacy. At that time their property alone was worth more than +£2,000,000, but the Government discovered that they had anticipated the +dissolution by investing large sums abroad. It is therefore impossible +to estimate their real wealth, but when we add to the income from their +vast estates the salaries of royal and noble confessors, the fees +of masses and spiritual exercises, the emoluments of university and +other teachers, and the very generous and constant inflow of gifts and +legacies, we realise that the Austrian Jesuits cannot have been much +less wealthy than those of France and Spain. + +It may be suggested that we should regard this wealth with indulgence, +in spite of the Jesuit vow of poverty, because of the immense +educational services which the Society rendered to the Empire. Their +school-system has, however, been heavily criticised by Austrian +writers, and even in the height of their power it was boldly and +successfully assailed by Austrian statesmen. A memorial addressed to +the Empress Maria Theresa in 1757 insisted that all the universities +had deteriorated since they had been captured by the Jesuits. Two years +later (September 1759) the Empress compelled them to surrender to other +teachers the chairs of logic, ethics, metaphysics, and history, and +several chairs of theology, which they held at the Vienna University. +The historian of the university, Kink, fully confirms this statement +that it deteriorated under the control of the Jesuits. Indeed, the +learned Oratorian priest Father Theiner, the Prefect of the Vatican +Archives, shows in his _Histoire du Pontificat de Clément XIV._ that +in other ways the Jesuits had done grave harm to culture in Catholic +Germany. Their selfish determination to monopolise teaching and letters +had destroyed the intellectual life of the non-Jesuit clergy, and there +were few to succeed them when the Society was abolished. We shall see +later that when Frederick the Great annexed Silesia, where the German +Jesuits controlled education, he disdainfully advised them to send to +France for some abler teachers. + +It is also necessary to observe that a large number of scandals +occurred among the Austrian and German Jesuits, especially the +teachers. The subject is unpleasant, but pro-Jesuit writers are so +insistent on the cleanness of their record that it cannot be entirely +overlooked. A former director of the Bavarian State Archives, Dr. +Karl Heinrich von Lang, examined the Jesuit documents under his care +at Munich, and found, in the letters of the Provincial of the Upper +German Province to the General, an alarming number of charges of +unnatural or other vice. There was clearly an extraordinary amount of +sexual corruption in the province in the period he reviews (1650-1723), +and, if we find this to be the case where it happens that the secret +documents of the Society have come into our hands, we must regard with +grave suspicion the claims of Jesuit writers in regard to provinces of +which we have not similar information.[35] + +Dr. von Lang has also written a sketch of the history of the Jesuits +in Bavaria (_Geschichte der Jesuiten in Baiern_, 1819), and we have a +picture of degeneration and prosperity as in so many other countries. +We saw, in an early chapter, the unattractive story of their settlement +in Bavaria and coercion of the Protestants. Before and during the +Thirty Years' War they were the most ardent instigators of Maximilian, +and, when the terror of the Swedes had passed away, they entered +upon a period of great prosperity in the impoverished country. When +Maximilian died, however, in 1651, some attempt was made to check their +progress by the statesmen who knew how deeply they were responsible +for the desolation of Bavaria. Members of a rival religious order, +the Theatines, were patronised by the Duchess Maria, and the Jesuits +conducted an unedifying campaign against the Theatines, who made a +spirited resistance. Each body accused the other of forging miracles in +honour of its saints. Von Lang estimates that a little after the middle +of the seventeenth century the 585 members of the Bavarian branch of +the Society enjoyed a permanent income of 185,950 florins. To this, +however, we must add fees, salaries, gifts, and legacies. Dr. von Lang +shows that between 1620 and 1700 large donations amounting to 800,000 +florins were made to the Society, often at the suggestion of its +members. + +The later wealth of the Jesuits in Bavaria cannot be estimated as the +larger contributions to their funds were only stated in strictly secret +documents which have never seen the light. We know that the Society +prospered more than ever in the eighteenth century. In 1727 there were +875 Jesuits in Bavaria and the Tyrol, and the papers confiscated at +the suppression proved that their wealth was enormous. Their college +at Ingolstadt alone owned hundreds of farms, or a series of estates +worth about 3,000,000 florins. A dozen other colleges were also richly +endowed with landed property. As the eighteenth century wore on, +however, the hostility to the Jesuits increased. Protestants were +never without some serious ground for complaint of Jesuit controversy, +and in Bavaria we find them accusing the Jesuits (quite justly) of +recommending the sons of Protestant parents to _steal_ the "bad books" +of their fathers and bring them to the college. Catholics, on the +other hand, complained that the Jesuits rendered no material service +in proportion to their great wealth, and, as the successive messages +of suppression came from Portugal, France, and Spain, their opponents +became bolder. The Jesuits so little expected to be disturbed that in +1770 they created a separate Bavarian province, with more than 500 +members. Three years later they were secularised and dispersed on +account of the suppression of the Society. + +In Protestant Saxony the Jesuits had a different task. We have already +seen how they instigated Frederick Augustus, after he had purchased +the Polish crown by a change of faith, to adopt the principle of +religious intolerance in Saxony. The heir to the throne was, however, a +Protestant, and was under the control of Protestants, and the Jesuits +had to ensure that the dynasty should be Catholic. This was not in the +interest of Saxony, which, as a Protestant State, might have taken a +leading position in Germany, whereas, in becoming Catholic, it would +be overshadowed by Austria and Bavaria. The king put Jesuits about the +person of the prince, and he was, when his conversion proved difficult, +sent to travel in Italy in the company of two Jesuits. He was a mere +boy of sixteen. His father was, however, assured that he might not only +appropriate a large amount of the ecclesiastical property taken by the +Protestants at the Reformation, but papal troops would be put at his +disposal in case of need to silence the protests of his Protestant +subjects. In November 1712 the boy was "converted." Father Salerno, +the most active of the Jesuits engaged in this important business, +was then sent to Vienna to arrange a marriage with an Austrian +Archduchess, and, as all children of the marriage were to be Catholic, +the succession was secured. As the present condition of Saxony shows, +however, the Jesuits did not in this case succeed in imposing their +creed by royal authority. Father Salerno was rewarded with--in Jesuit +language, "forced" to accept, against his inclination--a cardinal's +hat. He was the thirteenth Jesuit whose modesty had been violated by +the papacy in this way since 1593, to say nothing of nuncii, bishops, +and other prelates. + +The resistance of Hungary to Jesuit permeation was protracted and +heroic. Protestantism made great progress in Hungary after the +Reformation, and the emperors looked to the Jesuits to extirpate it +in that part of the country which was under their control. Ferdinand +II. trusted especially to their educational influence, but Ferdinand +III. and Leopold supported the Jesuits in active persecution of the +heretics. Dr. Krones[36] has minutely studied from the manuscript +_Annual Letters_ of the Society, the intrigues by which the Jesuits +sought to regain power after the Peace of Westphalia. The population +was half Protestant, and the emperors were unwilling to inflame the +restless Hungarians by too open a use of imperial authority. The most +assiduous and secret manoeuvres were made by the Jesuits to influence +the elections and secure a legal footing in the country. An abortive +conspiracy in 1666 served their purpose better. In the general +vindictiveness of the Austrian triumph the most drastic measures were +taken against the Protestant clergy. A more successful rising in +1675-1679 once more won toleration for the Protestants and checked the +Jesuits, and they seem to have maintained this varying campaign of +intrigue and coercion and failure until the abolition of the Society. + +In the Catholic cantons of Switzerland we have, naturally, the +same story as in the Catholic States: a control of education, a +determination to cast into the shade the remainder of the Catholic +clergy, and a scandalous and enervating material prosperity. Here again +we have obtained a very interesting glimpse of the real condition +of the Society by the publication of secret documents which were +confiscated at the suppression. The chronicle of the Jesuit college at +Colmar from 1698 to 1750 was fortunately discovered among their papers +and published in 1872.[37] It is a most remarkable ledger or diary of +business transactions, displaying on every page that keen instinct for +commerce and high profit which the Jesuits are always so anxious to +disavow. Vineyards and estates pass steadily into the possession of +the college, indignant and disinherited relatives are fought in the +law-courts or met by compromise, and the liveliest satisfaction is +expressed when some good bargain has been made with the property or the +vines have proved fertile. A Lutheran in 1727 has been, in the words of +the secret Jesuit chronicler, "simple enough" to pay a substantial rent +for a disused cellar belonging to the college; in the same year a pious +lady's executors are not in a position to pay a legacy to the Jesuits +in cash and they take saleable goods; in 1730 three fields of small +value are let on terms which suggest that some simple Catholic tenant +was duped. The whole story tells of keenness in securing legacies, +astuteness in the profitable handling of the property they inherit or +buy, and a somewhat hypocritical readiness to appeal to public bodies +for the free grants which they make to poor individuals or communities. +The college of Colmar was a business concern of the sharpest character. + +These fragmentary notices of the life of the Jesuits in the Germanic +countries suffice to explain that growth of hostility which culminates +in the destruction of the Society. There is a sharp contrast between +the picture suggested by these secret Jesuit documents and the picture +offered to us by writers like Crétineau-Joly and Father Duhr. Few, of +course, would be so naïve as not to understand that the Jesuit writers +carefully select from their "unpublished documents" the occasional +letters which some really religious Jesuit writes to his fellows or +his superiors. None but an entirely prejudiced opponent of the Jesuits +would imagine that all the members of any province of the Society were +lacking in moral delicacy and deep religious feeling. In every age +and clime there were Jesuits of lofty purpose, great sincerity, and +unselfish activity for what they regarded as the good of man. There +were many such in the long calendar of the Germanic provinces. But the +fortunate accident of the confiscation of their papers in many places +enables us to obtain a fuller and truer knowledge of the body than we +get from this one-sided admiration of its more religious members and +its public professions. As a body the Society, in Germany as well as +in France, Spain, Portugal, and on the missions, was deeply tainted +with casuistry, covetousness, intrigue for wealth and for power, +commercial activity, duplicity in political matters, and a lamentable +attitude toward rival priests. They maintained their power, not so much +by the affection of the people as by the hard-won favour of princes +and prelates; and, the moment these princes became sensible of their +defects, their seemingly unassailable prosperity fell with a crash, +to the delight of half of Catholic Europe. It remains only for us to +glance at their fortunes in Italy until the year when the Pope, whose +select regiment they affected to be, ratified the action of kings and +abolished the Society of Jesus "for ever." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 32: Jacobi's _Das Thorner Blutgericht_, and other documents.] + +[Footnote 33: The _Geschichte der Jesuiten in den Ländern deutscher +zunge_, which the German Jesuits are publishing, has not advanced +beyond the first period.] + +[Footnote 34: Published by the Benedictine monk Dudik in the _Archiv +für Oesterreichische Geschichte_, vol. liv. p. 234.] + +[Footnote 35: See, especially, the sordid details in Dr. von Lang's +_Jacobi Morelli, S.J., amores_, 1815.] + +[Footnote 36: _Archiv für oesterreichische Geschichte_, Bd. 79, pp. +277-354; and Bd. 80, pp. 356-458.] + +[Footnote 37: _Mémoires des R.R.P.P. Jésuites du Collège de Colmar._] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE SUPPRESSION OF THE SOCIETY + + +The blows which were inflicted on the Jesuits by the Catholic monarchs +of Portugal, Spain, and France during the eighteenth century are +historically insignificant in comparison with the suppression of the +Society by the papacy. It is easy to suggest for the conduct of the +rulers reasons which conceal the misdeeds of the Jesuits. Was not Louis +XV. an immoral and unscrupulous ruler, and had not liberalism pervaded +every stratum of higher French society? Was not Joseph I. of Portugal +an unprincipled voluptuary, an irresolute pupil of a minister who could +stoop to forgery? Was not Charles of Spain deluded by a sceptical +minister in collusion with Pombal and Choiseul? Did they not force the +King of Naples to follow their example, and win the Austrian Emperor +with the prospect of appropriating the vast wealth of the Society? +So the excuses run; and it is added that these combined monarchs at +length brought such pressure to bear upon a Pope, whose election they +had secured, that, solely for the sake of peace, without blaming the +Jesuits, he reluctantly penned the famous brief of abolition. + +We have seen that this version of the destruction of the Society, as +far as the Catholic monarchs are concerned, may have some ingenuity +in the pages of an apologist, but could not without absurdity be put +forward as history. Definite, grave, and irremediable grievances +were proved against the Jesuits in each country in which they were +suppressed. We have now to see that the last part of the apologetic +version is equally untrue. It is not true that the Powers secured the +election of Clement XIV.; it is not true that he was pledged to destroy +the Society; and it is not true that he destroyed it for the sake of +peace, without pronouncing on the merit of the charges against it. +We shall find rather that the action of Clement XIV. was the natural +culmination of the attitude of the best Popes toward the Society, that +it was represented by him as such, and that, in condemning the Society, +he collected all the grave charges which were urged against it, and +endorsed them with the papal authority. + +The general fortunes of the Society in Italy until the middle of +the eighteenth century do not merit detailed examination. One +undistinguished General succeeded another in the nominal autocracy of +the supreme office, but the policy of the Society was, at least after +the time of Acquaviva, dictated by the assistants and abler men at +Rome. The Society of Jesus is an aristocracy, not an autocracy. The +charge of despotism is not unjust, if we do not forget how frequently +this despotism has been checked by rebellious "subjects," but it is the +despotism of a few, whose decisions are published by the General. An +incident that occurred toward the close of the seventeenth century will +illustrate this. + +By that time, as we saw, Pascal's _Letters_ had drawn the disdainful +eyes of Europe to the teaching of Jesuit casuists. It makes little +difference that the laxer of these moralists were but a few among +the countless theologians of the Society, because nearly the whole +of the Jesuits taught that, in case of a moral dilemma, a man might +act on the opinion of a single casuist against the opinion of the +remainder. It is true that they added that the one theologian must +have a "grave authority," but, in view of the censorship and approval +of the Society in each case, any Jesuit theologian would be regarded by +admirers of the Society as a grave authority. This famous principle of +Probabilism--the theory that one might follow a "probable" opinion in +matters of moral guilt against "more probable" opinions--which had been +adopted and almost appropriated by the Jesuits, gave great scandal, in +view of the laxity of some of their prominent casuists, and at length a +number of fathers assailed it and tried to remove the stigma from the +Society. + +The most notable of these reformers was Father Thyrsus Gonzalez de +Santalla, an able professor at Salamanca University. About the year +1670 he composed a Latin treatise on "The right use of probable +opinions," and sent it to Rome for examination and approval. The +authorities refused to sanction publication, but in 1676 Innocent +XI., who frowned on the laxity of the Jesuit casuists, heard of the +rejected manuscript and sent for it. Through the Inquisition the Pope +then (in 1680) urged Gonzalez to publish the book, and communicated +to General Oliva a decree to the effect that no father was to be +prevented from teaching Probabiliorism, and that, on the contrary, +none was to be allowed to defend Probabilism. General Oliva drew up +a circular embodying the Pope's commands, which he was ordered to +convey to his subjects, respectfully submitted it to the cardinals +of the Inquisition, and then--suppressed it. Oliva died in 1681, his +successor, Father de Noyelle, died in 1686, and Gonzalez himself was +sent to Rome to take part in the election of 1687. The Pope welcomed +him and intimated that he ought to be raised to the generalship, to +save the Society from the "abyss" into which it was plunging. In spite +of the fierce opposition of the Probabilists, he was elected by a +narrow majority, and in 1691 he sent to the press his Latin treatise. + +The Assistants or Councillors of the General now asserted their power. +They threatened their General that, if he did not withdraw the work, +they would warn the heads of all the Provinces of the Society of the +danger he would bring on them. Father Gonzalez offered to omit his +name from the title-page and cut out a particularly obnoxious section +of the work, but they sternly refused the compromise. He published, +and they denounced their General to the Pope for issuing a theological +work without papal authorisation. There was now so fierce a controversy +in the Society that the Pope suspended the sale of the book, and +remitted the affair to the triennial Congregation of Jesuit Procurators +in 1693. A feverish intrigue and a number of heated pamphlets from +experienced Jesuit pens prepared the way for the Congregation, and, +when it assembled, it voted for the calling of an extraordinary General +Congregation. Numbers of them were threatening to have Gonzalez +deposed. The Pope, however, declared their vote invalid, and the book +was published; but his "subjects"--whom so many regard as corpses in +the hands of a despotic General--persecuted and assailed Gonzalez until +his death.[38] + +The interest of the Italian Jesuits is almost confined to Rome during +this period. They were now so wealthy and powerful throughout Italy +that they held in check the opposing elements, and we find few of those +interesting episodes which saved their earlier career from monotony. In +1656 they secured permission to return to Venice, the last stronghold +of their enemies. The dwindling commerce of Venice was now gravely +menaced by the Turks, and the Jesuits did not scruple to fan the zeal +of the Turks. By the middle of the seventeenth century, Venice was +hard pressed, and compelled to look for assistance. It is said that +the Jesuits paid a handsome sum to the impoverished Republic; it is at +least true, and is the same thing in principle, that the Pope promised +assistance on condition that the doors were opened to the Jesuits. +The dire oaths never to readmit them were reluctantly erased, and the +fathers soon restored their old prosperity. Although wholesome jets +of criticism were constantly directed against them, especially at +Rome, they flourished throughout Italy much as they did in Spain and +Portugal. Hardly a year elapsed without some dying noble bequeathing +them a palace or a country house, or some small town being induced to +invite them to found a college; and when plague or earthquake or famine +desolated the land, and they recovered their heroic mood, a shower of +blessings and benefactions fell upon them. + +Only one serious calamity overtook them during the period we are +surveying. Toward the close of the seventeenth century there was a +violent quarrel between the King of the Two Sicilies and the Pope; +always one of the most painful dilemmas for the Society. The King +claimed a high spiritual authority, and the bishops, supported by the +Papacy, placed an interdict on large areas of Sicily. The civil power +retorted with a decree of banishment against the clergy who obeyed +the Pope, and part of the Jesuits incurred the sentence. Later, when +Victor Amadeo received the island and promised conciliatory conduct, +the Jesuits reopened their churches; but they were directed from Rome +to close them, and were again exiled. Spain then resumed control of +Sicily, and reinstated them. + +In the year 1705, Gonzalez died, and the learned Tamburini succeeded +him. At that time the scandal of the Jesuit concessions in India and +China was added, in the literature of their opponents, to the scandals +of the American missions, and the Papacy was being forced to act. In +1710 and 1715, Clement XI. sternly condemned their practices, and the +Roman Jesuits could do no more than represent, inaccurately, that +their missionaries had submitted. The next Pope, Innocent XIII., found +that this was untrue, and again severely condemned them; but he was +followed by several complaisant Pontiffs, and the Society continued +its irregular ways in all parts of the globe. Edifying utterances on +the part of the Roman authorities were not wanting. Tamburini died +in 1730, and at the Congregation which followed one of the decrees +severely enacted that the fathers of the Society must, in every part of +the world, avoid "even the appearance of commerce," and refrain from +violence in attacking their opponents. No one knew better than these +rulers of the Society the industrial and commercial system which was +then followed everywhere by the fathers, and the devices by which they +silenced their critics; yet no effort whatever was made to enforce the +decree. + +Benedict XIV. came to the papal throne in 1740, and put an end to the +intrigues of the Society in the Roman courts for a time. His bulls +of 1742 and 1744, sternly condemning their contumacious conduct in +India and China, struck a heavy blow at two of their most profitable +missions; but their American missions were veiled by the optimist +assurances of France, Spain, and Portugal; and, when Lawrence Ricci +became General of the Society in 1758, there was little ground for +serious anxiety. Indeed, Benedict XIV. died in that year, and a +friendly Pope, Clement XIII., an Italian noble of conciliatory temper, +received the tiara. By that time (according to a list published in +1750) the Society had 22,589 members, of whom 11,293 were priests. +These were distributed in 669 colleges and 945 residences of less +importance; it is singular, and characteristic of the Society, that +there were only 24 "houses of the professed" to 22,000 members, and +that one half these members were not priests. + +One cloud rested on the horizon when Lawrence Ricci became General; but +even the most timid and despondent observer could not have ventured +to suggest that he was destined to be the last successor of Ignatius. +It had been proved to the satisfaction of the Spanish and Portuguese +courts that the Jesuits had inspired the revolt in Paraguay, and Pombal +had begun his campaign against the Society. The accession of Clement +XIII. in July reassured the Jesuits, but in September of that year the +news came of the attempt to assassinate the King of Portugal, and a few +months later a number of the leading Portuguese Jesuits were in jail. +From that moment the doom of the fathers was sealed in Portugal, and +their efforts were chiefly directed to restricting the contagious area. +Clement was encouraged to resist the Portuguese, and the Spanish court +was induced to regard Pombal as a slanderer. In France, however, the +famous Lavalette case had recently occurred, and a very ominous wave of +indignation against the Jesuits was rising. Choiseul was now known to +be leagued with Pombal in hostility to the Society. + +Ricci, a Florentine noble by birth, a man of quiet and cultivated +taste, was not an ideal ruler for such a period, but as the clouds +gathered thicker he threw all his energy into the combat. Before the +end of the year 1759 he had to make provision for the thousands of +Portuguese Jesuits whom Pombal cynically flung upon the shores of +Italy. In the following year the French courts began to condemn the +Society to pay the debts of Lavalette, and in 1761 the Parlement of +Paris condemned the Society and began the work of repression. In the +fiery controversy which now filled all the Catholic countries of Europe +every questionable episode in the history of the Society, and probably +much that had been added to the historical facts, was discussed and +advertised. Myriads of pamphlets fed the sensations of the people, +and for the first time since the early years of Ignatius the Jesuits +cowered before the storm of obloquy. In 1764, Louis XV. signed the +decree for the abolition of the Society in France, and by 1767 the +Italian provinces were once more swamped with crowds of fugitives. + +Charles III. of Spain had so far firmly resisted the arguments of +Pombal, but in the spring of 1766 the Jesuits of Madrid had drawn on +themselves the suspicion of having inspired a revolt against the royal +authority, and it would be reported to Ricci that the monarch was +sombre and inaccessible. As the year proceeded (and, as we now know, +Aranda completed his case against the order), increasingly gloomy +messages would come from the Spanish court, and in the early days of +April 1767 the news came from the coast that 6000 Spanish Jesuits were +tossing homeless on the waters. Taking the colonies into account, +the Society had now been destroyed in by far the greater part of the +Christian world, and a stupendous amount of its property had been +confiscated. Moreover, it was now known that the French, Spanish, and +Portuguese were pressing the Pope to abolish the Society; and, at least +from the middle of 1767, the prospect of that terrible contingency was +discussed throughout the clerical world at Rome. + +Before the end of 1767 the work began on Italian soil. Charles III. +had passed from Naples to the throne of Spain, and he had left that +kingdom in the charge of a liberal minister, Tanucci, under the rule +of his son Ferdinand IV. Little pressure was needed by the Neapolitans. +On the 3rd of November 1767 the Jesuit houses were surrounded, the +papers seized, and the fathers banished from Southern Italy. A few +months later it was the turn of Parma, and in April the fathers were +driven from Malta, as the Grand Master was a feudatory of the King of +Naples. Whether the idea came from the Jesuits or no we cannot say, +but the Pope concluded that, in the case of Parma, he might retaliate. +He revived an old pontifical claim to the duchy, annulled the sentence +against the Jesuits, and excommunicated those who had banished them. +The allies promptly replied; France seized Avignon, and Naples occupied +Benevento and Ponte Corvo, of the Papal States. + +It was at this juncture that, on the 2nd of February 1769, Clement +XIII. found relief in death, and the historic struggle over the +succession to the papal throne began. On the result of that election +the fate of the Society would depend, and Jesuits and anti-Jesuits +hurried to the arena and used every means in their power to influence +the issue. But the Jesuits and their friends have, not unnaturally, +published as fact every faint echo of gossip in connection with the +election, in order to weaken the significance of their suppression by +the Pope elected; and it must be examined with great care.[39] + +Clement XIII. died on 2nd February, and the Italian cardinals, +especially those of the Papal States, tried to elect a new Pope before +the distant and anti-Jesuit Powers could send their cardinals and +assert their influence. They opened the conclave on 15th February, +and nearly succeeded in electing Cardinal Chigi. It is natural to +suspect, and is emphatically affirmed, that the Jesuits induced them +to take this irregular step, and we know that General Ricci was at +the time hastening feverishly from one prelate to another. We may be +quite sure that the Jesuits used what influence they had to secure a +premature election, but there is another element to be considered. +The cardinals were, in the phrase of the hour, divided into _zelanti_ +and _antizelanti_: cardinals who resented the interference of lay +Powers in the affairs of Rome, and cardinals who thought it politic to +consult the wishes of the Catholic monarchs. Besides these two schools, +however, there were many cardinals who did not adopt a decisive +attitude, and were disposed to be guided by the course of events, or at +least indisposed to meet the violent anger of France, Spain, Portugal, +and Naples. + +When, therefore, the Marquis d'Aubeterre, the French ambassador, and +Mgr. Azpuru, the representative of Spain--the Portuguese ambassador +did not arrive until a later date--protested in the names of their +sovereigns, and demanded that the conclave should be postponed +until the French and Spanish cardinals arrived, the majority of the +cardinals were intimidated, and the _zelanti_ were forced sullenly to +quit their cells in the Vatican. Cardinal Rezzonico, a nephew of the +late Pope, was one of the leaders of the _zelanti_. In the course of +March, Cardinal Luynes and Cardinal Bernis arrived from France. The +former was a mere voter, but Bernis--a suave, conceited, ambitious +prelate, who sought the place of French ambassador at Rome--had been +flattered by the French authorities into the belief that the issue of +the election and the fate of the Jesuits depended mainly on him, and he +applied his small powers to the intrigue with great zeal. Before the +end of April the Portuguese ambassador, Mendoza, and the two Spanish +cardinals arrived, and Rome throbbed with discussion and intrigue. The +anti-Jesuits had a nucleus of six Neapolitan, two Spanish, and two +French cardinals, and the problem was to secure a majority for their +cause among the forty voters. + +It is sometimes said that they won the indifferent cardinals, partly +by bribery and partly by intimidation; but Father Theiner denies +both charges. We have, in fact, the private assurance of Bernis to +his government, which seems to have contemplated bribery, that the +cardinals of that particular conclave were all religious men and +incorruptible. At the most, we may be disposed to admit that the +fact that some of the cardinals had property in the Provinces seized +by France and Naples inclined them to gratify the Powers. As to +intimidation, it seems clear that the ambassadors urged upon individual +voters the grave danger of opposing the wishes of the Catholic +monarchs; but Father Theiner denies that such arguments were used in +the conclave itself. One would imagine that they were superfluous. +Every cardinal knew that the four Catholic kings sternly insisted on +the relief of Parma and the suppression of the Society, and could not +but reflect on the possible consequences of electing a pro-Jesuit Pope. + +Crétineau-Joly represents that the Society and the cardinals in favour +of it had the support of Maria Theresa, and that she sent Count Kaunitz +to Rome to express his support. He maintains that it was only after the +other Catholic monarchs had tempted Joseph II., her son and Emperor, +to covet the property of the Society, that she reluctantly yielded. +This is so demonstrably false as to incur the suspicion of untruth. +Cardinal Bernis wrote to his court on 28th March 1769, long before the +conclave, that Maria Theresa refused to support the demand for the +suppression of the Jesuits, but "could not oppose, and would even be +glad to see it"; so the Emperor Joseph II. stated. In September of the +same year the Nuncio at Vienna gave the same report. Joseph II. himself +came to Rome in March (1769), and the Jesuits clearly learned his +attitude. When he visited their famous church, the Gesù, General Ricci +hastened to greet him, and was jocularly asked "when he was going to +change his coat." Later, when they stood before the solid silver statue +of Ignatius, and Ricci explained that it was due to gifts of friends +of the Society, Joseph observed: "Say, rather, to the profits on your +Indian missions." And the Jesuits would further learn that, when the +Emperor visited the Vatican, he urged the cardinals to elect another +Benedict XIV. On the other hand, the visit of Count Kaunitz was in the +following year, long after the attitude of Maria Theresa was known. +She never wavered in her position, as she expressed it to Clement XIV. +after the suppression; she had no idea of opposing or disapproving what +the Pope thought necessary. Austria was lost to the Jesuits. Only a few +small and unimportant rulers could be induced to plead for them. + +The more difficult problem of the opponents of the Jesuits was to +discover a cardinal who might be trusted to destroy the Society, yet +would have some chance of election. The Spanish ambassador proposed +that a cardinal should be induced to engage himself to abolish the +Society if he were elected. For a time the French ambassador favoured +the idea, but Cardinal Bernis strongly opposed it; and there is +ample proof that it was abandoned before the end of April. There is, +therefore, no serious ground whatever for the charge that Cardinal +Ganganelli promised to destroy the Society if he were elected, as the +French historian is compelled to admit. The only question is whether +Ganganelli gave a written assurance to the Spaniards that in his +opinion a Pope had the power to destroy the Society. General Ricci had +issued a pamphlet in which he contended that the Pope had no power to +abolish the Society, and it would assuredly not be a serious matter +for a cardinal to express his opinion on that point. But it seems +that Ganganelli made no statement to the Spaniards. Some jealousy +had arisen between the representatives of Spain and France, and the +Spaniards vaguely boasted to Bernis of having had some communication +with Ganganelli. Bernis reported that they had some written assurance +from him, but in later letters (ignored by the French historian) he +retracts. On 19th July he wrote that he may have been mistaken: on 30th +November he acknowledged that he was wholly mistaken, and there had +been no "arrangement" between the Spaniards and Ganganelli. The results +of the voting, which are given by Theiner, confirm this. The supposed +arrangement or assurance would have to be dated 15th or 16th May, yet +Ganganelli received just the same number of votes (10) on 14th, 15th, +16th, 17th May. + +The truth is that no one knew what Ganganelli would do if he became +Pope. Formerly a Franciscan monk, he was a man of sincere piety and +unquestioned integrity. It is said that he was ambitious, and attempted +to secure the votes of both parties by remarking to one group that it +was dangerous to offend the Catholic monarchs, and to the other that it +was impossible to sacrifice the Society. This is mere gossip. He was +an elderly man--in his sixty-fifth year--of high character and great +ability. The Jesuit Cordara tells us that Ricci had urged Clement XIII. +to give him the purple, and he had always been on friendly terms with +the Jesuits. There is not the least serious ground for charging him +with acting improperly, and we know that, on 19th May, he was elected +by a unanimous vote. + +Both parties now assailed the Vatican, and engaged officials in its +service to report to them the movements of their opponents and the +moods of the Pope. It is difficult to conceive an elderly friar as +having sought with deliberate ambition the position in which the new +Pope would find himself. The ambassadors of the Powers at once renewed +their demand for the abolition of the Society, while the Jesuits and +their friends and spies maintained a sombre vigilance. Whichever way +the Pope acted he would incur a fierce and dangerous resentment. +Clement XIV. was not the man to sell his conscience for the restoration +of Avignon, Benevento, and Ponte Corvo; but the retention of these +places would not be the only, or the most serious, consequence of +disappointing the Powers. On the other hand, he knew the history and +principles of the Jesuits. It is said that he put his kitchen in the +charge of a friar of the Franciscan order. Whether or no it is true +that he feared poison, he would know that the Jesuits would not meekly +submit to a sentence of death, and the last years of his life would be +full of trouble. + +To the representatives of the Powers the Pope replied that he would +take no step, and would give no encouragement to either side, until +he had made a thorough inquiry into the matter. The Jesuits, however, +soon perceived, or imagined, that Clement favoured the Powers. Twice +in the two months after the election, General Ricci presented himself +at the Vatican, as it was customary for the heads of religious orders +to do on the chief festivals of the order, and twice had he to depart +without seeing the Pope. He increased his vigilance and activity, and +the ambassadors had to adopt various ruses to conceal their intercourse +with the Pope; Bernis had now become ambassador, and was eager to +justify his appointment. In July the spirits of the Jesuits revived, +and it was the turn of the courts to fret and fume. Clement had issued +a brief giving certain sacerdotal powers for seven years to the +Jesuit missionaries who were just starting for the foreign missions. +The Jesuits printed the brief and triumphantly scattered copies over +Europe; the ambassadors angrily protested that this was to flout the +wishes of their monarchs. In point of fact, there was not the least +reason to attach importance to the brief. It was merely the observance +of a form that was customary at the departure of missionaries, and +to have omitted it on this occasion would have been a very grave and +premature indication of an intention to abolish the Society. + +However, the impolitic rejoicing of the Jesuits compelled the Pope +to make some concession to their opponents. It was customary to +republish every year the bull _In Coena Domini_ which a friendly +predecessor had issued in favour of the Society. Clement declined to +sanction its republication in 1769, and another ripple of excitement +ran over Europe. In some places the Jesuits printed and published +the bull themselves, and added another indiscretion to the account +against them. A third and more serious error was committed by them. +The ambassadors pressed more eagerly, and, as Bernis reports to his +court, the Pope replied with dignity that he must consult his honour +and his conscience, and make a prolonged inquiry before deciding. +Choiseul threatened that the ambassadors would be withdrawn if the +Pope did not give them a written assurance within two months, and +Clement again sternly refused. France offered to restore Avignon if he +would give the assurance, and only excited his indignation. This is the +Pope whom the Jesuits and their apologists represent as morally and +intellectually perverse; yet they themselves betrayed, and betray, a +considerable degree of unscrupulousness in the matter. Crétineau-Joly, +ignoring its inconsistency with his whole narrative, quotes a letter in +which Clement is supposed to tell Louis XV. that he will not abolish +a Society that has had the blessing of nineteen of his predecessors. +This letter was forged and published by the Jesuits who lingered in +disguise in France, and the apologist must have been quite aware that +the Pope himself indignantly disavowed it in a letter to the Nuncio at +Paris; indeed, Crétineau-Joly at once goes on to show, from Choiseul's +correspondence, that the French could make nothing of the Pope's +attitude. + +These Jesuit outrages, however, seem to have stimulated the Pope, and +on 25th September (1769) he gave Bernis a written assurance for Louis +XV. that he intended to suppress the Society. A little later Charles +III. of Spain received the same secret assurance. Thirty-four of the +bishops of Spain, led by their cardinals and the Archbishop of Seville, +had written to demand the suppression, and prove that it was not merely +liberal politicians who opposed the Society. In the following February +the seminary at Frascati was taken from the Jesuits and put under +the control of secular priests. The spring and summer passed without +giving fresh hope to the Jesuits. They reported Clement gloomy and +inaccessible, and it is not impossible that they learned that a search +was now being made in the Vatican Archives, and a report being drawn +up on the history of the Society since its establishment. From that +time, in fact, Clement secretly gathered the historical material with +which he was to frame his crushing indictment of the Society. In June, +it is true, Count Kaunitz visited Rome; but, as we know the attitude of +both Maria Theresa and Joseph II., we must accept Theiner's statement +that he urged the Pope to suppress the Society, rather than the French +historian's light assertion that he pleaded for the Jesuits. The +Society seemed to be doomed. + +Then, in the month of December, Choiseul fell from power in France, +and the news fired a train of rejoicing throughout the Provinces of +the Society. D'Aiguillon, believed to be a friend of the Society, had +(with the aid of Mme. du Barry) displaced their great opponent, and the +policy of France would, no doubt, now be reversed. The Jesuits, and the +noble ladies who worked for them at Paris, affected at least to believe +that they would be recalled to France, and that the Pope would no +longer be exposed to the unanimous pressure of the Catholic Powers. But +in his first dispatch to Cardinal Bernis, D'Aiguillon maintained the +policy of his predecessor in regard to the Society. Spain also replaced +its ambassador with a more vigorous representative, Count Florida +Blanca, and the Pope was assailed more vehemently than ever. A piquant +picture is offered to us of the robust Spanish count bullying the aged +Pontiff, who plaintively bares his skin to show Florida Blanca the +eruption which proves that he is ill and cannot be pressed. Bernis's +letters are more reliable; the French ambassador candidly admires the +noble resistance of the Pope to the intriguers on both sides, and his +determination to have his inquiry justly and patiently completed before +he condemns the Society. + +In the course of 1771 and 1772 the Jesuits were convicted of further +indiscretions which strengthened the case against them. In June 1771 +the secretary of the Portuguese embassy was convicted of collusion +with the Jesuits, and banished from Rome; he had communicated to the +Jesuits the dispatches which were received from his government, even +letters to the Vatican, concerning the Society. In 1772 the cause +of the canonisation of Bishop Palafox was before the Congregation, +and, in spite of their extreme peril, the Jesuits made a violent +and unscrupulous opposition. The scurrilous pamphlets in which the +character of the saintly bishop was maligned, and the person of the +Spanish monarch represented as abandoned to the devils, were, of +course, anonymous; but the Jesuits alone had an interest, or thought +they had an interest, in preventing the canonisation of Palafox. +Charles III. redoubled his pressure on the Vatican, and in September +the Roman seminary was taken from them on the just ground of improper +administration. In the same month, Catherine the Great invaded Poland, +and Rome and the other Catholic countries learned with indignation that +the Jesuits had taken the lead in greeting and demanding submission +to the schismatical usurper. They were, as we shall see, currying +favour with Catherine and preparing a retreat from Catholic Europe. +Rome had hardly ceased to discuss this remarkable news when an even +more remarkable incident was reported from Paris. Frederick the Great +cynically informed D'Alembert (in December) that General Ricci had sent +a secret representative to ask him to declare himself "Protector of the +Society of Jesus." A little later, again, Maria Theresa discovered that +her Jesuit confessor Campmüller had, as such confessors were secretly +bound to do, betrayed her confidence to the authorities of the Society +at Rome. + +It is hardly probable that these incidents affected the main policy +of Clement XIV., whose summary of the historical irregularities of +the Society was being slowly compiled, but they enabled him to make a +beginning of open action against the Jesuits. Their administration of +other seminaries and colleges was questioned, and several (including +the Irish College at Rome) were taken from them. In February (1773) it +was announced that the bishops were to receive the powers of "apostolic +visitators," to inspect all the Jesuit residences in their dioceses, +and suppress them where they deemed it necessary. It is suggested that +Clement thought he had discovered a way of demolishing the Society +without issuing a formal decree of abolition, but it is more likely +that he was merely preparing the Catholic mind for a drastic measure. +He appointed only one of these "visitators," Cardinal Malvezzi, +Archbishop of Bologna, and the brief of suppression must have been +drafted before Malvezzi had concluded his work. In point of fact, +Malvezzi had reported to the Vatican that the Jesuits of Bologna were +already disposing of their property, and it was at once necessary +to prevent them from carrying out so irregular a scheme as this. +Malvezzi himself, in his letters to Clement, speaks of the measure as +a preliminary to carrying out the "long-prepared sentence" against the +Society. The Jesuits met the cardinal, who was notoriously hostile +to them, with great insolence, and only added to the feeling against +themselves. + +As the spring of 1773 advanced the conflicting elements at Rome were +thrown into a state of intense excitement. The Pope was proceeding +with the greatest secrecy, but the secrecy itself plainly shrouded +a sentence of death. On 28th May the Pope went into retreat for a +fortnight, and thus escaped the importunities of both parties. In the +few weeks following the retreat he still gave no indication of his +intention, and on 27th June he again went into retreat,[40] and refused +to admit visitors. + +The air of Rome was now tense with expectation, but the secrecy was +maintained with singular success. We now know that the famous brief +(_Dominus ac Redemptor Noster_) for the abolition of the Society was +signed by Clement on 21st July, and that the papal press printed +sufficient copies of it for transmission to each country without a +single breach of confidence. The representatives of the Powers were +privately informed in August that the work was done, but the Jesuits +could not obtain the least information. Clement XIV. accomplished +his task with consummate ability. The Jesuit legends which depict +him signing the fatal decree at a window of the palace by night, +swooning, lying unconscious during the night, and awakening only +to enter into a delirious fit of terror and remorse, are not worth +consideration. They are fables retailed years afterwards by Jesuit +writers (especially Bolgeni), and have not even the artistic merit of +consistency. Crétineau-Joly seems to give them weighty confirmation +by asserting that he had heard _his_ version from the lips of Gregory +XVI. But he singularly fails to tell us what was the precise story +he heard from the later Pope, and Father Theiner bluntly questions +if he knew sufficient Italian to understand Gregory (who never spoke +French on such occasions). In any case, this reproduction, at a remote +date, of pro-Jesuit gossip of which we find no trace at the time, is +historically worthless. According to all the contemporary witnesses +Clement was in excellent spirits after the suppression, and carried +out the difficult work with entire prudence, tranquillity, and good +feeling. + +But the best defence of Clement and the decisive answer to his +detractors is the brief itself which he signed on 21st July, and at +the composition of which he had worked assiduously during his two +"retreats." It is an exceedingly able and convincing document. Jesuit +writers constantly say that Clement XIV. abolished the Society only on +the ground that the peace of Christendom demanded that step, and that +he passed no judgment on the Society itself. Even the recent American +_Catholic Encyclopædia_, which affects candour and accuracy, states, +in the article on Clement XIV. that "no blame is laid by the Pope on +the rules of the Order, or the present condition of its members, or +the orthodoxy of their teaching." This is a disingenuous and most +misleading description of the brief. Clement gives a masterly summary +of the irregularities which had been charged against the Society during +the two hundred years of its activity. While, however, he is frequently +content to speak of these past matters as "charges," he is careful to +add that, time after time, they were endorsed by his predecessors, who +were condemned to take drastic action against the Society; and, when +he comes to deal with the existing Society, which properly concerns +him, he plainly observes that it "can no longer produce the abundant +fruits and the considerable advantages for which it was created," and +he therefore abolishes it for ever. + +It is impossible to insert here the whole text of the lengthy brief, +but an analysis and some extracts will suffice to show this. The brief +opens, after a few introductory remarks of a general nature, with a +long list of religious congregations which had been dissolved by the +papacy. These bodies had been suppressed for their deterioration or +irregularities, and the list is therefore a fitting introduction to the +main work of the brief. The Pope then tells that he has made a thorough +study of the foundation of the Society and the early papal documents +issued in regard to it. He adds: "The very tenor and terms of these +apostolic constitutions [the letters of his predecessors] teach us that +the Society, almost from the beginning, produced within it the germs of +discord and jealousy, and that these not only rent the Society itself, +but impelled its members to rise against the other religious orders, +the secular clergy, the academies, the universities, the colleges, the +public schools, and even against the monarchs who had received them +into their States." Here we have, in categorical form, an endorsement +of all the charges that were made against the Jesuits in the first +century of their existence. + +On account of these disorders, he says, "a thousand complaints against +these religious were made," and the papacy was entreated to reform +them. He recalls the efforts of earlier Popes to reform the Society, +and adds that, as we have seen, they were defeated. "The most lively +controversy arises everywhere about the doctrine of this Order, which +many charged with being wholly opposed to sound faith and good morals. +The bosom of the Society is torn by internal and external dissensions; +amongst other things it is reproached with seeking worldly goods too +eagerly." Here again the categorical note of censure is found, and, +after telling the next efforts of Popes to reform the Society, he says: + + "We have observed with the bitterest grief that these remedies, and + others applied afterwards, had neither efficacy nor strength enough + to put an end to the troubles, the charges, and the complaints formed + against the Society, and that our predecessors, Urban VII., Clement + IX. X. XI. and XII., Alexander VII. and VIII., Innocent X. XI. XII. + and XIII., and Benedict XIV. vainly endeavoured to restore to the + Church the desired tranquillity by means of various enactments, + either relating to secular affairs with which the Society ought not + to concern itself, on missions or elsewhere: or relating to grave + dissensions and quarrels harshly provoked by its members, not without + a risk of the loss of souls, and to the great scandal of the nations, + against the bishops, the religious orders, places consecrated to + piety, and all kinds of communities in Europe, Asia, and America: + or relating to the interpretation and practice of certain pagan + ceremonies tolerated and admitted in various places, apart from those + which are approved by the universal Church: or relating to the use + and interpretation of those maxims which the Holy See has justly + proscribed as scandalous and evidently injurious to good morals: or + relating to other matters of great importance and absolutely necessary + to preserve the purity and integrity of the dogmas of the Christian + religion." + +It is absurd to regard this formidable indictment of a religious body +as a mere list of charges into the justice of which the Pope will not +inquire. It is a list of the charges proved to the satisfaction of +his predecessors, and embodied in the decrees of the Popes whom he +names; and the sternest critic of the Society could hardly frame a +weightier indictment in a few lines. The Pope adds that the measures +of his predecessors for the reform of the Society were fruitless, and +under Clement XIII. "the storms became worse than ever." The Catholic +monarchs, he says, have been compelled by "seditions" and "scandals" +to expel the Jesuits from their dominions and demand the abolition +of the Society. To this demand he has given conscientious attention, +and, "recognising that the Society of Jesus can no longer produce the +abundant fruits and the considerable advantages for which it was +created," he "suppresses and abolishes the Society for ever." The +brief closes with directions for the disposal of Jesuit property, and +a singularly lengthy and subtle development of his sentence to prevent +the casuistic genius of the Jesuits from evading it. + +The brief is, therefore, much more than a declaration that the Jesuits +must be sacrificed in the interest of peace, and the hatred with which +they have pursued the memory of its author has solid ground. It is a +plain and learned demonstration that the step taken by Clement XIV. is +the just culmination of the history of the Society; it says nothing +of leaving open the question of the truth of the charges against the +Jesuits, and the deliberate addition of the solemn words "for ever" +to the sentence of dissolution shows clearly that it contemplates no +temporary situation. The only serious objection urged by the Jesuits +and their friends is that they were not summoned to answer the charges +against them. Clement might have replied that the charges had been +examined, and their defence heard, a dozen times in the history of +the papacy; but his chief reason for rejecting this futile idea of a +trial was probably that he knew well how the Jesuits intrigued on such +occasions. Like Sixtus V. he would certainly have passed away, leaving +the Church in the throes of the struggle, before a verdict was given. + +This brief was, as I said, concealed from all but the five cardinals +who were to carry out the sentence until 17th August. On that day the +Catholic Powers were officially informed of the signing of the brief. +At nine o'clock that evening a band of officials and guards entered +the metropolitan house attached to the Gesù, and ordered Ricci to +summon all his subjects to the refectory. They knew--some of them had +witnessed the same scene in Spain and Portugal--that their hour had +come, but they must have been deeply pained at the wording of the +brief, which was read to them. Their proud Society added to that list +of degenerate congregations which the Vatican had been compelled to +abolish! They were forbidden to leave the house until secular costumes +were provided for them, and the notaries put the papal seal on their +documents. The same evening, or on the next day, the brief was read +in the other Italian houses, and, as the couriers sped to the north, +the disastrous tidings slowly spread gloom and despair throughout the +Jesuit world as far as Holland and Poland. + +The grief of the Jesuits was not less intense than the rejoicing of +their opponents. A laughing crowd stormed the chancellory for copies +of the brief, but few copies had been printed, and its drastic clauses +only gradually became known. Then came the long and stirring period +when the news of the response of the Jesuits came in from every +quarter. The Roman Jesuits quietly left their homes, day by day, as +secular clothes were provided for them. The Pope provided, not only for +them, but for the Portuguese ex-Jesuits, as Portugal refused to fulfil +its promise, and had every effort made to find situations for them in +the service of the Vatican, the secular clergy, or the educational +world. Many merely changed their garments, and continued to be the +confessors of noble ladies or the tutors of their sons. Large numbers +of them lived in community, on their joint pensions, awaiting the +death of Clement XIV. and the restoration of the Society. The chief +trouble in Italy was that offensive anonymous pamphlets were printed +in vast quantities and circulated, and were in some instances traced +to the Jesuits; and that Ricci and his assistants, who remained in +the central house, were detected in a treacherous correspondence with +the insurgents in distant regions, and imprisoned in the fortress of +S. Angelo, where the unhappy Ricci died two years afterwards. Rome +was not indisposed to laugh at anti-Jesuits as well as Jesuits. No +doubt the gossips of the city told each other the fables which Jesuits +reproduced in later years, and their apologist gives as "history"--for +instance, that the diamonds which had adorned the statue of the Madonna +in the Gesù were publicly worn afterwards by the mistress of one of the +prelates charged with the execution of the sentence--but the pro-Jesuit +faction at Rome was completely silenced. + +In the Italian provinces, where the Jesuits commanded the allegiance +of peasants and nobles who were unacquainted with their history, the +anonymous pamphlets circulated briskly, and some more overt attempts +were made to weaken the condemnation. For some time before the +suppression a holy nun of Viterbo had earned repute as an inspired +oracle, and her fame was great among the followers of the Jesuits. +After the suppression her inspiration became richer and more precise, +and the Vatican presently learned that thousands were cherishing her +predictions that the Pope was to die at once, the kings to perish +miserably, Frederick the Great to be converted, and the Society of +Jesus to be quickly restored. A second lady entered the field, with +predictions of a like nature. The Pope ordered that both should be +arrested and an inquiry held by the Bishop of Orvieto. In the rooms of +the ex-Jesuits he found an enormous mass of literature relating to the +prophetesses, and locks of their hair ("and other things which decency +forbids me to mention," says Father Theiner) for sale or distribution +as riches. A judicial inquiry was held, and two of the Jesuits were +condemned to imprisonment in S. Angelo as the chief agents in the fraud. + +In Naples, Spain, and Portugal the news was received with great +rejoicing. In France, according to Crétineau-Joly, it was received +with indignation, and the Archbishop of Paris, speaking in the name of +"the Gallican Church," boldly rejected the Pope's brief, and addressed +a very remarkable letter to His Holiness. There were still bishops in +the French Church who owed their sees to the Jesuits, and Archbishop de +Beaumont had earned their gratitude by defending their casuists. But M. +Crétineau-Joly is here guilty of one of the gravest of the many grave +ruses in this part of his work. The supposed letter, in connection with +which he does not give a word of warning, is a flagrant Jesuit forgery. +It is dated 24th April 1774, yet it is well known that a few weeks +before that date the archbishop had suspended an ex-Jesuit preacher, M. +de la Vrillière, for presuming on his noble connections and fashionable +repute to make a few remarks, in a sermon, on the Pope's action. The +fact is that this forged letter, and one forged in the name of the +Archbishop of Arles, first saw the light in a Jesuit pamphlet eighteen +years afterwards. The French received the news with indifference or joy. + +Austria also at once secularised its Jesuits. In spite of earlier +assurances the Pope had some misgiving about the attitude of Maria +Theresa, and with a copy of the brief he sent her a letter from his +own hand. She replied, as she had said for four years, that what the +Pope thought it proper to do was agreeable to her. Apart from Prussia +and Russia, which we will consider in the next chapter, it was chiefly +in small countries like the Swiss cantons, or on the foreign missions, +that the Jesuits tried to resist. At Lucerne the Jesuits induced the +senate to take the bold step of suspending the execution of the brief +and writing to the Vatican for explanations. They were disdainfully +ignored until they decided to carry out the sentence against the +Society. At Freiburg--this is told as a touching and creditable +incident by the Jesuits themselves--the superior gathered a vast +congregation in their chapel ("to say farewell"), made a most eloquent +discourse on the virtues and services of the Society, and implored +their followers to respect the Pope's orders. Naturally, the effect +was the reverse of pacifying the people, and it took some time to get +rid of the Jesuits in Freiburg. At Soleure and other towns there was +similar trouble. At Cologne the ex-Jesuit Fuller edited the _Gazette_, +and its columns erupted fiery attacks on the Pope, and reproduced all +the unfavourable gossip of Rome about him and his commissioners. They +were to appeal to a General Council against this infamous pontiff. It +was only in June of the following year, after the Nuncio had threatened +to lay an interdict on the town and the authority of the emperor +was invoked, that the Jesuits and their friends were silenced; and +then they merely changed their coats and continued, in their various +positions, to await better days. In Poland the bishops at once began +to execute the brief, but the Jesuits inspired the idea that it was +invalid on a technical ground, and the senate talked of sending an +ambassador to Rome. The struggle ended in the Polish Jesuits taking +shelter, as we shall see, under the authority of Catherine. + +We do not, in a word, find that admirable and meek submission which +is claimed by pro-Jesuit writers, who seem to think that the cases of +vituperative pamphlets which were smuggled from country to country, +and the bold stand made by local authorities here and there, were +quite painful to the condemned fathers. We find, on the contrary, that +from General Ricci downward the Jesuits intrigue or rebel wherever +they have large local support and are not subject to a powerful +Catholic monarch. On the distant missions the sequel was worse than +in Europe. The removal of the Spanish and Portuguese fathers had +demolished most of the missionary provinces, and the condemnation of +their rites had greatly reduced the missions of the French and German +Jesuits. But a few of them still lingered at the court of the Chinese +Emperor or worked secretly in the provinces, and there were more in +Tong-King and India. They resisted the papal brief for three years, +at least in China. From every mission they held they were reported to +the propaganda for insurrection, and the letters which are sometimes +quoted to show how meekly they accepted the sentence were written by +exceptional individuals. A small minority of them were for submission. +Most of them made a hypocritical plea that the emperor (who no longer +recognised their existence as priests, it will be remembered) would not +suffer them to obey. + +When, in 1776, they were forced to yield, they fell into three parties +and entered upon a long and scandalous quarrel about the division of +their property. As late as 1785 one of the ex-Jesuits dragged the +former superior of the Peking mission into the Chinese civil court and +exposed the quarrel. Bourgeois had the disposal of their property, +goods, shops, etc., which were valued at half a million francs, and he +rewarded the members of his own party with a thousand _taels_ each, +and left his opponents in great privation. In 1786 the propaganda +forced them to hand over their missions, which they still controlled, +in secular dress, to others, but they continued for several years to +quarrel with each other and with the other missionaries. The last +chapter of their Asiatic missions is little less than sordid, and it +is sheer deceit to conceal these facts and offer us only one or two +edifying letters written by the better fathers. + +At the time of its abolition the Society numbered 22,589 members +(of whom 11,293 were priests), and owned 669 colleges and 869 other +residences (of which only 24 were "houses of the professed"). It is +needless to add any reflections on the suppression. The papal brief +is the supreme judgment on the Jesuits in the first phase of their +existence. However many devoted and austere members there were among +the twenty thousand, the Society was incurably corrupt. There was +no serious ground to think, after earlier experience, that reform +would succeed; they would not reform themselves--the decrees of their +Congregations were waste paper--and they resisted every papal effort to +reform them. The Society, as a body, was committed to the pursuit of +wealth and power, and in this pursuit it acted invariably as if the end +justified the means. The germs planted in it by Ignatius had ripened. +His followers had sought the wealthy and the powerful, had veiled their +actions in secrecy, and had trampled on their own rules and the rules +of the Church when the end required it. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 38: See a full account in Döllinger and Reusch's _Geschichte +der Moralstreitigkeiten in der Römisch-Katholischen Kirche_ (1889), i. +120-273.] + +[Footnote 39: Two works will give the reader ample material for forming +an idea on the subject. From the Jesuit side there is Crétineau-Joly's +work, _Clément XIV. et les Jésuites_ (1847), though the work is little +more than a reproduction of the fifth volume of the same writer's +_Histoire ... de la Compagnie de Jésus_, and is quite unprincipled +in many of its statements. The other work (_Histoire du pontificat +de Clément XIV._, 1852) is a reply to the preceding, written by the +learned and conscientious Prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives, +Father Theiner. Both contain copious extracts from contemporary +documents, especially the correspondence of the ambassadors. The work +of St. Priest, _Histoire de la chute des Jesuites_, is interesting and +lively, but gossipy and unreliable.] + +[Footnote 40: The retreat is a period, generally a fortnight, in +which priests and nuns devote themselves entirely to prayer and +contemplation. It is usual to do so annually; to go into retreat +twice in six weeks would be regarded as extraordinary and, in the +circumstances, very significant.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE RESTORATION + + +In the brief of suppression Clement XIV. had enumerated a series of +religious congregations which the papacy had abolished on account +of their decay. Most of these had faded from the memory even of +ecclesiastics. Their members had bowed to the papal command, and either +directed their steps to some other religious body or quietly enjoyed +the pensions allotted them out of their property. But there can have +been little expectation that the members of the Society of Jesus, who +were especially pledged to obey the Pope, would submit to the sentence +passed on them. They would, in some form, await the toll of the bells +over the remains of Clement XIV., and, if necessary, over the remains +of the Catholic monarchs. The form which their resistance actually +took, however, was more audacious than their keenest critic could +have anticipated. They persuaded two non-Catholic rulers to prevent +the publication of the brief in their dominions, persuaded themselves +that by this device they escaped the heavy spiritual penalties laid +on rebels by the brief, and flouted every command of the Pope and his +representatives to change at least their name and costume. + +So much has been written on the conduct of Frederick the Great +and Catherine in patronising the Jesuits that we do not share the +astonishment of contemporaries. In his correspondence with the +free-thinker D'Alembert at Paris, Frederick lightly advances one +reason after another for his action. He scouted D'Alembert's warnings. +The Pope had "pared the claws" of the dangerous animals; he had "cut +off the tails of the foxes," and they could not again carry torches +into the cornfields of the Philistines. On the other hand, they were +excellent teachers, and it was immaterial to Frederick what orders the +Pope gave about their costume and domestic arrangements. Pressed more +seriously, he pleaded that when he annexed Silesia he had solemnly +pledged himself to respect the religious _status quo_, and he was +bound in honour to leave the Jesuits there, since they were part of +the situation he had sworn to respect. Even this ostensibly serious +argument was too ridiculous to satisfy his friends. A Protestant ruler +swearing to respect the Catholic arrangements naturally supposes that +he is to do so only as long as the head of the Church desires. The +truth is that, in the first place, the Jesuits provided his State +with a comparatively good scheme of education without cost to his +treasury; and, since they could have taught just as effectively whether +or no they continued to call themselves Jesuits, it is further clear +that Frederick deliberately protected and encouraged their rebellion +in order to secure a larger service from them than merely teaching +arithmetic. They were, as they had so often done for Catholic monarchs +in outlying dominions, to teach loyalty to Prussia and disarm rebels. +Add the fact that the Inquisition had put his writings on the Index, +and the Vatican had obstinately refused to recognise his royal title, +so that he was not indisposed to annoy Rome, and we have a sufficient +explanation of his conduct. + +Until the year 1740 Prussia had remained almost entirely Protestant, +so that it now almost makes its first appearance in the chronicle +of the Jesuits. A small Catholic community existed here and there, +but there was little proselytism, and there was not even a Catholic +bishop. In 1742 Frederick won Silesia from Austria, and thus included +in his dominions a large and disaffected Catholic population. As +D'Alembert reminded Frederick, the Jesuits had done all in their +power to hinder his occupation of Silesia, and they long continued to +foster the Catholic wish to return to Austria. They were, he said in +his _Testament Politique_ (1751), "the most dangerous of all monks," +and "fanatically attached to Austria." But they were a mighty power +in Silesia. The Breslau University and nearly all the schools were +under their control, and a large proportion of the population, having +passed through their schools or enjoyed their ministration, were +vehemently attached to them. Frederick decided that they must remain, +and be watched carefully. In 1746 he examined their system of education +and advised them to send for a number of French Jesuits, who would +raise their standard. We can quite believe that their schools needed +improvement, but Frederick had another advantage in view. A leaven of +French Jesuits would help to counteract the Austrian bias. + +Silesia was still in this condition when, in the year 1772, the Jesuits +found themselves fighting for the life of their Society. Frederick had +privately written that it "ought to be rooted out of the whole world," +and ten years before he had seriously considered a proposal to expel +the Jesuits from his dominions. It now, apparently, occurred to him +that he had a splendid opportunity of conciliating Catholic Silesia +and destroying the pro-Austrian sentiment. Joseph II. had abandoned +the Jesuits to their enemies; Frederick of Prussia would espouse their +cause, and not allow his subjects to be robbed of their ministers. +We saw that the Jesuit General was well informed as to his attitude, +and asked him to pose openly as protector of the Society. He probably +answered that, while a Protestant dare not interfere in the discussions +at Rome, he would keep the doors of Prussia open to them. When the +brief of suppression appeared, he forbade the bishops to publish +it in Silesia, and he offered General Ricci and his colleagues the +hospitality of his dominions. + +From that moment Frederick smiled at the anger of Rome and of the +Catholic nations. The cynical humour of his attitude does not concern +us, but the behaviour of the Jesuits themselves is a grave chapter +in their history. At first, with their wonted casuistry, they +declared that the brief was not binding, as it had not been addressed +personally. When this supposed canonical irregularity was ridiculed, +they, as I have said, pleaded that Frederick conscientiously believed +himself bound to maintain the _status quo_, that he therefore refused +to allow them to change their name, and that the interest of religion +forbade them to ignore the commands of a powerful secular monarch. They +were warned by their own colleagues in Italy that this hypocritically +veiled rebellion was of itself a strong justification of Clement's +indictment of the Society; they were reminded by the papal Nuncio +at Warsaw that they had in fact incurred the penalties specified in +the brief. Of all these warnings they took not the least notice, and +the Catholic world had the singular spectacle of a band of priests +who were understood to be the Pope's body-guard sheltering from his +anathemas behind the shield of a free-thinker. Indeed, they went +further, and, cynically ignoring their plea that they must obey their +monarch, they sought to use Prussia for maintaining or restoring the +full organisation of the Society. The Prussian representative at +London helped them to communicate with the ex-Jesuits of England, and +they proposed that a Congregation should be held at Breslau and a +Vicar-General of the Society elected, as Ricci was still in S. Angelo. +The English ex-Jesuits were, however, too scattered and helpless to +join with them. + +The Nuncio had reported to Clement that it would be unsafe to take +drastic action, as Frederick would be inspired to retaliate. It was +therefore directed that the bishops should refuse to ordain their +growing members or give the usual spiritual powers, and the Jesuits +felt that a serious situation would arise. With their Catholic flocks +they had little difficulty. Clement XIV. was represented as a corrupt +pontiff who had purchased the tiara by a simoniacal promise to destroy +the Society, and who now wandered, almost insane, about the galleries +of the Vatican moaning and crying: "I did it under compulsion." But +they could not live long without the co-operation of the bishops, +and an envoy was sent to Rome, in the name of Frederick, to arrange +a compromise. They were to change their name and dress, modify their +domestic arrangements as little as could be helped, and continue in +their houses and colleges. + +At this juncture, on 22nd September 1774, Clement XIV. died. He was +in his seventieth year and had a chronic ailment (piles). The strain +of the last four years and an acute disappointment in regard to the +return of Avignon, Benevento, and Ponte Corvo had deeply affected his +health. In April, moreover, he had been caught in a shower of rain, +and, although he seemed to recover in the early summer, his condition +became grave in July. By the end of August the succession to the papal +throne was openly discussed. He sank slowly and continuously during the +month of September, and died on the 22nd. It does not seem necessary +to examine minutely the rumour that he was poisoned. His illness cannot +be regarded as other than natural, and the repulsive details about +the corpse which are given in St. Priest seem to be an echo of Roman +gossip. If we decline to accept popular stories concerning Clement's +mental condition--his administration is to the end marked by great +sobriety and prudence--we must also decline to consider these rumours +of poison. The two physicians declared that the death and the condition +of the corpse were, in a sultry September, natural. It would hardly +require much extension of Jesuit principles to sanction the poisoning +of Clement XIV.; historically, however, we have not very serious ground +to charge them with the crime. + +On 15th February 1775 Pius VI. ascended the papal throne. The power +and attitude of the Catholic monarchs was still such that there could +be little chance of restoring the Society, and it seemed safe to admit +a pope who was well disposed toward the ex-Jesuits. It was to Pius +VI. that the Prussian envoy made his proposals, and they were gladly +admitted. Directions were issued that the bishops of Silesia might +grant powers to former members of "the extinct Society," and they +entered upon a new phase of their rebellion. Instead of welcoming +this regularisation of their position, they complained that Frederick +had "gone over to their enemies" (the bishops), as he really had. In +the course of the year 1776 the Silesian Jesuits were practically +secularised. They were forced to abandon their costume, depose their +superiors, and hand over their property to the State in exchange for a +salary. They still lived in communities and enjoyed a certain immunity +from episcopal control, but they were now "Priests of the Royal +Scholastic Institute." + +Frederick invited other ex-Jesuits to join his Institute, and a +salary of 700 florins a year was assigned to each. In this condition +the hundred ex-Jesuits continued to control education in Silesia, and +quarrel with the secular clergy, until Frederick died in 1786. When the +bishops objected to the fathers living in community, Frederick genially +replied that at Rome one hundred and twenty of these ex-Jesuits +were living in community, and he might be permitted to imitate the +indulgence of the Pope. He remained to the end proud of his economical +system of education and his triumph over the Papacy. His successor +modified the Institute in some respects, but the changes were slight +until the year 1800, when it was converted into the "Royal Prussian +Catholic School Direction" and lay teachers were admitted to it. That +was the end of one of the most famous and curious rebellions against +the Papacy. + +Some of the discontented ex-Jesuits passed in 1800 from Silesia to +Russia, and we must now retrace our steps to consider the equally +remarkable rebellion of the Jesuits in that country. Catherine II. had, +like Frederick, sound political reason to patronise the Jesuits. In +August 1772 Prussia, Russia, and Austria took the fragments of Poland +which they had long coveted, and Catherine entered Polish Livonia and +Lithuania with her troops. The ancient kingdom had decayed, as we +saw, in proportion to the prosperity of the Jesuits, and it suffered +the dismemberment with the impotent anger of an aged man. When the +schismatical Catherine came to claim their allegiance, the Catholic +clergy generally stood aloof in patriotic sullenness until the Jesuits +took the lead. The admirable excuse is made for them that they were +indifferent to politics and terrestrial arrangements of government, and +recognised only a duty to obey the sovereign who actually held power. +In point of fact, they knew that Poland had not the faintest hope of +evading its hard destiny, and they hastened to greet the new ruler. + +Catherine's searching eye at once realised the situation. These two +hundred Polish Jesuits had an immense influence over her million and +a half new subjects, and their advances must be met generously. Peter +the Great had excluded Jesuits from Russia for ever; Catherine at +once decreed that this prohibition was repealed as far as her Polish +dominion was concerned, and she expressed a flattering admiration of +their colleges. Her feeling was, obviously, that they would prove +excellent teachers of loyalty to the Poles, but within a few months the +Society was abolished by Clement and a new situation arose. Playing one +of those little comedies which adorn their annals, the Polish Jesuits +addressed to their new sovereign a most respectful entreaty that she +would permit them to obey the command of the Pope. There is no doubt +that this letter, which is reproduced with admiration in complimentary +histories of the Jesuits, is genuine; it is, however, not explained +how the Jesuits would lessen their usefulness to Catherine by changing +their name and costume, and why they needed this imperial permission to +make a change which did not concern her. + +Catherine and the Jesuits had enough in common to understand each +other. They wished her to forbid them to obey the Pope, and they would +prove grateful. Catherine at once refused to allow them to change their +names and their coats, and they reported to Rome that the secular +power forbade them to comply with the brief, and, in the interest of +religion, they must obey her. The situation was so scandalous, since +the Papal Nuncio insisted on the dissolution of the province, that some +of the more scrupulous of the fathers were abandoning their houses +and seeking secularisation. To meet these secessions a letter from +Clement to the Bishop of Warmie (an ex-Jesuit) was published, and in +this letter Clement was represented as approving the existence of the +Society in Russia. Although this letter is reproduced seriously by the +French historian of the Society, it is a flagrant forgery. Clement and +his Nuncio protested to the end against the position of the Polish +Jesuits, and the course of the story will show that they themselves +took no serious notice of this supposed authorisation. It is not the +only untruth we shall have to trace to them. + +When Pius VI. was elected, they at once applied to him for counsel in +their difficult situation, but the representatives of France and Spain +were closely watching the new Pope, and he did not venture or deign to +reply. Their uncanonical position was now causing the Jesuits the same +concern about the future as it had given their colleagues in Prussia, +and Catherine made a direct application to Rome for a remedy of their +inconvenience. The Pope thought that he might escape the importunities +of the ambassadors by conferring on the Bishop of Mohilow full power +to deal with the fathers. This friendly prelate had, no doubt, been +suggested by them, as he at once granted them the desired permission +to establish a house for novices. To complete the comedy, the Pope, +through his Secretary of State, protested that he had not contemplated +this step when the representatives of France and Spain complained. The +Jesuits paid no heed to his diplomatic protest, opened the novitiate, +and entertained Catherine herself at their new foundation. + +The powers of the Bishop of Mohilow had now served their purpose, and +the Jesuits asked Catherine to curtail them and permit them to elect +a General as their constitutions directed. Catherine (in 1782) issued +a ukase in accordance with their wish, but the bishop was alienated +by their duplicity, and he appealed to the Senate and secured an +order that the Jesuits were to obey him. Strong in the favour of the +Empress and of Prince Potemkin, the Jesuits ignored the decree of the +Senate, and went on to elect a Vicar-General and Assistants. In order +to obtain papal indulgence of this conduct they induced Catherine to +send the ex-Jesuit Bishop Benislawski to Rome. Pius VI. dare not issue +a written authorisation of their position--another proof that the +letter of Clement was a forgery--but Benislawski reported that the Pope +had said emphatically to him: "I approve the Society in White Russia. +I approve it." Again the French historian reproduces this statement +unreservedly as fact. But the mendacious bishop was so indiscreet as +to make his statement before he left Rome and have it published at +Florence, and the Pope indignantly denied it. The bishop was ordered to +leave Rome, and, as Theiner shows, Pius VI. issued two briefs denying +that he had approved the Society (29th January and 20th February). M. +Crétineau-Joly seems to prefer to think that it was the Pope who lied. + +To the remote wilds of Lithuania the Roman quarrel had little chance +of penetrating, and Bishop Benislawski presently returned with the +happy assurance that the Pope approved their position; the monarchs +prevented him from issuing a brief, but he sent this oral message to +justify the fathers in their consciences. The lie was propagated among +the ex-Jesuits of Europe, and many of them abandoned their pensions or +positions and made their way to Russia. It seems that there were other +features of the Society retained besides the art of mental reservation. +Crétineau-Joly generously observes that after 1785 the Russian fathers +"construct cloth-factories, a printing press, and all that is necessary +for such exploitations": a complete business-system, in other words. +It is remarkable that even in these circumstances, when they were +pressing for a restoration of their Society, the Jesuits would not +abandon their improper practices. + +The death of Catherine in 1796 did not affect the position of the +fathers. She had entrusted the education of her son to Father Gruber, +one of the ablest members of the Society in Russia, and when Paul came +to the throne he declared that he would maintain the patronage which +his mother had given to the Society. It is true that Paul gave them +some concern from the beginning. The Vatican had now so far reconciled +itself to the anomalous situation as to take advantage itself of the +influence of the Jesuits and send a Nuncio to St. Petersburg. The +Russian laws strictly forbade proselytism, as it is important to +realise. Paul, like Catherine, tolerated the Jesuits only on condition +that they ministered to their co-religionists, educated youth, and +made no effort to disturb the faith of members of the Greek Church. +Under these conditions he regarded them as a useful aid in carrying +out the national reforms which had been initiated by Peter the Great. +But Paul was tempted to interfere in the spiritual government of +his Catholic subjects, and, when the Nuncio politely protested, the +autocrat bade him leave Russia. Gruber tactfully mediated between the +two, and the Nuncio was allowed to return. One is almost tempted to +think that Gruber, an exceedingly astute Jesuit, arranged the quarrel +for the purpose of mediating, as we find him afterwards speaking of the +"debt" of the Holy See to him and his colleagues, and a very remarkable +understanding between the _zelanti_ cardinals and the irregular Jesuits +can be traced at this time. + +Pius VI. died in 1799, refusing with his last breath to disturb +the Church in Europe by sanctioning the Jesuits, even in Russia. +After his death the Venetian senator Rezzonico was sent by the +ultramontane party to St. Petersburg to ask the protection of Paul +for the forthcoming conclave; and the only meaning we can attach to +this embassy is that the schismatical Tsar was to counteract the +intimidation of the Catholic monarchs and enable the cardinals to +elect a pope who would restore the Society. By this time the French +Revolution had run its tragic course, and the ex-Jesuits were loudly +proclaiming everywhere that it was the natural development of the +forces which had demanded the suppression of the Society; that, if +these wild and devastating forces were not to wreck civilisation in +Europe, they must be recalled to put a check on them. There was a +growing disposition to listen to their plausible sermon, or at least +to perceive that if the Jesuits were restored on condition that they +checked the new spirit, they might prove a powerful auxiliary to the +legitimate monarchs. The Bourbons had been swept from France; Charles +III. had gone the way of his fathers and D'Aranda was powerless; Naples +was beginning to desire a fence of Jesuits to protect itself from the +northern pestilence. + +The Tsar was greatly flattered by the proposal that he should assert +his power in the metropolis of Christendom, but it is difficult to +find that he had any material influence. Portugal and Austria alone +still resisted the design of restoring the Society, and Austria was +fully occupied in meeting the troops of Napoleon. Hence the cardinals +had little difficulty in securing the election of Chiaramonti, who, as +Bishop of Tivoli, had openly expressed his reluctance to carry out the +brief of suppression. Pius VII. was now a feeble and retiring old man, +a former member of the Benedictine Order: a strange figure to place +upon a throne which was presently to be exposed to such violent storms. +But Napoleon was not yet Emperor, and the Papacy was still a quiet +and puzzled spectator of the extraordinary developments in Europe. +Within six months of his election Pius VII. received from the Tsar a +pressing request for the approval of the Society, and on 7th March 1801 +he solemnly recognised its existence in Russia. We shall see presently +that the Russian fathers had already, with the connivance of Pius VI., +sent a colony into Parma, at the request of the duke, and that various +groups of thinly disguised Jesuits had appeared in different parts of +Europe. The Jesuits had now a substantial hope of recovering their +power. + +We have already seen that the Jesuits were not in the least chastened +by their severe punishment, and the position of Gruber at the Russian +court is an interesting illustration of this. He had much the same +relation to Paul I. as La Chaise to Louis XIV. or Lamormaini to the +Emperor. Matters of pure Russian politics were submitted to him, and +he was hated and flattered by the Russian courtiers. Indeed, about +1800 we find him engaged in just such an intrigue as the older Jesuits +loved. Napoleon wished to detach the Tsar from his English alliance, +and was rapidly developing the idea of his middle career--the proposal +to divide Europe between the thrones of France and of Russia. He wrote +confidentially to Gruber, artfully suggesting that a co-operation with +his plan would be to the advantage of the Society, and Gruber, who +could see the future of Napoleon, entered zealously into his part. One +wonders whether the history of Europe might not have run differently if +Napoleon had followed up this idea, and restored the Society of Jesus +as the chief element of his "spiritual gendarmery." On the other hand, +Paul instructed his representatives in the Near East to obtain access +for the Jesuits, and the first step was taken in the restoration of the +foreign missions. + +Paul died in the spring of 1801, and the warier Alexander came to the +throne. He quietly assured the fulsome Jesuits that he approved and +would maintain the Russian patronage of the Society, but it is clear +that he kept a more critical eye on their conduct than his predecessors +had done. And the fathers now embarked on enterprises which it was +certainly expedient to watch. Paul had assigned to the Jesuits the +Roman Catholic church at St. Petersburg, and to this church was +attached the privilege of opening a school. In the course of 1801 and +1802 some of the ablest fathers were sent there from the chief centre +at Polotzk, and a school for the sons of the nobles was opened and +obtained large numbers of pupils, Russian and Catholic. There also +appeared at St. Petersburg, as Sardinian envoy, the famous French +writer, Joseph de Maistre, who was at that time in his first fervent +admiration of the Society which he knew so little. Whether or no the +Jesuits had secured this appointment, he proved a valuable auxiliary. +There was as yet, under the able leadership of Gruber, no cause for +dissatisfaction. In the new provinces which Alexander was developing +the Jesuits worked devotedly and usefully among the colonists; the +great Tsar had no more zealous and effective apostles of loyalty. In +the schools, also, their teaching was irreproachable. Provision was +made even for the training of the youths in the doctrines of the Greek +Church. + +The work of the restoration of the Society proceeded smoothly. In +October 1801 the older fathers had met in Congregation and elected +Gruber General of the Society. From this month we may plausibly date +the restoration of the Society, since its former members were free, and +were invited, to come from all parts of Europe and place themselves +under the authority of Gruber. In the summer of 1803 Gruber sent a +father to Rome, "to watch the interests" of the Society. Being a +member of an authorised body, he retained his costume, flaunted it in +the eyes of the astonished Romans, and visited the Vatican in it. Men +felt that the ghost would soon be followed by a resurrection. In the +following summer Gruber received from the Pope a genial notification +that Ferdinand of the Two Sicilies desired to have a number of fathers +for the education of youth in his kingdom, and Pius was willing to +oblige him. On 6th August 1804 the Society was restored in the Two +Sicilies. In the meantime other Societies which were more or less +secretly Jesuit, and various communities of ex-Jesuits in different +parts of Europe, were returning to the obedience of the General, but we +will dismiss the Russian episode before dealing with these. + +In the year 1805 Gruber lost his life in a fire, and the Russian +Society fell under a less astute leader. Father Bzrozowski was elected +General, and for a few years he was content with a quiet development of +the policy of his predecessor. In 1811, however, he requested the Tsar +to raise their chief college at Polotzk to the rank of a university, +and allow it to control all the schools maintained by the Society. This +would remove them from the control of the Minister of Cults, and make +them an integral part of the system of education under the Minister +of Public Instruction; it would also emancipate their schools from +the control of the St. Petersburg or the Vilna University. Alexander +seemed to be impressed by their specious argument that a healthy +rivalry would raise the standard of education, and their promise that +_their_ education would be both cheaper and sounder (less liberal +and cosmopolitan) than the purely Russian. But the proposal raised +the first great storm against the Jesuits in Russia. For some time +there had been a growing resentment against them. Russian nobles and +officials and priests angrily recalled the power which a Jesuit priest +had had at the court, and lamented the growth of Roman Catholicism. +The Jesuits retorted that they had not received a single one of their +pupils into the Roman Church; it will appear that they had discreetly +sent to other priests the pupils in whose minds they had sown the seeds +of conversion. + +Then Joseph de Maistre took up his eloquent pen in their behalf and +the battle was won. In 1812 the Polotzk college was raised to the rank +of a university, and began to educate the sons of noble or wealthy +Russians. In the course of time there were as many as two hundred noble +youths, of the Greek faith, sitting on its benches, and, as usual, the +interest of the fathers in their pupils led to a respectful concern +about their mothers and sisters. It was noticed that many were received +into the Roman Church: though never by Jesuits. European politics had +for some years distracted the attention of the Tsar, but the critics +of the Society had in 1812 received a powerful reinforcement in the +shape of agents of the English Bible Society. Alexander was at war with +Napoleon and in close alliance with England, and the Bible Society took +advantage of the political situation to enter St. Petersburg. They +brought a rich supply of information about the Jesuits and stimulated +the vigilance of the Russians. The mysterious growth of secessions to +Rome since the opening of the Jesuit college for nobles in the capital +led to fiery discussions. + +At last, in 1814, the young Prince Galitzin, nephew of the Minister +of Instruction of that name, joined the Church of Rome. He was in +his sixteenth year, and had been attending the Jesuit classes for +two years. His uncle, a stern critic of the Jesuits, now entered +upon a violent campaign against the Society, and the city rang with +denunciation of their secret machinations. It was discovered that the +real number of conversions to Rome had been concealed, as the converts +had been instructed to practise their new religion only in secret. +There was an intense agitation, and the Jesuits thought it prudent to +close their schools to all but the sons of Roman Catholics. It was +too late. Priests and professors maintained the stormy agitation and +nervously endeavoured to unveil the secret Catholics. + +In the midst of this agitation Alexander returned from France, after +the final defeat of Napoleon, and both parties appealed to him. +His answer was a _ukase_, issued in December, sternly ordering the +Jesuits to close their schools and quit St. Petersburg. In cold and +measured language he recalled that they had been admitted on the strict +understanding that they were not to proselytise, and he denounced their +"breach of confidence." They were expelled for ever from St. Petersburg +and Moscow, and in the Catholic Provinces they were to return to the +subject condition they had had up to the year 1800. On the night of +20th-21st December the police entered their colleges and read the +Tsar's order. On the following day they were compelled to abandon the +noble ladies of St. Petersburg, and, in the depth of winter, set out on +the long sledge-ride to Polotzk. Alexander kindly provided them with +furs and directed that they should be treated with consideration, but +he was convinced of their guilt. In a later letter, indeed, the General +admits that some of the fathers had been making converts among the +ladies of the capital; and the Jesuit maxims in regard to truthfulness +are such that we may question whether this was done without his +knowledge, as he says, and may be pardoned if we entirely ignore the +assurance of the Jesuits that they had nothing to do with the numerous +conversions of their pupils. Not only the general law of Russia, but +a special imperial decree of the year 1803 forbade proselytism, and +this decree had been forced on the attention of the Jesuits. "For the +greater glory of God" they had once more trampled upon a strict and +honourable human engagement. + +Bzrozowski died five years afterwards, and they appealed for permission +to elect another General. By this time, as we shall see, the Society +had been restored, and the Italians were impatiently awaiting the death +of the Russian General, but Alexander spared them the evil of a schism +in the Society. It was reported to him that the Jesuits continued +to break their engagement. Prince Galitzin drew up a long memoir in +which he showed that they had been busy proselytising, sometimes +with violence, since 1801; the local authorities had had to restrain +them in some of the outlying provinces. They had, he alleged, told +their converts in the capital to continue externally to observe the +Greek religion, as the Pope had given permission for them to do so. +They had continued to proselytise among their pupils and among the +soldiers in Lithuania and in the other provinces, and they managed +their estates so unskilfully or so unjustly that swarms of their +peasants wandered as mendicants over the roads of Russia. We cannot +control these statements. The memoir was printed and published by the +imperial authorities, and the Jesuits were ordered to evacuate Russian +territory. From their estates and princely colleges in Lithuania and +Livonia, as well as from the poor colonies in the Caucusus and Siberia, +where many of them had worked in the finer spirit of the Society, they +sadly turned their faces toward the west from which they had been +driven. + +The third element in the restoration of the Society takes us back to +the year 1794, when a few young priests, refugees from revolutionary +France, attempt in Belgium to set up a purified Jesuitism under another +name. The most prominent was the Abbé Count de Broglie (son of the +famous marshal). He and a few others discussed a plan of covertly +embodying the principles of Ignatius in a new society, and consulted +some of the ex-Jesuits. Father Pey, of Louvain, became their director, +and in February 1794 they took possession of a country house given them +by a Louvain banker and entitled themselves the "Congregation of the +Sacred Heart of Jesus." Two nobles from the "emigrant" regiment joined +them, but the six recluses were presently swept out of Belgium by the +army of the French Republic, and they made their way on foot--the +Society was to be restored on its purest models--to Augsburg. A few +more were added to their number, and simple vows were taken. Ex-Jesuits +watched them with interest, and they sought to be admitted to the +Russian Society. Then they were minded to go to Rome, as Ignatius and +his companions had done, and offer their services to the Pope, but the +French blocked the way and soon forced them to fly to Vienna. + +They were now seventeen in number, and they induced a score of refugee +bishops to appeal to the Pope for his approval of the Congregation. +Meantime they founded a novitiate at Prague and a house at Hagenbrunn, +near Vienna. The whole structure of the late Society of Jesus was +copied, and the studies were re-established. At last, in 1798, the +Vienna Nuncio brought them to the notice of the Pope. They had not +forgotten the counsel of Ignatius to cultivate wealthy ladies, and the +Emperor's sister, the Archduchess Marianne, was an ardent supporter. +Pius VI. was, however, as we saw, not bold enough to restore the +Society, or the times were not yet ripe. He expressed a warm interest +in the community and suggested that they should enter into relations +with a similar body, the "Society of the Faith," which had been founded +in Italy. + +The ex-Jesuit Caravita at Rome had amongst his followers an +enterprising young man named Paccanari, the ambitious son of a Tyrolese +tailor. Paccanari was the leader of a group of young men who, under +the inspiration of Caravita, went out to visit the sick and instruct +the ignorant, as the early Jesuits had done. They presently formed a +"Society of the Faith of Jesus," and, to make their meaning plainer, +adopted the costume and constitutions of the ex-Jesuits. The Roman +authorities demanded a slight change in their costume, but otherwise +connived at their growth. It was 1798: Louis and Charles III. were +dead, and the aristocratic world was sighing for a Jesuit bridle on +revolution. At the end of that year they opened a novitiate at Spoleto, +took the three vows, and added a fourth vow to obey the Pope. The Pope +needed a special regiment just as much as he had done in the days of +Luther. The new pestilence from the north had descended upon Italy, +and Pius VI. was in exile at Florence. Paccanari visited him, with +the connivance of the Pope's ex-Jesuit secretary, and told him of the +"Fathers of the Faith" who had enlisted in his special service. Pius +approved, and told Paccanari that a similar body already existed in +Austria. + +In the early months of 1799 Paccanari set out for Vienna, to explore +the rival community and see if it could be brought under his authority. +His voyage through the Austrian dominions taught him how ripe the +time was for such an enterprise, as prelates and ex-Jesuits received +him with gladness. At Padua the Count San Bonifacio (an ex-Jesuit) +provided a house for ten of his companions; at Venice the higher +clergy caressed him. The only feature that restrained the enthusiasm +of the old Jesuits was that Paccanari hinted that the Society had +become corrupt and it was necessary to build again on the primitive +foundation. In their view Europe was again prepared for political +Jesuitry, and there was no need to go through the laborious preliminary +stages of nursing the sick and travelling afoot. At Vienna the new +Emperor, Francis II., received him graciously, and the Archduchess +Marianne contracted a lasting regard for him. + +The energy and ability of Paccanari soon removed the hesitations of the +Sacred Heartists; they abandoned their name, fused with the Society of +the Faith, and repeated their vows to Paccanari as their superior. A +regular Province was now constituted, with Father Sineo as Provincial, +and Paccanari went on to visit Prague, where the Archduchess and the +novitiate were. Here the ambitious youth made the first mistake of his +singular career. Ignatius had strictly enjoined that the Jesuit order +should never have a feminine branch, as so many of the religious orders +had, but the Archduchess and other noble dames were so devoted to the +new enterprise that Paccanari permitted or persuaded them to take vows +and promise obedience to the General of the Society of the Faith. Many +of the ex-Jesuits now regarded him as an innovator and began to watch +his career with distrust. He found many wealthy patrons, however, and +little colonies were sent to England (to which I will refer later), +France, and Holland. There were in a few years several hundred members +of the new Society, and, as the Russian Jesuits had now been recognised +by Pius VII., Paccanari was urged to combine with them. + +He refused, or procrastinated, and from that time the members of his +Society began to abandon their obedience to him and seek incorporation +in the genuine order. The Archduchess clung to Paccanari for many +years, and the prestige of her association won respect for him. At +Rome, where she and her companions had turned her palace into a +convent, she bought a house and church for her esteemed director, and +he set up a community of thirty fathers under the eyes of the papal +authorities. He was now at open war with the ex-Jesuits, who swarmed +at Rome, and, when they slighted his title of General, he retorted +that the brief approving the Society in Russia had been extorted from +Pius VII. He might now have accepted the idea of fusion, but the +Russian General, to secure his authority, insisted that he would only +admit the Paccanarists--as they were popularly called--singly, and +would not entertain the idea of a corporate union. Paccanari fought +resolutely for his fading authority. In 1803 the London Fathers of the +Faith deserted him and transferred their obedience to Gruber. In 1804 +the more numerous French fathers renounced his authority and joined +the Russians; in the same year the Society was restored at Naples, +and many of the Paccanarists joined it. The Pope remained indulgent +to the falling "General," in consideration of his archiducal friend, +and his Society lingered in Italy, Austria, and, especially, Holland. +At last definite charges were formulated against Paccanari, probably +by the older Jesuits, and the would-be reformer was committed to the +papal prison for a luxury of manners that was inconsistent with his +professions. He was released by the French troops when they invaded +Rome, but his prestige had gone, and, flying to the hills from his +Jesuit persecutors, the second Ignatius perished ignobly at the +hands of brigands. The Society of Jesus was formally restored soon +afterwards, and the Paccanarists threw off their thin disguise and +joined it. + +We have already seen the various steps by which the restoration of the +Society was prepared in Italy. In 1793, Ferdinand of Parma had boldly +invited the Russians to send him some Jesuits for the education of +youth in the Duchy, and Pius VI. had genially closed his eyes when they +set up five colleges and began to attract old members of the Society. +Then came the French campaign in Italy and a more bitter resentment +than ever of the new spirit which was invading Europe and shaking +the legitimate thrones. In 1804, when it was realised that Napoleon +had destroyed the pestilential Republic only to set up an even more +dangerous power, Ferdinand of Sicily applied to General Gruber for a +band of Jesuits to instil "sound" ideas into the minds of his subjects. +Then came Austerlitz, and a French army was set free to put Joseph +Bonaparte on the throne of the Two Sicilies. Once more the Jesuits had +to fly from Naples with their protecting King (and, especially, their +protecting Queen), but the presence of the English fleet confined the +French to the mainland and the Jesuits of Sicily were unassailable. In +a few years they attained enormous wealth and power, and it would not +be unjust to connect the long somnolence of that beautiful island with +the profound influence the Jesuits had on it in the first half of the +nineteenth century. + +In 1809 it was the Pope's turn to quail before this terrible +incarnation of the new spirit. The Papal States were annexed, and Pius +VII. set out for four years of bitter exile. He returned in 1813, and +saw the allies closing round the falling monarch. In the spring of +the following year Napoleon abdicated, and the restored monarchs set +about the task of deleting the past twenty years from the history of +Europe, and stamping out the last sparks of the liberalism which was +understood to have led to the French Revolution. It was the moment +for restoring the Society of Jesus. The monarchs who had pressed for +its abolition were dead, the new generation had never realised its +power and irregularities, and the Jesuits themselves had for twenty +years confidently proclaimed that the terrors Europe had experienced +were the direct result of taking from them the education of the young +and the spiritual guidance of the adult. This fallacy was promptly +answered, and need not detain us. The Revolution was due to the +maintenance of mediæval injustices in a more enlightened age, and the +Jesuits, with all their power over kings, had never uttered a syllable +of condemnation of those old abuses. We shall see that they lent all +their recovered influence to the task of maintaining them even in the +nineteenth century. + +The truth is that the restoration of the Jesuits was an act of the +Papacy for which there was no justification in Catholic opinion. In the +bull _Sollicitudo_, which contrasts so poorly with the reasoned and +virile brief of Clement XIV., Pius VII. ventured to say that he was +complying with "the unanimous demand of the Catholic world." This was, +as the Pope knew, wholly untrue. Spain alone, of the great Powers--if +we might still call her great--was interested in the restoration. +Austria and France had no wish to see the Jesuits restored, and would +not suffer them to return to power when the Pope willed it; Portugal +protested vehemently against the restoration. Pius VII. acted on his +own feeling and that of petty monarchs like the Kings of Sardinia +and Naples. He believed that the Jesuits would be the most effective +agency for rooting out what remained of liberalism and revolution. He +initiated that close alliance between the Society and reaction which +has been the disastrous blunder of the Jesuits for the last hundred +years. But it was the price of their restoration. + +The bull was issued on 7th August 1714, and read in the Gesù the same +day. In presence of a distinguished gathering of ecclesiastics and +nobles, the Pope said mass and then had the bull read. Some fifty +members of the suppressed Society had been convoked for the occasion, +and we can imagine that it was a touching spectacle to see these +aged survivors of the mighty catastrophe--one was in his hundred and +twenty-seventh year--return in honour to their metropolitan house. +The Gesù and the house attached to it had been maintained in proper +condition. The solid silver statue and the more costly ornaments of +the church had been sold, to meet the demands of France on the papal +exchequer, and the library of the house had disappeared. But the +community of secular priests who had been in charge during the years of +suppression were mostly ex-Jesuits, and they had reverently maintained +the home until their scattered brothers could return. The novitiate +also was restored; the old fathers were summoned from their vicarages +and colleges and myriad professions; a Provincial and Vicar-General +were elected; and the Jesuits spread rapidly over the Papal States. The +cloud of Napoleon's return chilled their enthusiasm for a month or two, +but they presently heard of Waterloo and settled down to the task for +which they had been restored to life. + +The response of the Catholic world was, as I said, a painful commentary +on the Pope's words. The flamboyant bull, permitting and urging +Catholic monarchs to re-establish the Society of Jesus, made its way +over Europe in the course of the next few weeks. Parma and Naples +already had their Jesuits. The Duke of Modena at once admitted the +Society, and Victor Emmanuel, whose brother had surrendered the crown +to him in order to enter the Society, naturally opened his kingdom +to them. Ferdinand VII. of Spain, the most brutal and unscrupulous of +the restored monarchs, abrogated the decree of expulsion, and warmly +welcomed the Jesuits to co-operate with him in the sanguinary work +which we will consider in the next chapter. John VI. of Portugal +refused to admit "the pernicious sect" into his kingdom. Louis XVIII., +even when urged by Talleyrand, refused to sanction the presence of the +Jesuits in France. Austria refused to recognise them in its Empire, +which still included Venice. Bavaria excluded them. And it took +the Jesuits years of intrigue to penetrate the Catholic cantons of +Switzerland. + +This was the reply of Catholic Europe to Pius VII. In spite of the +strident offer to combat liberalism which they made in tracing +the Revolution to their absence, they were still excluded from +three-fourths of the Catholic world. The indictment of them by Clement +XIV. had not been answered by Pius VII., nor had their conduct in +Russia and Prussia won esteem for them. They offered no serious +guarantee of better behaviour. How they overcame this resistance and, +in the course of a century, almost returned to their earlier number, +and whether adversity had purified their character, are the two +questions that remain for consideration. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE NEW JESUITS + + +For a few years after the restoration the Italian Jesuits were fully +occupied with the reorganisation of their body, the recovery of +their property, and the absorption of the lingering Paccanarists and +survivors of the older Society. It is clear that, had it not been for +the partial restoration in Parma and Naples, the Society would long +have remained feeble. How many still lived of the 22,589 followers of +Ignatius who had been expelled from their homes forty years before we +do not know, but there was by no means a rush to the colours when the +regiment was reformed. It was difficult also to recover their property. +In spite of the generosity of the rulers of Piedmont, Naples, and the +Papal States the work proceeded slowly. It is in the year 1820 that we +catch a first interesting glimpse of the reconstituted body. + +At the beginning of that year General Bzrozowski died at Polotzk, a few +months before the Jesuits were expelled from Russia, and the Italians +hastened to hold an election. Before he died the General had appointed +Father Petrucci Vicar-General, and this official came to Rome and, +in conjunction with his fellow-Italians, fixed the election for 4th +September. We are not, of course, permitted to know the whole truth in +regard to this election, but such facts as we know clearly show that +the Italians were determined to regain control of the Society. There +seems, however, to have been a deeper quarrel. Some of the younger men +and the ex-Paccanarists wished to reform the constitutions, and they +had the support of Cardinal della Ganga, the Pope's Vicar (and later +Leo XII.); the older men opposed reform. But what the precise position +of Petrucci was it is impossible to decide. Crétineau-Joly, who alone +has had access to the archives and has used his privilege in such a way +as to make the quarrel unintelligible, offers the ridiculous suggestion +that Petrucci and the cardinal wished to destroy the Society. + +However that may be, Petrucci tried to have the election held before +the Poles arrived, but there was a spirited Breton member of the +Russian Province, Father Rozaven, in Rome at the time, and he appealed +to the cardinal. Petrucci then wrote to the Poles to say that they must +postpone their voyage to Rome, but Rozaven exposed the trick to them +and they reached Rome early in September. There must have been a most +unedifying turmoil in the Jesuit house, as, instead of an election on +4th September, we find Cardinal della Ganga intervening on the 6th +to say that a commission, with him and Cardinal Galeffi at its head, +had been appointed by the Pope to adjudicate on their quarrels. A +week later the commission found that Petrucci was to have the powers +of a general, but the two cardinals were to preside at the election. +The account given us by the French historian is bewildering in its +confusion, and is evidently intended to screen an angry conflict of +personal and national ambitions and of reformers and anti-reformers. + +The party opposed to Petrucci (and, presumably, to reform) now appealed +to Cardinal Consalvi and denounced their Vicar-General. Consalvi +had little interest in the Jesuits, but, as they knew, he was not +disinclined to thwart della Ganga. He secured the calling of the +Congregation in October. It seems to have been the most lively and +impassioned election that the old house had ever witnessed. Petrucci +ruled that the voters from England and France and part of Italy had +no canonical right to vote; the Congregation overruled him, and, when +he protested, deposed him and excluded him and his chief supporter, +Pietroboni, from the Congregation. Della Ganga appealed to the Pope, +Consalvi defeated his appeal, and on 18th October Father Fortis was +elected. The triumphant section then held a trial of the conduct of the +minority. Petrucci and Pietroboni were pardoned on account of their +age, but a number of younger men were expelled from the Society. + +It must be admitted that this Congregation shows a decided continuity +of the irregular features of the Society. Fortis, Rozaven, Petrucci, +and the leaders of the conflicting parties were old members; Fortis, +at least, an elderly Italian in his eighth decade of life, had +belonged to the suppressed Society, and the conduct of him and his +followers suggests that forty years of life without the restraint of +discipline had not tended to improve their character. In the pacified +Europe of 1820 they saw an easy field for the triumph of their order, +and the Italians were ambitious to control it. The struggle against +the proposal to reform the Society is equally unattractive; and the +facility with which both parties appealed to rival cardinals, when +the Jesuit tradition was fiercely to resent any outside interference +with their Congregations, completes an unpleasant picture. The +anti-reformers won, and the voters scattered to their respective +provinces and missions. + +Three years later Pius VII. died, and the triumphant clique at the Gesù +had a momentary anxiety when Cardinal della Ganga mounted the papal +throne under the name of Leo XII. Rozaven expresses their concern in a +letter to a colleague, and predicts that he at least will be compelled +to leave Rome. But Leo XII. was convinced that the Society had become +one of the most useful auxiliaries of the Papacy, and he hastened to +assure them that their intrigue against his authority was forgotten. +He had, in fact, hardly been a year at the Vatican when he gratified +them by restoring the Roman College to their charge, and they gathered +their best teachers from all parts of the world to win back its earlier +prestige. Other of their old colleges in the Papal States were secured +for them by Leo XII. and the Italian Provinces quickly recovered their +power. + +It was known to all that the liberal feeling engendered by the +revolutionary movement was still intensely alive. The secret Society +of the Carbonari spread its net over Italy, and the cultivated middle +class was very largely liberal and anti-clerical. At Naples, in +1820, the Carbonari had seemed for a moment about to triumph; but +the rebellion was defeated, and the Jesuits returned to the task of +educating the middle class in pro-papal sentiments. They had a college +for the sons of nobles at Naples, and four other colleges in the +Neapolitan district; while they had no less than fifteen colleges and +residences in the island of Sicily. In northern Piedmont, from which +few at that time expected the greatest menace to the Papacy to come, +they retained great power for decades. Victor Emmanuel gave place to +Charles Felix, and the Liberals took the occasion to make a violent +assault on the fathers. Charles Felix replied by choosing a Jesuit +confessor, Father Grassi. Charles Albert patronised them even more +generously than his predecessors. He secured the return of their old +house at Turin, and, when he found it impossible to get for them their +old house at Genoa, which had been converted into a university, he +granted them one of his palaces for a residence. + +In the Papal States they entered upon their golden age with the +accession of Gregory XVI., in 1831. Both Leo XII. and General Fortis +died in 1829. A young Dutch Jesuit, Father Roothaan (aged forty-four), +succeeded Fortis, and Pius VIII. ascended the papal throne. He died +in November 1830, and Gregory XVI. assumed the tiara in the very heat +of the revolutionary movement of 1830 and 1831. The "White Terror" +had failed to conquer what it called the revolutionary element; its +thousands of executions and its appalling jails and repulsive spies had +merely fed the flame of insurrection, and the international movement +for reform gathered strength. The middle class in every country--in +Italy, especially, the revolutionary movements were essentially middle +class--suffered with burning indignation the brutalities of Austria, +the Papacy, Naples, Spain, and France, and young men of the type of +Mazzini devoted their lives to reform. In 1831 the Italian rebels, +fired by the success of the July Revolution in France, raised their +tricolour standard and soon saw it floating over Modena, Parma, and +a number of the Papal States. One of the first movements of the +insurgents in every place was to assail the Jesuit residences. At +Spoleto, Fano, Modena, Reggio, Forli, and Ferrara, the Jesuits were +driven from their homes and colleges and hunted over the frontiers of +the revolutionary provinces. But Naples and Piedmont were unshaken by +the disturbance, and the Austrian troops from Venice quickly trampled +out the revolutionary spirit. It was on the eve of this insurrection--a +work almost entirely of the educated class--that Gregory became Pope, +and his policy after the pacification was one of savage repression. + +It is needless here to recall the brutal régime which the Austrians +in Venice (to which the Jesuits were formally admitted in 1836), the +Pope in central Italy, and the Neapolitan ruler in the south, spread +over the land. It is enough for us that in the three States, as in +Spain and Portugal, the Jesuits were the most ardent auxiliaries of the +reactionary and sanguinary monarchs. Gregory XVI., the most repulsive +Pope of modern times, was the most generous patron that the Jesuits +had had for more than a hundred years. He went so far as to entrust to +them the Urban College, the institution in which the Propaganda itself +trained its missionaries. Education was the root of the revolutionary +evil, and it was the place of the Jesuits to see that such education as +was imparted in Italy--which sank to an appalling degree of illiteracy, +and is still illiterate to the extent of 70 per cent. in the southern +provinces, where the Jesuits ruled longest--was not tainted with +modern culture. It is true that after 1830 the General appointed five +learned fathers to revise the _Ratio Studiorum_ of the Society; but +one cannot regard it as other than a somewhat humorous comment on +the Jesuit system that the teachers were no longer to be bound to +teach the physics of Aristotle or to slight, in favour of Latin and +Greek, the tongue of the pupils whom they trained. We have, in fact, a +very curious illustration of the level of culture of Gregory and his +teaching Jesuits. In the year 1837 the cholera threatened Rome. The +science of meeting such epidemics was, of course, still in its infancy, +but the conduct of Rome was exactly what it would have been five +hundred years earlier. A solemn procession was enjoined, and, amidst +the masses of terrified people, a statue of the Virgin was borne across +Rome to the Church of the Jesuits. Gregory and his cardinals were in +the procession, and for a time the Gesù was the centre or fount of the +hope of Rome. Within a few months 5419 Romans succumbed to the cholera. + +Gregory died in the year 1846, and Italy sighed with relief. The misery +of the working classes, the brutal treatment to which the educated +classes had been exposed, and the control of education and of a very +large proportion of appointments in the Papal States by the Jesuits, +had engendered a hatred of him in every part of his dominion. When +Mastai Ferretti ascended the throne, and took the name of Pius IX., he +was greeted with wild enthusiasm. He was sufficiently known to inspire +a hope that the reign of terror and the reign of the Jesuits were over, +and his first acts confirmed this hope. An amnesty was granted, and +the more brutal of his predecessor's coercive measures were repealed. +Rossi, who, as we shall see presently, had been sent to Rome a few +years before to negotiate the banishment of the Jesuits from France, +was recalled and made leading minister to the Vatican; and Father +Theiner was directed to vindicate the memory of Clement XIV. against +the Jesuits and Crétineau-Joly, who had just published his history. +The Jesuits were so notoriously discontented with the change, and with +the young Pope's concessions to liberalism, that, as he passed through +the streets he heard the warning cry from his people: "Beware of the +Jesuits." + +What part the Jesuits had in the termination of the new Pope's pose as +a Liberal it would be difficult to say. The usual statement, that he +was shaken by the assassination of Count Rossi and the revolution of +1848, is superficial and misleading. He had incurred the resentment +of the Liberals because he had rapidly fallen from his first ideal. +Some of the chief grievances of his educated subjects, such as the +monopoly of all remunerative offices in the State by clerics, remained +untouched, and it was soon perceived that he was drifting backward +toward reaction. His confessor was replaced by a friend of the Jesuits, +and, when the popular and somewhat insurgent priest Gioberti published +a fiery and just attack on the Jesuits, Pius IX. harshly condemned him. +At the same time the returned exiles and the refugees who flocked to +Rome from the countries which clung to oppression assuredly had ideals +which it was quite impossible for any Pope to realise in that age. Pius +was alienated more and more, and a violent conflict approached. How the +third revolutionary wave in 1848 spread to Rome, and the Pope fled to +Gaeta, and the Jesuits returned to power in the inevitable reaction, +must be reserved for the next chapter. + +When we turn to consider the fortunes of the Jesuits in France during +the first half of the nineteenth century, we find a very different +and more interesting chronicle. They had been banished from France, +it will be recalled, in 1761, and the great majority of them had +actually quitted the kingdom. Many had been secularised, and remained +as teachers, tutors, confessors, or _curés_. During the period of +suppression a large number of them found employment in France; the +learned Father Boscovitch, for instance, was made director of the +optical department of the Navy under Louis XVI. As in Italy and +Austria, some of them sought to incorporate the spirit of their +condemned Society in Congregations with other names, and a curious +assortment of fraternities appeared. The "Fathers of the Faith," or +Paccanarists, whose origin we have seen, found a genial atmosphere in +France, and the little colony they sent from Austria was soon swelled +with ex-Jesuits. Another body was significantly known as the "Victims +of the Love of God." The feminine branch of the "Sacred Heart" Society +also spread to France, and grew into a formidable body of nuns (under +the direction of ex-Jesuits) with the particular function of giving +a "sound" education to the daughters of wealthy people; it remains +to this day, in effect, the feminine branch of the Society, though +the connection is not official. There was a "Congregation of the Holy +Family" for training teachers of the poor, and a "Congregation of Our +Lady" for banding together members of the middle class. + +But of all these associations which sprang up mysteriously in the soil +of revolutionary France, and throve under the shelter of Napoleon, +the most important was a certain "Congregation of the Holy Virgin," +founded in the year 1801. It was controlled by an ex-Jesuit, and had +at first some resemblance to the association of young men organised at +Rome by the ex-Jesuit Caravita. The young men, very largely university +students, were to visit the sick and poor--to be practical Christians, +in a word. But, whereas the Italian young men had become priests and +Paccanarists, the members of the Congregation of the Virgin generally +remained in the world, retaining throughout life their membership of +the Society and their link with its directors. A register of their +names and occupations was kept, and it meant, in effect, that the +Jesuits had friends and ardent secret workers in every school and +profession, in the army and navy, in journalism and politics. + +Louis XVIII. came to the throne and was urged by Talleyrand to restore +the Society. He refused, and the Jesuits were forced to rely still +on their secret organisation. Already, in 1814, the Fathers of the +Faith had a house in Paris, and six other houses in the country. Their +title was now a deliberate deception, as they had in 1804 secretly +renounced Paccanarism, in the hands of the Papal Nuncio, and entered +the Society of Jesus, as authorised in Russia. They dressed and acted +externally as secular priests, and were much employed by bishops in +teaching and preaching. From the Congregation of the Virgin they not +only had accurate information of what was being said and done in every +department of French life, but they obtained many novices; other youths +joined the secular clergy, and would in time watch the interests of the +Society within that body. Orders were now given that the Jesuits must +work in perfect harmony with the secular clergy and in most respectful +submission to the bishops. + +They grew rapidly in the course of the next few years, and about 1818 +they began to stand out prominently in the religious life of France. +They were especially employed in what are known in English church-life +as "revival services." Eloquent preachers, particularly when they were +denouncing liberalism and the "bad" tendencies of the times, they +passed from town to town lashing up the fervour of the Catholics. Large +crucifixes were planted on the wayside as memorials of their oratory; +enthusiastic processions marched through the streets; in places the +churches were so crowded that one had to spend the night at the door +to secure a place near the pulpit. They were the Pères de la Foi, +Catholics said (with a smile); but critics maintained that they were +Jesuits, and there were towns where the missionaries were assaulted and +expelled. A very serious controversy raged in the French press as to +whether there were really any Jesuits in France; even when, in 1822, a +Liberal journal obtained and published a letter of General Fortis to +one of his French subjects, it was difficult to convict them. + +At this period, in the early twenties, the famous Abbé de Lamennais +was seeking to form a democratic Christian body, and he made an effort +to secure the support of the Jesuits. Louis XVIII. was one of the more +moderate of the restored monarchs; but the democratic feeling was +still strong in France and, as the clergy were generally reactionary, +democracy, of which Lamennais foresaw the triumph, was allied with +Voltaireanism. Lamennais was convinced that the hour of feudal monarchs +was over, and the Church could be saved only by allying itself with +the people. The development of French history has shown the truth of +his view. Democracy has triumphed, and the Church has shrunk to--M. +Sabatier tells me--less than one-sixth of the population. Seeing the +apparent power of the Jesuit missionaries, Lamennais, who was very +friendly with them, earnestly begged them to incorporate his policy in +their preaching. + +The attitude of the Jesuits toward Lamennais is interesting. They +hesitated for years, broke into sections, and eventually had to forbid +all public discussion of the issue. In 1821 some of their members were +censured for attacking Lamennais, in the next year others were censured +for supporting him; and Rozaven, the French Assistant at Rome, directed +that "prudence" forbade them to take either side in public. Later, as +they still wavered and contradicted each other, General Fortis sternly +prohibited public expression on the subject. Fortis died in 1829, and +Lamennais made a fresh appeal to the Jesuits to "turn from monarchs to +the people"; but Roothaan maintained the attitude of his predecessor. +When Lamennais was eventually condemned, the Jesuits eagerly pointed +out that they had declined to support him. + +This situation is interesting, because it exhibits the Jesuits +shrinking nervously from the greatest social issue of their time. They +retort that it was a political issue, and their traditions forbade +them to discuss politics. It is in a sense true that the Jesuits had +always abstained from political theorising, and bowed to the actual +ruling power; except in cases where the ruling power incommoded them, +when they might become the most violent of revolutionaries. But, apart +from the question whether the issue was not moral in the finest sense +of the word, it is ludicrous to affirm that the "political" nature of +Lamennais's gospel prevented them from considering it when, in every +country where a reactionary monarch called them to his aid, they were +violent partisans of the aristocratic gospel. For twenty years they had +maintained that the political storms which swept the old monarchs from +their thrones at the end of the eighteenth century were directly due +to the removal of their control of the schools and universities. They +had been restored to life for the express purpose of reconciling Europe +to the old order, and destroying the aspiration for democratic reform, +and it was only in the cantons of Switzerland that they were found to +hold a different theory of the social order; though, as we shall see, +the Swiss cantons were then rather aristocratic than democratic. It +is plain that in France they hesitated only because the future was +uncertain. Their real aim was to restore the age of Louis XIV., but +this new democratic movement looked formidable. They would wait and be +guided by the issue. + +The Catholic democrats turned angrily on the Jesuits for their +attitude on this great issue, and accused them of gross ignorance of, +and indifference to, social conditions: an entirely just censure. +But their power was growing in every decade. New Congregations +appeared,--societies for persuading lovers to marry in church, for +preserving students from liberalism, and so on,--and the Congregation +of our Lady now included half the nobility and higher clergy, and +numbers of writers, lawyers, politicians, and officials. Their +French apologist, who was himself a member of the Congregation and +lived in Paris at this time, admits that the secret influence of the +Congregation was such that many made a profession of religion and +joined it in order to promote their material interests. Charles X., who +succeeded Louis in 1824, renewed their confidence. He opened his career +with Liberal measures; but he was more reactionary at heart than Louis +XVIII., and less prudent, and the Jesuits silently organised their +forces for a restoration of the Society. + +The educated Frenchman now commonly united the scepticism of Voltaire +with the moderate democracy of Lafayette, and an angry storm broke +out in the Liberal press. The open activity of the "Paccanarists" +was an affront to the Constitution, and the secret manoeuvres of the +Congregation, notoriously led by Father Ronsin, alarmed them. The +authorities discreetly removed Father Ronsin from Paris, but the work +of the Congregation proceeded. Charles X. was suspected of favouring +the Jesuits. In 1828 the Nuncio openly proposed that the Society should +be restored. We may take the word of Crétineau-Joly that the ground +had been so well prepared that a measure could have been passed safely +through the two Houses. But Villèle, the French historian says, was so +misguided as to appeal to the country first, and he lost. The question +of the Jesuits was not the least of the issues at stake. Showers of +pamphlets fell upon the public, and the popular feeling was such that +when the King was one day reviewing the National Guard, the cry, +"Down with the Jesuits," rang out from the ranks, and the review was +abandoned. + +The more moderate ministry of Martignac had now to be formed, and, as +it needed the co-operation of the Liberals, the plan to restore the +Jesuits was abandoned. The Liberals were now encouraged, and they made +a fiery assault. The "little seminaries," as the French called the +preparatory colleges for the clergy, had been left under the control +of the bishops, and several of them were notoriously controlled by the +thinly disguised Jesuits. A commission of bishops, with the Archbishop +of Paris at their head, was appointed to examine the charge, and it was +determined that eight of the seminaries were really Jesuit colleges, +and must be closed; it was further enacted that the seminaries +were to be taken from the bishops and put under the control of the +universities, that the number of pupils was to be restricted, and that +no priest should henceforth be allowed to teach in them who did not +take oath that he did not belong to a non-authorised Congregation. +The bishops, many of whom had won their seats by Jesuit influence, +protested in vain against this violation of their rights. Their protest +made matters worse, since they stipulated that it should remain secret; +but the Liberal press secured the text and published it. + +This was a very severe blow to the French Jesuits, who had used +the seminaries for training lay pupils in their spirit as well as +teaching the secular priests to rely on them. While the French press +was discussing the question whether they existed in the country, they +had grown to the number of 436, and had two novitiates and several +residences, besides the seminaries. They now determined to take bolder +measures against the enemy. As I said, the question of the Jesuits was +by no means the only serious issue under discussion; Martignac received +only a moderate and uncertain support from his Liberal allies because +his measures were not sufficiently advanced. It is, however, clear that +the Jesuits, through the Nuncio, had their share in inducing the King +to replace the moderate Martignac with the thoroughly conservative +Polignac. This was in July 1829. The reply of the people, when the +ministry returned to the old coercive measures, was the July Revolution +of 1830. The chief Jesuit houses, at Montrouge and St. Acheul, were +sacked by the mob, and the fathers scattered in every direction. Once +more they had suffered a heavy defeat on what they believed to be the +eve of victory. + +The revolutionary wave spread, with devastating force, to Italy, as we +saw; and there also the fathers were for a time driven contemptuously +from their colleges. Their recovery in France was naturally slower +than in Italy. They moved in fear of their lives for the first year or +two of the reign of Louis Philippe, and generally concealed themselves +in devoted Catholic houses. In 1832 the cholera swept France, and +they recollected how frequently heroic conduct in such epidemics had +disarmed their critics. But France was not so easily reconciled in +the nineteenth century, and the few who ventured to appear during +the following years were arrested. In the course of time, however, +the resentment was confined to the more ardent Liberals, and they +resumed the semi-public existence of the previous decade. Catholicism +made great progress in the thirties, chiefly through the agency of a +brilliant group of laymen, and some of the Jesuits took an open part +in the revival. Father de Ravignan, their finest orator, occupied the +pulpit of Nôtre Dame for several seasons, and they were assiduous in +giving retreats to the clergy. + +As they no longer ventured to teach,--though it was known that +they had opened a college for French pupils just over the Belgian +frontier,--and betrayed their character in no external action, they +were legally unassailable; but it was not long before they again drew +on themselves the ire of the Liberals. From 1840 onwards the clergy +made a vehement attack on the professors of the university. Since +these included philosophers like Cousin and Jouffroy, historians like +Michelet, and men of letters like Jules Simon, we can easily believe +that their lectures were at times inconsistent with orthodox ideas; +but the attack was gross and exaggerated, and the professors felt that +the Jesuits secretly guided it; Father de Ravignan, in fact, joined +in the spirited conflict of pens. The chief result was to draw on +the Jesuits the sardonic humour of Michelet, the weighty censures of +Cousin, the poisonous raillery of Simon, and the unrestrained diatribes +of the popular Liberal press. It was during this agitation that +Eugène Sue lashed them with his _Juif Errant_, and George Sand wrote +_Consuelo_. Against this fierce and brilliant onslaught the publication +of Crétineau-Joly's _Histoire_ was a feeble defence; it could carry no +conviction except to the already convinced and uncritical Catholic. +Indeed, its treatment of Clement XIV. scandalised many Catholics, and, +as we saw, Pius IX. directed the Vatican Archivist to refute it.[41] + +Louis Philippe was at length compelled to take action. Catholic writers +treated it as an amusing scare that there were Jesuits in France, and +were not a little mortified when the fathers betrayed their existence +in a way which entertained the Liberal pamphleteers. In 1845 one +of their treasurers embezzled the funds entrusted to him, and they +imprudently prosecuted. In the controversy which followed it was made +plain that there were two hundred members of the forbidden Society in +France, and their expulsion was stormily demanded. The King knew that +if he suppressed the "Fathers of the Faith" they would do no more than +change their name, and he adopted a shrewder policy. He sent Rossi to +Rome to submit to the Pope that the relations of France and the Vatican +would be much improved if the Jesuits were removed by ecclesiastical +authority. The dignity of the Holy See was saved by a pleasant little +comedy. The Congregation of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs +reported that the request could not be granted, and the Pope firmly +replied to the French envoy in that sense. But a private intimation +was made to General Roothaan that it was desirable to meet the wishes +of the King, and Rossi was instructed to see him. Whatever the precise +nature of the intimation was, Roothaan submitted to his French subjects +that it was expedient to dissolve their chief communities,--at Paris, +St. Acheul, Lyons, and Avignon,--and they once more retreated sullenly +from the field. We shall see later how they found a fitting patron in +Napoleon III., and how the third Republic put a definitive close to +their activity in France. + +Their fortunes in Spain during the nineteenth century have been +more chequered than their present prosperity would suggest. On 15th +May 1815, Ferdinand VII. repealed the drastic sentence of his great +predecessor, and ordered that their former property should be restored +to the Jesuits. A hundred and fifty of the old members of the Society +returned to their native land; colleges and novitiates were opened by +means of the restored property and the royal bounty; and, we are told, +town after town demanded, and enthusiastically welcomed, its former +teachers. We can well believe that the mobs which saluted the perjured +Ferdinand with the cry, "Down with Liberty," would welcome the Jesuits. +In the recoil due to their hatred of the French, and of the new ideas +which the French had brought into Spain, the densely ignorant mass of +the people fell at the feet of a brutal monarch and a corrupt clergy. +The educated middle class, however, remained substantially Liberal. +They had admitted Ferdinand only on condition that he promised to +maintain their Liberal Constitution, and, as soon as he had attained +the crown, he tore his promise and the Constitution to shreds and +fell with terrible cruelty on the Liberals. Known Liberals were at +once executed, imprisoned for life, or banished; the Inquisition +was restored; and a network of spies spread over the kingdom. Men, +women, and children were savagely punished, and a "Society of the +Exterminating Angel" arose to strengthen and direct the bloody hands of +the King and the Inquisitors. + +Those five years of Spanish history constitute one of the most +repulsive chapters in the chronicle of modern Europe. Unfortunately, it +is not possible to determine what part the restored Jesuits had in this +reign of terror. All the clergy and monks of Spain were allied with +their monarch in prosecuting what they regarded as a holy war. It is +enough that the Jesuits did not dissent from the barbaric proceedings +of Ferdinand, and that they flourished and were more than doubled in +number within five years. The year 1820 found them increased to 397, +with several novitiates and a large number of colleges. + +And the year 1820 gives us some measure of their guilt in connection +with the preceding years. The middle class was still strong enough, +or humane enough, to put an end to the disgraceful horrors, and +reaffirm the liberal constitution of 1810. The Cortes was summoned, +and, although its members were still predominantly Catholic, it was +determined, with only one dissentient, to expel the Jesuits. The +terrified King yielded to the deputies, and in August the four hundred +Jesuits were pensioned and ordered to quit the country. Unfortunately, +the French King espoused the cause of his "cousin," and his troops +restored the savage autocracy of Ferdinand and the power of the +Jesuits. The reign of terror returned, and even the other Catholic +monarchs of Europe were shocked by the outrages committed and permitted +by Ferdinand. Again it is impossible to disentangle the share of the +Jesuits in this comprehensive guilt. Their chief task was to educate +the young in "better" sentiments. The College of Nobles and a large +military college at Segura were entrusted to them, and they reoccupied +their former colleges. But neither priests nor ruler put confidence in +educational methods. It is enough to note that a conservative authority +on Spain, Major Hume, says of the renewed reign of terror: "Modern +civilisation has seen no such instance of brutal, blind ferocity." + +This appalling condition lasted, almost continuously, until the death +of Ferdinand in 1833. Then the country entered upon the long Carlist +war, and the Jesuits were soon expelled for the third time. While Queen +Christina allied herself with the Liberals, Don Carlos rallied to his +standard the absolutists and Ultramontanes, and the great majority of +the clergy supported him. It is usually and confidently said that the +Jesuits, like the rest of the clergy, supported Don Carlos; but when +we recollect their maxim of not taking sides openly in an ambiguous +conflict, or taking both sides, we shall not expect to find any proof +of this in the early stages. Not only the Liberals but the mass of +the people in Madrid were persuaded that they were on the side of Don +Carlos, and they saw hatred gathering on every side of them. In 1834 +the cholera descended on the capital. Such occasions had generally +served the Jesuits, but this fresh affliction only further irritated +the people against them. The cry was raised that the Jesuits and the +Carlists had poisoned the water-supply, and it seems that, by some +strange accident or plot, children were found on the street with small +quantities of arsenic. In the afternoon of 17th July the citizens flung +themselves upon the houses of the Jesuits and other religious, and +a fierce riot ensued. Fourteen Jesuits, forty-four Franciscans, and +fifteen Dominicans and others were slain in the struggle. Some of their +provincial houses also were sacked or closed, and the inmates had to +fly for their lives. + +In the following year, 1835, the Society was again proscribed, by +the Regent Christina, and the Jesuits were scattered. They now sided +openly with Don Carlos. Alleging, as usual, that they were indifferent +to politics and must discharge the spiritual services demanded of +them under any banner, they followed in the rear of the advancing +Carlists and opened colleges in the districts conquered by them. One +Jesuit guarded the conscience of Don Carlos, another was tutor to +his children, and others ministered in his camps. At length an abler +Christinist General, Espartero, cleared the Carlists from the Basque +Provinces and closed the Jesuit houses. By the time of the revolution +of 1848 there were none but a few disguised and timid survivors of the +Society in Spain. + +From Portugal the Jesuits were rigorously excluded during fifteen years +after the restoration of the Society. John VI., a constitutional and +sober monarch, refused to irritate his subjects by admitting them, +and had no need of their stifling influence on education in Portugal. +He resisted all the pressure of Rome in their interest, and observed +the Liberal Constitution which he had accepted. His granddaughter +Maria succeeded to his throne and policy in 1826, under the regency of +her uncle, Dom Miguel. Here again the Jesuits were admitted in virtue +of an act of treachery and throve in an atmosphere of savagery. Dom +Miguel intrigued for the throne, and, when he took an oath to respect +the Liberal Constitution, was permitted to occupy it. "His Jesuit +training," says the _Cambridge Modern History_ (x. 321), "would make +it easy for him to rest content with the absolution of the Church for +a breach of faith committed on behalf of the good cause." He at once +violated his oath and turned with ferocity upon the Liberals. It is +estimated by some of the Portuguese writers that more than 60,000 were +executed, deported, or imprisoned in the next four years. + +Such was the second of the leading Catholic monarchs to seek the aid +of the Jesuits. None of the members of the old Portuguese Province +could be discovered, or induced to resume work in a bitterly hostile +world, and eight Jesuits had to be sent from France, in 1829, to begin +the work of restoration. They make little pretence of an enthusiastic +reception in this case. None of their former property was restored, +and for a time they had to take refuge in the houses of rival orders. +They had, however, their usual good fortune to attract the sympathy of +noble ladies, and were enabled to secure their old house at Lisbon in +the following year. When the King saw that no violent upheaval followed +their arrival, he began to patronise them, and secured for them their +famous college at Coimbra. In the same year they had the satisfaction +of establishing a house at Pombal, where their old antagonist had +died, and their superior describes, in an edifying letter, how he at +once "ran to say a prayer over the tomb of the Marquis"; he was deeply +pained, it seems, to find that the remains of Pombal had not even yet +been interred, while the children of Ignatius were received with honour +in his name-place. + +But the ferocity of Miguel had already deeply stirred the population, +and in the following year the defrauded young Queen's father, Don +Pedro, Emperor of Brazil, crossed the ocean to secure her rights and +the Constitution. The Jesuits were painfully perplexed. Don Pedro seems +to have felt that he could not hope for a lasting triumph without the +aid of the Jesuits, and he made a secret offer to them, in an autograph +letter (in March), of his protection and favour if they would desert +Miguel. The issue was uncertain, and, when Don Pedro entered Lisbon in +July, the Jesuits assured him that his letter had reached their hands +too late for them to consider his offer. They had remained ideally +neutral in the war, and had nursed the cholera victims in both camps +with religious impartiality. + +The people of Lisbon saved Don Pedro from the dilemma which this +excellent or prudent conduct imposed on him. On 29th July a mixed +throng of soldiers and citizens assaulted and sacked the Jesuit +residence. It would have gone very hard with the fathers themselves +had not certain English naval officers chivalrously saved them. In the +following May (1834) Don Pedro renewed the sentence of suppression. +From their handsome college at Coimbra they were conveyed to Lisbon, to +face the hoots and taunts of a rejoicing mob, and then to be deposited +in prison. The French afterwards secured their release from prison, but +they have never since had a legal existence in the land of Pombal. + +We turn next to England, to study the fortunes of the followers of +Ignatius up to the middle of the nineteenth century. In the latter part +of the eighteenth century the Jesuits had availed themselves of the +more tolerant spirit of the age of the Georges, and again increased +to a considerable body. Their colleges in Spain, France, and Belgium +received numbers of young Catholic aspirants, and we find that at the +time of the suppression of the Society the English Province boasted +274 members, of whom 143 were actually in England. The suppression in +Spain and France reduced their colleges; the two colleges at Bruges +were violently closed by the authorities in 1773; there remained only a +house at Liège and the English missions at Liverpool, Preston, Bristol, +and a few other towns. + +They continued to live in community in these residences after the +abolition of the Society, and minister as secular priests. In 1794 +their situation was again altered by the French invasion of Belgium, +when the English fathers were expelled from their last continental +seat, at Liège. The disaster proved, however, to be the starting-point +of their more prosperous modern development in England. One of their +old pupils, Thomas Weld, offered them a house and estate at Stonyhurst, +near Preston, and on 29th August the refugees reached what was destined +to be one of their most important centres. They opened a school--to be +directed by certain "gentlemen from Liège"--and quietly awaited the +future. + +In the meantime the ex-Jesuits who had remained in England bore their +disgrace very impatiently. One of their number, Father Thorpe, wrote +in 1785 so scurrilous a _Sketch of the Life and Government of Pope +Clement XIV._ that his colleagues had to withdraw it from publication +at the demand of their own admirers. In the following year the English +ex-Jesuits opened a correspondence with their rebellious colleagues +in Russia, and, although they could devise no pretext whatever for +disobeying the Pope in England, they offered to unite with the +Russians. Their proposal was declined or postponed, and they waited +until the Pope officially recognised the Russian Society in 1801. By +that time the Abbé de Broglie had led his little colony of Fathers of +the Faith from Austria to London and opened a college at Kensington. +Some of the ex-Jesuits and many emigrant French priests were attracted +to this authorised Congregation, but Paccanari was now an object of +suspicion to most of them, and, on the other hand, there was increasing +hope of a restoration of the Society. + +The proposal to enlist under the Russian General was now revived, and +both ex-Jesuits and Fathers of the Faith made their way, secretly and +individually, to Russia and renewed their vows. By the year 1804 there +were between eighty and ninety Jesuits in England. The general and +violent hatred of the French had led to much sympathy with the clerical +victims of the Revolution, but England was not yet prepared for this +substantial resurrection of the Jesuits. Stonyhurst was growing into a +large and busy colony, owing to the continued bounty of Weld and the +return of surviving members of the old province, and in 1804, and more +peremptorily in 1807, the Government ordered the dissolution of their +communities. + +Such an order was a feeble check on their growth, and they took +advantage of the successive movements which aided the restoration of +Catholicism. The stream of French emigrants, the Act of Toleration of +1791, the beginning of Irish immigration, and the advocacy of Catholic +Emancipation by Pitt enabled the Catholics to enter the nineteenth +century in increased numbers. The Catholic Relief Act of 1829 so +inflated them that they then estimated their numbers in London alone +as 146,000, or nearly a tenth of the population; to-day they number +about one-fiftieth of the population of London. The Jesuits shared the +growth with the rest of the clergy. Between 1826 and 1835 they built +eleven new churches, and in 1830 the Roman authorities made a formal +province of the English group. The Irish fathers had been detached from +the English in 1829, and formed a vice-province. Ten years later began +the Catholic movement within the Church of England, to the considerable +profit of Rome. + +The early history of the Jesuits in the United States is one of the +most interesting chapters in their modern story. When the Society was +abolished and its members momentarily discouraged, John Carroll, a +member of the suppressed English Province, led a small group of fathers +to the North American Colony. He became friendly with Washington +and other leaders of the insurrection, and is said to have had some +influence in shaping the Liberal clauses of the new Constitution. In +1789 he became Bishop of Baltimore, and another ex-Jesuit, Father +Neale, was afterwards made his coadjutor. This transferred the +American mission from the control of the English Vicar Apostolic, +and made Carroll head of the Church in the United States. In 1803 we +find Carroll writing to General Gruber that there are a dozen aged +ex-Jesuits in Maryland and Pennsylvania, with sufficient property +(of the older Maryland mission) to support thirty; they wish to join +Gruber's authorised Society and receive an accession of strength. The +Russian Jesuits had justified their rebellion on the ground that the +secular monarch had forbidden them to lay aside their habits; the +Americans said it was enough that there was in America no secular +monarch to forbid them to wear it. The Papacy counted for little with +any of them. + +Gruber complied, and the foundations were laid of the prosperity of +the Jesuits in the United States. In the early years little progress +was made. The newcomers were young foreigners, and the population was +scattered and generally hostile. One of the German fathers was actually +arrested and tried for not betraying the confession of a thief, but +the controversy which followed rather promoted their interest. They +shrewdly established their chief college and centre at Georgetown, near +Washington, and gradually won the regard of American statesmen, who +visited and granted privileges to the college. By the year 1818 there +were 86 Jesuits in the United States, and recruits were arriving from +Europe. A novitiate had been opened at White Marsh in 1815, but few +novices could be secured in America. In fact, as they followed their +usual custom of making no charge for education, they had a severe +struggle with poverty everywhere. In 1822 the authorities at Rome +ordered them to close the school at Washington, as it could no longer +maintain itself without charging. The rector, Father Kelly, defied his +superiors for a time, and maintained the school on the fees of pupils; +but Americanism was not yet sufficiently developed to sustain this, and +Father Kelly was expelled from the Society. + +Memories of the "black robes" lingered among the Indians, and it +was suggested, time after time, that the fathers should return to +their work among them, and amongst the blacks of the south and the +islands. Their historian makes a lengthy and very earnest apology +for their refusal, during ten or twenty years, to listen to this +suggestion. They remembered how their work amongst the Indians had +been "misinterpreted"; they were too few in number to spare men for +distant fields; in time, they foresaw the greatness of the United +States and "preferred the certain to the uncertain." The truth seems to +be that commerce in blankets and beaver-skins was not possible in the +nineteenth century. After 1840, however, they sent missionaries among +the Indians, and won a great affection among them. By that time the +Missouri Province alone had 148 Jesuits, and the Maryland Province 103. + +It is clear that the early Jesuits laboured devotedly to arrest the +enormous lapse from the Church of Rome in the United States in the +first half of the nineteenth century. We need pay little attention to +their boasts of conversions. Catholic immigrants were now arriving in +millions, and were passing out into the lonely districts and small +towns, where their faith was quickly forgotten. In 1636 the Bishop of +Charlestown estimated the loss at nearly four millions in his diocese +alone. Many of the Jesuits went out among the struggling pioneers and +led lives of great self-sacrifice. Their energies were, however, mainly +concentrated on the aggrandisement of their schools and conciliation +of politicians in cities like Washington. They made sure of power in +the great Republic they foresaw. It may be added that the Society was +at the same time spreading in Mexico. Restored under Ferdinand, they +undertook, as in Spain, to check or destroy the Liberal principles +which had taken root in Mexico. For this they were banished in 1821, +when the news came of the Liberal triumph in Spain, and did not return +to open activity until 1843. + +In the Germanic lands, except Belgium, the restored Jesuits had a +severe struggle throughout the nineteenth century. Austria and Bavaria +refused to publish the bull of restoration or comply with it, to the +great mortification of the Jesuits. Metternich, at least, retained +the spirit of Joseph II., and Ferdinand II. was not yet disposed to +tempt his subjects by readmitting them. Prussia was, of course, still +closed against the Jesuits as Jesuits. The first serious attempt to +gain a footing in Germany was made in 1820, when the fathers who had +been driven from Russia appeared on the Austrian frontier and humbly +asked permission to cross the Emperor's territory. They might "cross," +he drily answered; and when they secured the customary intervention of +noble dames, he permitted them to go and teach loyalty among his poor +subjects in Galicia and his restless subjects in Hungary. He granted +funds for this purpose, and they soon had a flourishing Province in +Galicia, and a general control of education. Even here they were +subject to the bishops, and the imperial decrees intimate that there +was much suspicion and hostility. In 1829, Styria and other provinces +were opened to them, though the opposition was so violent that at Gratz +we find them complaining of having to lodge in some kind of inn, with +an actress for neighbour. + +Ferdinand II. died in 1836, but his successor could do little for +them in face of the prevailing hostility. Father Beckx, the future +General, was in Vienna at the time. A Jesuit had at last brought a +ray of hope into the German camp by converting the Duke and Duchess +of Anhalt-Köthen, and Father Beckx was confessor to the Duchess at +Vienna--and secret agent of the Society. He writes in 1837 that their +enemies are very powerful, and Josephite principles triumphant; the +Jesuits have only one public institution in Austria, and are forbidden +to teach. Ferdinand, however, was not indisposed to enlist their +aid in fighting Liberalism, and they quietly spread in the outlying +provinces. The Tyrol was opened to them in 1838, and from their old +college at Innspruck they proceeded to capture its schools. We shall +see presently how the revolutionary storm of 1848 drove them from their +new acquisitions. + +In Switzerland the fortunes of the Jesuits were more romantic. During +the suppression they continued to live in communities, and carefully +concealed the offensive title from the eyes of Protestant citizens. +After 1814 they began to induce their lay followers to petition the +authorities to sanction their return to life, and the long and bitter +struggle over the Society began. The canton of Solothurn was then more +than eighty per cent. Catholic, and in 1816 the Grand Council was urged +to restore the Society. It refused, and they then made cautious efforts +in Valais and Freiburg. I am aware that in all these cases the Jesuits +do not appear in connection with the petition; a few influential +Catholics appeal for the return, and the Jesuits are depicted as +serenely aloof from the negotiations. We are accustomed to pretences +of this character. In 1818 the Grand Council of Freiburg (which also +was nearly ninety per cent. Catholic) decided by sixty-nine votes to +forty-two to readmit the Jesuits and entrust its schools to them. At +the same time they recovered their old house at Brigue, and began to +spread in Catholic Valais. + +From the beginning of the third decade of the nineteenth century the +Radicals began their attacks on the growing Jesuits. In 1823 the +fathers secured their old college at Freiburg, which they had long +coveted. Since their settlement in Freiburg this college had been +in the hands of the Franciscan monks, who had adopted the ideas of +Pestalozzi, the great Swiss educationist, and were doing admirable +work. The bishop complained to the authorities of the friars' +innovations, and they were replaced by the Jesuits. The Radicals +of the town were malicious enough to suggest that the Jesuits had +intrigued to bring about this result,--of which, of course, there is +no proof,--and on the night of 9-10th March they attacked the college, +and were with difficulty prevented from burning it. In the following +year the Jesuits were expelled from the Netherlands (which formed one +Province with Switzerland and Saxony) and came to swell the number of +their colleagues in Valais and Freiburg. + +In 1836, however, when the second revolutionary wave was passing +over Europe, the Radicals won power in the majority of the cantons +(including Lucerne, Freiburg, and Solothurn). They were not yet in a +position to dislodge the Jesuits, but there was constant friction, and +a serious struggle for the federal authority began. The aim of the +Radicals was to capture and strengthen the federal government, and +expel the Jesuits (and other religions) from the whole of Switzerland. +They and the "young Swiss" were part of the international Liberal +movement, which was everywhere anti-clerical.[42] In 1844 the struggle +became more violent. The Jesuits of Valais refusing to admit government +control of their schools, a band of armed Radicals marched upon Sion +and had to be defeated by the armed inhabitants. In the same year the +Jesuits entered Lucerne for the first time. A wealthy Catholic farmer +named Leu threw all his energy into their cause, and the Jesuits aided +by sending a preacher occasionally to show, by suave and conciliatory +sermons, that the suspicion of them was wholly unfounded. In face of a +storm of Protestant and Radical threats the Council decided to admit +the Jesuits. + +There now spread through the country a struggle of passion which +was soon to culminate in a deadly civil war. Leu was murdered, and +Catholics and Radicals faced each other with intense hatred. Opinions +may differ as to the conduct of the Jesuits in pressing their ministry, +since it is clear that the purely political differences would not have +stained the hills and valleys of Switzerland with blood. The war that +followed was a religious war, and mainly a war over the Jesuits. In +the spring of 1845 it was announced that an army of 11,000 Radicals +was marching on Lucerne. The Catholic Confederation sent round the +fiery cross, and gathered an army sufficiently strong to defeat and +scatter the Radicals. It was over the corpses of these opponents that +the Jesuits entered Lucerne and began to teach, with passion still +seething on every side. A graver struggle impended, and both sides +hastily organised. The seven Catholic cantons (to whose enterprise the +French Jesuits contributed 98,000 francs) formed a Sonderbund [Separate +Alliance], and aimed at setting up a Catholic Republic. The Federal +Diet at Berne ordered them to dissolve, and when they refused, pitted +the federal army against the Catholic troops. A bloody and disastrous +war ended in a victory for the federal troops in 1847, the Sonderbund +was destroyed, and the Jesuits (with the other religious orders) were +excluded from Switzerland by the Constitution of 1848. The Jesuits had +not waited for the troops to enter Freiburg and Lucerne; they had fled +to the Tyrol and Austria. + +In the Netherlands the story of the Jesuits during the nineteenth +century has been one of great prosperity, checked only by a few early +reverses. No sooner had the Pope issued the bull of restoration, and +the French rule been destroyed, than the ex-Jesuits who lingered in the +country as secular priests and the Fathers of the Faith (who had at +last entered the Society) proceeded to organise their body. A novitiate +was opened at Rumbeke and another at Destelbergen, in Belgium. The +Congress of Vienna, however, placed the united Netherlands under the +control of William of Nassau, and he watched the progress of the +Jesuits with uneasiness. The former father of the Faith, the Count de +Broglie, was now bishop of Ghent, and he and other prelates and nobles +sedulously assisted the Jesuits. The controversies which were bound to +arise after the union of Protestant Holland and Catholic Belgium under +one crown soon raged furiously, and William, in the summer of 1816, +ordered the Jesuits to close their novitiate at Destelbergen. They were +forced to retire, but de Broglie encouraged them to resist the King, +and lent them his palace for the maintenance of their community. De +Broglie himself was afterwards banished for assailing the Constitution, +and the fathers were put out of the palace at the point of the bayonet +in 1818. As William threatened to expel them from the country, they +removed the novitiate to Switzerland, and assumed an appearance of +submission. As, however, they continued to stir the Catholics, William +ordered the bishops in 1824 to forbid them to give retreats to the +clergy, and in the following year he closed two of their residences. + +This succinct account will suffice to introduce the Catholic revolution +of 1830, in which Belgium won its independence. We are again asked to +regard the Jesuits as idle spectators of the fierce Catholic agitation +which ended in the rebellion; but, in view of their experience under +William, it seems wiser to accept the Dutch assurance that they played +a large, if secret, part in it. The revolution was just, however, and +there were other grounds than religion in the dissatisfaction of the +Belgians.[43] From that date Belgium has been a golden land for the +Jesuits, and Protestant Holland has suffered them to prosper in peace. +After 1830 they literally overran Belgium; they numbered 117 in 1834, +and 454 in 1845. After that date came the great revolutionary storm of +1848, and Belgium was almost the one land in which the hunted Jesuits +could find refuge. Leopold of Saxe-Coburg was too prudent a Protestant +to interfere with them, and from the Belgian frontier they maintained +the strength of their struggling colleagues in France. In Holland they +were treated with leniency by the successor of William; and, when +the storm broke upon their German colleagues in 1872, they were able +to receive the refugees and maintain houses on the frontier for the +invasion of Germany, as they do to-day. + +It is needless to show, in fine, how the restored Jesuits spread again +over the foreign missions. After 1830 especially, when their number +had increased, they began to regain their lost Provinces. In 1834 +six fathers landed at Calcutta to restore the Indian Province, and +when the Portuguese missionaries and authorities tried to expel them, +they succeeded in getting the protection of the English authorities. +Madaura, the richest of their old fields, was restored to them in 1837. +Here again the existing missionaries protested so violently that for +many years the few Jesuits led a hard and almost fruitless existence. +In 1842 some of the Jesuit missionaries secured the charge of a native +college in Bengal, but the prince was compelled to evict them after a +few years. There was an angry feeling and great outcry against them in +India well into the middle of the century. In 1854 they received charge +of the vicariate of Bombay, in 1858 of Poonah, and in 1859 of Bengal. + +China was re-entered, very modestly, in 1841, and the various Republics +of South America admitted them whenever the Catholics alternated in +power with the Liberals. They entered Argentina in 1836, but were +banished again in 1843; they were permitted to settle in Guatemala +in 1853, and expelled when the Liberals came to power in 1871. But +it would be little more than a calendar of dates to record their +appearances and disappearances in the South American States, and on +the foreign missions generally. In 1845, of 5000 Jesuits, 518 were +missionaries: in 1855 there were 1110 on the missions: in 1884 they +counted 2575 on the missions. They no longer presented to the historian +the interesting features of their early years; Jesuits no longer +flaunted the silk robes of a mandarin or the mythological vesture of +a Saniassi, no vast estates or commerce sent gold to their European +brethren, no troops of soldiers marched at their command, no quaint +rites or rebellions against bishops engaged the Roman Congregations. +They had entered the age of prose. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 41: It seems to have been on account of this slanderous +attack on the Pope, as well as to give it an air of impartiality, +that General Roothaan publicly denied that the Jesuits had assisted +the author. The learned Abbé Guettée, in the _Histoire des Jésuites_, +which he published soon afterwards, tells us that, not yet knowing his +hostility to them, some of the Jesuits of Paris freely acknowledged to +him their share in the work. In any case, the Jesuits were obviously +in close co-operation with the writer, since he speaks constantly of +having before his eyes unpublished documents which belonged to the +Society.] + +[Footnote 42: There were, of course, more important issues at stake +in the Swiss struggle. The franchise was narrow, and the government +aristocratic in the cantons, and the central or federal power was weak. +The Radicals mainly aimed at reforming these features, but they were +hardly less inflamed at the privileges given to the Jesuits. In Valais +the fathers travelled free on the public services.] + +[Footnote 43: Historians usually include among the causes the +enforcement of a system of secular education only in the schools. +But--as Sir Robert Stout kindly pointed out to me--the Catholic +prelates in their letter to the French Minister of the Interior, dated +30th May 1806, had previously "willingly" accepted this arrangement. +They agreed that it was enough to teach religion in the churches.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE LAST PHASE + + +If we attempt to sum up in few words the story of the Jesuits during +the first few decades after their suppression, we must say that there +was little change in their spirit, and that they were wholly bent +on returning to their former position. In actual conduct there is +a material change. The industrial and commercial system, which had +formed one of the most irregular roots of their power in the earlier +centuries, has disappeared; they no longer haunt the courts of kings as +they had done; they, as a rule, show less arrogance to the non-Jesuit +clergy and the bishops; they are less lax in their casuistry; they +shrink from regicide. Much of this change is, however, plainly +attributable to their new situation. There is, for instance, hardly a +single country where they enjoy an unbroken prosperity for even thirty +years during the first half of the nineteenth century, so that we could +hardly look for large estates or traffic; and their foreign missions +are only slowly and laboriously constructed. As to regicide, the new +age has a more humane way of dealing with superfluous kings. If they do +not counsel kings, it is clearly not from lack of desire to do so. On +the whole, let us say that the dreadful age, as they conceive it, into +which they are reborn has improved their conduct in spite of themselves. + +We have now to see how, as the age increases in wickedness, to use +their phrase, the Jesuits continue to improve: how they retain their +worst features only in lands which they pronounce godly and just, and +are so innocent as to cast suspicion on the dark legends about them +where heresy and unbelief abound. This last phase of Jesuit activity is +very important, yet too close to us for proper historical study. Enough +can be said, however, to show that what may be called the intermediate +view of Jesuit degeneration is disputable. There are those (_i.e._ +all Jesuits and their admirers) who hold that the Jesuits were never +open to grave censure as a body; and there are those who maintain that +the Jesuit of the nineteenth or twentieth century is as bad as the +Jesuit of the seventeenth, and would poison a pope or forge a cheque +complacently in the interest of the Society. A third view is that their +heavy and repeated chastisements have made their evil features a thing +of history. During the first half of the nineteenth century, however, +we have seen that they had no idea of burying their past; they were +to co-operate with kings in restoring the old order, and we have not +the least ground to think that, had they restored it, they would have +used their power otherwise than they did in the seventeenth century. It +remains to see if they become wiser in the next half-century. + +We left them on the eve of the revolution of 1848. Except in +Switzerland, where their obstinacy in asserting their rights had been +one of the chief causes of a civil war and made their prospects worse +than ever, they still dreamed of erasing the revolution from the +chronicle of Europe and beginning again at 1750. Hence the fearful +storm of 1848 broke on them almost unexpectedly. They had only recently +been forced to retire from France, so that the outbreak in that country +affected them little. But the storm passed on to Austria and Italy, +even Rome, and drove the Jesuits before it. A Jesuit writer observes +sadly that "the first attack of the revolutionaries everywhere was +on the Jesuits." Naturally; there were no more vehement opponents in +Europe of the new age which the revolutionary movement represented. +They had themselves traced the revolutionary spirit to their temporary +absence from the schools of Europe, and the revolutionaries[44] +concluded that the reign of terror had had their support. So from +Rhineland, Austria, Galicia, Venice, Turin, Rome, Naples, and +Sicily--the only Provinces of the Society which seemed secure--the +Jesuits were driven by armed and angry crowds, and a vast colony of +bewildered refugees shuddered in Belgium. + +The Emperor of Austria was forced on 7th May to sign their expulsion +from the whole of his empire, but it was in Italy that they suffered +most. Since 1840 the authorities of the Society had received a +succession of painful shocks. The Carlists had lost and the fathers had +been driven from Spain: in 1845 they had been forced to dissolve the +communities in France: in 1847 the Swiss Catholics had lost, and the +Jesuit houses had been wrecked. They had attached themselves everywhere +to losing causes. Manning was in Rome in the winter 1847-48, and his +diary records the coming of the revolution to Rome, and flight of the +Jesuits. Pius IX. had exhausted his Liberalism, and the Romans were +uneasy and suspicious. Then, in January and February 1848, news came +that the revolutionaries had triumphed in Sicily and Naples, and the +Jesuits were flying north. By March the Jesuits at Rome were ready to +fly at a moment's notice, as Manning found when he visited them. On +29th March they were expelled; and in the same month the Viennese +conquered their Emperor, the Venetians rebelled and drove out the +Jesuits, and the Piedmontese won a Liberal Constitution from Charles +Albert. Manning speculates on the causes of the intense hostility to +the Jesuits, and traces it to their alliance with ultramontanism and +political reaction. + +As the historian tells, the revolution of 1848 had in most countries +only a temporary triumph, and in the course of 1849 and 1850 the +Jesuits returned to their provinces. In very many places they returned +to find their comfortable home a heap of ruins, but the storm had had +one consoling effect. It had proved that the Jesuits were the chief +enemies of Liberalism, and to the Jesuits must be entrusted the task of +extinguishing such sparks as remained of the revolutionary fire. Pius +IX. had been driven to Gaeta, while the Romans set up their short-lived +Triumvirate and declared papal rule at an end. He returned to Rome in +the spring of 1850, when French troops had cleared out his opponents, +and from that moment he became the closest ally of the Jesuits. His +first act was to canonise several members of the Society. He took a +Jesuit confessor, and, with the aid of Cardinal Antonelli and the +Society, set up the selfish and repressive system which the English +ambassador described as "the opprobrium of Europe." + +At last, it seemed, the spectre of revolution was definitively laid, +and a prospect of real restoration lay before the Society. At Rome the +Jesuits had enormous power. Their influence is seen in the declaration +of the Immaculate Conception in 1854 and the appalling Encyclical +against modern culture and aspirations of 1864. To them in 1866 the +Pope entrusted his chief organ, the _Civiltà Cattolica_, and they had +a large part in agitating for, and ultimately passing, the declaration +that the Pope is infallible in 1870. During all this period they +controlled Catholic culture, if not the Papacy. Their power was at +the same time restored in Sicily, Naples, and Venice, so that Italy +(except Piedmont) was covered with their colleges and residences. +In Austria the Emperor, embittered by his hour of humiliation, now +opened the whole of his dominions to them, and they collected fathers +from all parts of the world to come and restore the prosperity of the +Austrian Province. In Belgium they prospered luxuriantly; and they made +quiet and stealthy progress in Holland, Bavaria, Switzerland, Saxony, +and Prussia, where they were not authorised. In France Napoleon III. +cancelled the decrees against them, and cherished them as one of the +supports of his throne. In England they found a friend in Wiseman and +made rapid progress; in the United States they were growing with the +phenomenal growth of the population. The age of trouble was over. The +sage old fathers at the Gesù and the Roman College saw chaos returning +to order. + +In 1853, at the beginning of this happier turn of their fortunes, +Roothaan died, and Beckx, the son of a Belgian shoemaker, was elected +General. The one cloud on the horizon was Piedmont, where the earlier +affection for the Jesuits had died, but it had been proved, apparently, +that France and Austria would check the ambition of that State. But +France was drawn to Sardinia, and in 1859 Victor Emmanuel began to +extend his rule over Italy. From that time until 1870 the Society heard +of nothing but disaster. In 1860 Victor Emmanuel annexed Tuscany, +Emilia, and Romagna, and the Jesuits were driven from their homes into +the Papal States. In the same year Garibaldi landed in Sicily, put +an end to the brutal rule of the Catholic King, and ejected the 300 +Jesuits from their palatial college at Palermo and other residences. +In the autumn he entered Naples, and swept further hundreds of the +Jesuits before him. We learn from a letter of protest which Father +Beckx addressed to Victor Emmanuel, that in the two years the Society +had lost 3 institutions in Lombardy, 6 in Modena, 11 in the Papal +States, 19 in Naples, and 15 in Sicily. Of 308 Jesuits in their most +prosperous Province of Sicily only 8 aged and ailing fathers were +allowed to remain on the island. Of 5500 members of the Society no less +than 1500 were homeless, and were not even allowed to find shelter in +Catholic houses in their native Provinces. In 1866 the Austrians were +ejected from Venice, and further scores of Jesuits were driven from +their homes. In 1868, it may be added, the Jesuits were again banished +from Spain, to which they had returned under Isabella II. + +There was a great concentration of Jesuits in Rome and the remaining +Papal States, and desperate efforts were made to secure that at least +this remnant of earthly principality should remain loyal to the Pope. +To the great joy of the Jesuits an OEcumenical Council gathered at the +Vatican, and the design of declaring the Pope personally infallible +in matters of faith or morals was eagerly pressed. In the long and +heated conflict of affirming bishops and denying bishops, and bishops +who thought a declaration inexpedient, the Jesuits were very active, +scorning the idea that it could be imprudent to enhance the power of +the Pope. Then came the Franco-German War, the withdrawal of the one +Catholic force which could save Rome from Victor Emmanuel, and the +clouds gathered more thickly than ever. The Jesuits had declared their +opinion of the "usurper" too freely to have any illusion as to the +issue. + +When the Piedmontese troops entered by the breach at the Porta Pia on +20th September, the Jesuits knew that they were doomed. A detachment +of soldiers at once proceeded to the house attached to the Gesù and +took up quarters there. Whatever the reason was, the new Italian +Government proceeded very slowly in the work of expelling the Jesuits. +For some weeks soldiers and fathers lived together at the Gesù--the +fathers afterwards said that the soldiers chose the General's room +for practising the drum and trumpet--and the various residences were +confiscated "in the public interest" at wide intervals. In October the +novitiate at St. Andreas, with its large estates, was taken and the +novices forced to enlist. In January 1772 one of their smaller churches +was handed over to the secular clergy; in January 1873 a second church +and the Roman College (which was used by the Ministry of War) were +annexed. + +At last, in June 1873, a law was published enacting that the monks +and religious of all orders must quit Italy. One house was to be +reserved at Rome for each order, so that they might communicate with +the Vatican, but this privilege was refused to the Jesuits. They were +hated by the great majority of the educated Italians, who recalled +with anger their support of the bloody reigns of Ferdinand of Naples, +Ferdinand VII. of Spain, Miguel of Portugal, and Gregory XVI. and +Pius IX. They had sided with reaction and lost. There was no general +sympathy when, in October, Father Beckx, now a feeble old man of +seventy-eight, went sorrowfully to his exile in Florence, and the +remaining Italian Jesuits were pensioned and scattered. The novitiate +at Sant Andreas was rented by the American Seminary (and Father Beckx +was allowed to die there some years later). The Gesù was entrusted to +other priests, and the sacred rooms of Ignatius and the other saints +of the Society were respectfully preserved. The Roman College became a +State school: I remember seeing a vast Congress of Freethinkers hold +their fiery meetings in its dark chambers and airy quadrangle thirty +years afterwards, at the invitation of the civic authorities of Rome. + +It was just one hundred years since the Roman Jesuits had been +scattered by Clement XIV. But the catastrophe in Italy was not the only +affliction to mark that dark centenary. They had in the previous year, +when they were awaiting the sentence of Victor Emmanuel, heard that +their fathers were expelled from the new German Empire. For some years +they had made quiet, but considerable, progress in Prussia, Bavaria, +and Saxony, as well as Austria. They had opened a number of colleges +at Cologne and in the Rhine Province, always a rich field for their +work, and had institutions at Posen, Münster, Metz, Mayence, Bonn, +Strassburg, Essen, Aix-la-Chapelle, Marienthal, Ratisbon, and many +other places. From the Rhine Province and Bavaria and Baden they sent +so many recruits to the German College at Rome, who would return to +work in Germany and further the influence of the Jesuits in seminaries +and bishoprics and universities, that Frederick William III. was +compelled to forbid any of his subjects to go to the German College or +any other Jesuit institution. Frederick William IV. genially overlooked +their progress, and they spread over the States which were presently to +form the German Empire. + +But the birth of the German Empire coincided with the declaration of +papal infallibility, and a strong agitation for the expulsion of the +Jesuits arose. The prolonged check on Jesuit activity in Germany had +permitted the growth of a more virile and honest culture among the +secular clergy, and many of the best Catholic scholars were amazed at +the papal claim. Politicians and Protestants generally were concerned +about this victory of ultramontanism, and attributed it largely to the +intrigues of the Jesuits. Even before 1870 the Catholic statesmen of +Bavaria were in conflict with the Church over its extreme pretensions. +When, in 1870, two more Catholic Provinces were added to Germany, +bringing its Catholic population up to fifteen millions, Bismarck +watched attentively every step in the growth of ultramontanism. The +dissenters at the Vatican Council had very serious ground indeed for +their plea of inexpediency, as far as Germany was concerned. Even +Austria threatened to break its Concordat with the Papacy when the news +of the declaration of infallibility arrived. Over Protestant Germany a +feeling of intense hostility spread, and the Old Catholics joined in +the outcry. + +Petitions for the expulsion of the Jesuits began to reach the +Reichstag, and the Government proceeded to act. A measure was debated +in the Reichstag in June 1872, and on the 4th of July it was signed +and promulgated. Six months were allowed for the settlement of their +affairs, and in the course of that time the whole of their communities +were dissolved. As communities they retired upon Switzerland, Austria, +Holland, and Belgium, but the law permitted them to enter the Empire +as individual citizens, and Bismarck knew that it availed little to +expel Jesuits with a fork. Dr. Falk, a strenuous Liberal, was made +Minister of Public Instruction, and he framed a series of measures (the +"May Laws") for the complete control of education by the State and +for determining the qualifications of teachers in such a way that no +disguised Jesuit could return to his desk. The control of schools had +hitherto been left generally to the bishops, on whose indulgence or +zeal, as far as the Catholic schools were concerned, the Jesuits could +generally rely. + +A stormy controversy ended in the passing of the Laws, and Germany +entered upon that long and bitter struggle of the Catholics against +the Government which is known as the _Kulturkampf_. To this day the +Jesuits have been unable, in spite of the most industrious intrigue, +to secure readmission into the German Empire. They still hover about +the frontiers, in Holland, Austria, and Belgium, and maintain large +colleges in which hundreds of the sons of the wealthier Catholics are +educated in orthodox principles. Individually, they live frequently in +Berlin and control the incessant demand of the Centre Party for their +rehabilitation. "Exile" has no effect on their growth and prosperity, +for the 755 expelled Jesuits of 1872 now number 1186. It is not +impossible that they will secure return by some such bargain as that +which contributed to the ending of the _Kulturkampf_. Bismarck saw a +"red terror" growing more rapidly and threateningly than the "black +terror," and he made peace with the Catholic clergy and Rome on the +understanding that they would combat Socialism in Germany. Socialism +continues to grow, and it would not be surprising if the Emperor at +length enlists the sons of Ignatius in his desperate struggle against +it. If he does, the Society will find a luxuriant field for growth +among the 22,000,000 Catholics of the Empire, until the last deadly +struggle with Social Democracy sets in. + +For the inner spirit and character of the modern German Jesuits I +must refer the reader to Count von Hoensbroech's invaluable _Fourteen +Years a Jesuit_ (2 vols., Engl. transl., 1911). The whole story from +beginning to end is a sober but pitiful indictment of the Jesuits, and +shows how little change there is below their accommodating expressions. +We find the Jesuits hovering about the houses of the wealthy, +using their influence with the women, extorting money by the most +questionable means, practising and teaching mental reservation at every +turn, and intriguing for political power through the Catholic laity, as +they had done through three centuries. When Father Anderledy (a future +General of the Society) was convicted, in the 'forties, of maintaining +studies in the Cologne residence, contrary to Prussian law, he flatly +denied the charge, making the mental reservation that from that moment +the school should cease to exist. The Jesuit historian who records the +fact says: "What presence of mind!" When Hoensbroech, intending to +enter the German service, asked the learned Jesuit Franzelin whether +he might take an oath to observe the laws (which then included the May +Laws), he was told that he might, with the mental reserve that he did +not respect any laws denounced by the Church. Numbers of instances +of deliberate lying (with mental reserve) are given, and the work +exhibits the character, the training, and the educational activity of +the Jesuits in an extremely unattractive light. It is an indispensable +document for the study of modern Jesuit character. + +The German Jesuits were, as I said, expelled in 1872; the Italian +Jesuits followed in 1873. At that time the Jesuits of France were +enjoying the reaction of public opinion which followed the attempts of +the Communists. Under Napoleon III. they had quickly recovered, and as +early as 1855 there had once more been appeals for their expulsion. +They returned to their schools and colleges after the disturbances +of 1871, and the Conservative Government permitted them to prosper. +A reaction set in in the later 'seventies, when Gambetta vigorously +led the anti-clerical forces and began to denounce the Society. The +Catholics had almost succeeded in overthrowing the Republic and +enthroning the Duc de Chambord. When (in 1877) they went on to demand +the employment of French troops for the re-establishment of the Pope in +his temporal power, they lost the cause of their Church. From that year +Catholicism has decreased in France, shrinking from 30,000,000 to about +5,000,000 followers in thirty years. + +Within two years there was an enormous growth of the anti-clerical +feeling, especially against the Jesuits. They, and the great majority +of the religious orders, had no legal right to existence in France. +Only three or four Congregations, of a philanthropic character, were +authorised by French law. Yet these useful bodies made no progress, +while the unauthorised Congregations held property of the value of +400,000,000 francs. Jules Ferry now became Minister of Education, +and framed a law to prevent any member of an unauthorised Society +from teaching. When the Catholic Senate rejected it, the unauthorised +Congregations were dissolved by decree (1880). Once more the Jesuits +were banished from France, and 2904 members of the Society were added +to the number of exiles. In 1880 more than half the Jesuits--or 7400 +Jesuits--were excluded from their respective countries. + +As France was still overwhelmingly Catholic, the successive Governments +were unable to enforce the law, and the Jesuits quietly returned to +their work. It is enough to say that during the next twenty years, +until France had become predominantly non-Catholic and disposed to +insist on their exclusion, the 2900 Jesuits actually increased their +number; the property of the unauthorised Congregations rose in value +from 400,000,000 to 1,000,000,000 francs; the higher education was +controlled to a great extent by the Jesuits, whose pupils passed +largely into the army and navy. It is hardly necessary to recall the +successive blunders by which the Jesuits (and other religious) brought +on themselves the sentence of expulsion in 1901. In 1886 Boulanger +became Minister of War and popular idol. His Radical friends soon +distrusted him, and the Monarchists and Catholics fanned the popular +agitation to have him made Dictator. In this case we have positive and +sufficient information of the complicity of the Jesuits. Count von +Hoensbroech, then a young Jesuit, heard from the lips of Father du Lac, +the most prominent of the French Jesuits, that he had collected large +sums of money for the "Deliverer of France" and the overthrow of the +"dirty and impious Republic."[45] We can hardly doubt that they had +been equally zealous for the Duc de Chambord, and were later as zealous +for the cause of the Duc d'Orleans. + +Boulanger fled, to escape arrest, in 1889, and the Republicans added +to the reckoning against the Jesuits. In 1897-99 occurred the famous +agitation for the retrial of Dreyfus, and once more the Jesuits ranged +themselves on the losing side of tyranny and prejudice. By the end of +the century France had become overwhelmingly non-Catholic, and was not +disposed to tolerate further the intrigues and wealth of bodies which +had no legal existence in the country. The Jesuits, in particular, +were a menace to the Republic. The new century opened therefore with +an anti-clerical campaign which is still fresh in our memories. +Waldeck-Rousseau passed his Associations' Bill in 1901, and the Jesuits +now were once more expelled. Combes and Rouvier completed the work +in subsequent years. There is, however, no very drastic action taken +against invading religious, and the Jesuits frequent Paris as they do +Berlin. The number of members of the French Provinces of the Society +has risen to 3071 (many of whom are on the foreign missions), and from +comfortable homes in England (where we have 226) and other countries, +with their funds safely invested, they await the day of recall. But the +general collapse of the Church in France makes it certain that they +will never be readmitted. + +Apart from the Latin-American Republics, in connection with which it +would be tedious to enumerate the various expulsions and recalls of +the Jesuits, and Portugal the Society has made great progress in other +countries. Of Portugal little need be said; the situation is similar to +that in France. The Jesuits had no authorised existence in the country, +and, when Portugal was at length enabled to assert its will (after the +revolution of 1910), it sharply dismissed them. Here again the country +is predominantly non-Catholic, if we confine our attention to voters, +and the Jesuits are never likely to return. + +Spain has become the refuge, and almost the last hope in the Latin +world, of the expatriated Jesuits. In the corrupt and worthless reign +of Isabella II. they had been suffered to return to their posts and +prosper. Properly speaking, they have had no legal right to exist in +Spain since they were abolished by Christina in 1835. The Concordat of +1852 stipulates for the admission of the Oratorians and Vincentians and +"one other" Congregation; but casuistic skill has interpreted this to +mean "one for each diocese," and all have been admitted. The abominable +rule of their patroness Isabella ended in revolution in 1868; the +frivolous Queen was deposed, and the Jesuits shared the fate of her +other strange favourites. With the accession of Alfonso XII., however, +they returned to Spain, and obtained the wealth and power which they +enjoy to-day. + +The secrecy of the Society emboldens its apologists to make the most +audacious denials of these constant charges of wealth, power, and +intrigue, but it constantly happens that some confiscated document +or disaffected admirer betrays them. Such an instance may be quoted +in connection with the Spanish Jesuits. In 1896 a devout Catholic, a +former pupil and employee of the Jesuits, Señor Ceballos y Cruzada, +quarrelled with and turned against them. In the little work in which +he expounds his grievances (_El Imperio del Jesuitismo_) he tells us +some interesting facts about their wealth and activity. There is in +Spain a vast Catholic Society known as the Association of Fathers of +Families, which is quite as much concerned with sound politics as sound +morals. Señor Ceballos shows how the Jesuits secretly use and direct +it for their political aims, and for thwarting rival ecclesiastical +bodies. As to their wealth, he says that they have 11 colleges worth +from 1,000,000 to 12,000,000 _reales_ each, while their chief house +at Loyola has property of incalculable value. At his own college, at +Deusto, there were about 300 pupils paying 1500 _pesetas_ a year each; +in none of them is education gratuitous. The schooling is very poor and +antiquated, and few of their scholars later rise to any distinction. +It is curious to know that these wealthy Jesuit institutions have the +British flag ready to be hoisted in case of revolution (which they +yearly expect). + +There is, however, little need for proof of the wealth and political +influence of the Jesuits in Spain. In the struggle which is proceeding +between the reformers, of all parties, and the supporters of the +deeply corrupt political system, the Jesuits use their whole strength +as educators, and intrigue far beyond their schools, in the interest +of corruption; and, true to their maxim of educating and capturing +the sons of the wealthier classes, they have permitted the mass of +the people to remain at an appalling level of illiteracy. The great +majority of the men of Spain, in the large towns, hate them intensely, +and await with impatience the day when, like their Portuguese +neighbours, they will expel their insidious enemies. A few years ago a +drama entitled _Paternidad_ was put upon the stage of one of the chief +theatres at Barcelona, and received with the wildest enthusiasm. It was +written by a Catholic priest, Segismondo Pey-Ordeix, and represented +the Jesuits of modern Spain as practising the most corrupt devices +known in the history of the Society. The sternly critical works of +the great Spanish writer, Perez Galdos, are just as enthusiastically +received at Madrid and in all the cities. Spaniards watch with +indignation the concentration of exiled Jesuits on their territory. +To the exiled French communities of 1880 were added the 147 Jesuits +of Cuba and the Philippines in 1898, and these are now reinforced by +the Portuguese. They now number 3859. In 1901, 1906, and recently, the +Liberals have attempted or threatened to deal with them; but there is +too much collusion in the Cortes between the opposing parties, and +the Jesuits have too strong an influence at the Palace: I am informed +that the present Queen has surrendered entirely to the pressure of +the Queen-mother and the Jesuits. Unless the King has the courage to +lighten the labouring vessel of royalty by sacrificing the Jesuits, +which would give him immense popularity, Spain will, within ten years, +follow the example of Portugal. + +Several of the South American Republics, and Mexico, have already +reached a state of permanent triumph of the Liberal elements, and +expelled the Jesuits for ever. As this work proceeds with the growth +of education, it is natural to presume that they will all in time +exclude the Jesuits. Italy also will return to its strict law, when the +Government discovers that the shrinking influence of the Papacy is no +longer a valuable ally against advanced schools. At present the law is +not enforced, and there are large numbers of Jesuits in the country; +the Italian Province numbers more than a thousand members. At Rome +they control the Gregorian University, the German and Latin-American +Colleges, the Biblical Institute, and other papal establishments. +Restrained in some measure by Leo XIII., they have recovered all their +influence at the Vatican under the present mediæval Pontiff, and they +are amongst the most ardent supporters of the reactionary policy with +which he is paralysing higher culture in the Church of Rome. The +higher secular clergy are little less anxious than the Socialists +and Freemasons to see them suppressed. The same forces are at work +against them in Belgium, where they number 1200 (including foreign +missionaries), and Austria. A coalition of Liberals and Socialists in +Belgium would at any time put an end to the Catholic power, as the +anti-clerical voters are in the majority, and the Jesuits would not +long survive the change. + +Yet one of the most singular features of the whole singular story +of the Jesuits is that they have increased enormously during this +half-century of afflictions. The growth of the Society during the last +hundred years is seen in the following table:-- + + 1838 3,067 members. + 1844 4,133 " + 1853 5,209 " + 1861 7,144 " + 1884 11,840 members. + 1906 15,661 " + 1912 16,545[46] " + +Of the present members, 3531 are on the foreign missions; and the +re-opening of these fields, under less adventurous conditions, +accounts for much of the growth of the Society. The advance of the +United States and the British Colonies, with their large percentage +of Irish and Italian immigrants, accounts for a good deal of the +remainder. The Jesuits of the United States now number 2300; and there +are 373 in Canada and 100 in Australasia. It is most probable that the +future of the Jesuits lies in the Protestant countries. Probably the +Jesuits will, in twenty years' time, be excluded from every "Catholic" +kingdom, yet number more than 20,000. + +Their progress and activity in England may be more closely described +in illustration of this tendency. We saw how the survivors of the old +English mission joined with the Fathers of the Faith in 1814 and 1815 +to re-establish the Society. They then numbered 73, and had several +chapels, besides the estate and house at Stonyhurst. They advanced +with the general body of the Roman Catholics, especially when the +stronger current of immigration from Ireland began in the forties. +The secular clergy were still very much opposed to them, however, and +Dr. Griffiths, the Vicar Apostolic of the London district, refused to +allow them to set up a community in the metropolis. After years of +pressure at Rome they secured the interest of Dr. (later Cardinal) +Wiseman, and were admitted to settle in Farm St., among the wealthiest +Catholics. When Wiseman succeeded Griffiths in 1847 (and the hierarchy +was established in 1850) they were cordially patronised and made +greater progress. They then numbered 554. With the accession of Manning +the patronage ceased and their work was restricted. They were eager +to found schools for middle-class boys; but Manning sternly refused, +in defiance of the favour of Pius IX., and they were compelled to +establish their schools at such places as Beaumont and Wimbledon, +outside his jurisdiction. When they pressed for a school of higher +studies, a kind of Catholic university, Manning hastily founded his +ill-fated school at Kensington and refused their co-operation, with the +natural result that the wealthier Catholics, under the influence of the +Jesuits, would not support it. Bishop Vaughan of Salford was not much +more indulgent to them. + +The secret of Manning's opposition is said by his biographer to have +been his wish to raise the dignity of the secular priesthood, which +Catholics are too apt to think lower than the monastic state. This +was, however, not merely a mystic theory on the part of the Cardinal. +He despised the comparative indolence and petty hypocrisies of the +religious orders generally, and had a particular dislike of the +intrigue, the secrecy, the insubordination, and the pursuit of wealthy +people, of the Jesuits.[47] Manning refused sacerdotal faculties to his +nephew, Father Anderdon, and forced the Jesuits to surrender a site +in West London for which they had paid more than £30,000. Cardinal +Vaughan, however, relaxed his coercive policy when he was transferred +to Westminster. + +The English Province has now (1912) 729 members, and about fifty +churches; though the _Catholic Directory_ gives only 285 English Jesuit +priests, and 226 French refugees, in this country. The feeling against +them amongst the secular clergy and the other religious Congregations +is almost as strong as ever. Their obvious preference for the wealthier +quarters of cities is sneeringly discussed in clerical circles, and +it is said that they intrigue incessantly to draw the more comfortable +Catholics from other parishes. The poverty of their literary and +scholastic output,--mainly, a number of slight and superficial +controversial works, more intent on making small points than on +substantial and accurate erudition,--and their remarkable failure +to produce men of distinction, are regarded as a grave reflection +on their body, in view of their wealth, numbers, and leisure. It is +not, however, believed that they indulge any other intrigue than an +amiable zeal among the Catholic laity to add to their own comfort and +prestige.[48] + +Returning, in conclusion, to the question at the beginning of this +chapter, we find it impossible to give a general answer and embrace +all the existing Jesuits in a formula. The Jesuits of Spain, with +their political machinations, their sordid legacy-hunting, and their +eagerness to support the Spanish Government in the judicial murder of +their enemies, are a very different body from the Jesuits of England or +Germany or the United States. The Jesuits of Cuba and the Philippines +were, until 1898, little different from the more parasitical Jesuit +missionaries of the seventeenth or eighteenth century. The modern age +has affected the Jesuits much as some ancient revolution in the climate +of the earth modified its living inhabitants. Where the old tropical +conditions more or less linger (say, in Chile or Peru) the Jesuits +are hardly changed; and we find the alteration in exact proportion +to the environment. There is no change in the inner principles and +ideals. "All for the Glory of the Society," as Mgr. Talbot sardonically +translated their Latin motto, is still the ruling principle; the +Society remains the Esau of the Roman clerical world. It still chiefly +seeks the wealthy and powerful; it is the arch-enemy of progress +and liberalism in Catholic theology; its scholarship is singularly +undistinguished in proportion to its resources;[49] it embarks on +political intrigue, even for the destruction of State-forms, whenever +its interest seems to require; it is hated by a very large proportion +of the Catholic clergy and laity in every country. Let a liberal Pope +again come to power and Modernism prevail, and it is not impossible +that Catholicism itself will again angrily suppress the perverse and +irregular construction of the Spanish soldier-diplomatist, and insist +that religious ideals shall be pursued only by scrupulously clean and +unselfish exertions. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 44: I use the phrase of historians, but may observe that this +was, in the main, a middle-class movement to secure liberty of opinion +and other elementary political rights.] + +[Footnote 45: _Fourteen Years_, ii. 164.] + +[Footnote 46: It must be borne in mind always that "members" does +not necessarily mean priests. Rather less than half are priests: the +remainder are scholastics or lay coadjutors.] + +[Footnote 47: I am speaking here on what I heard, in clerical +days, from men who were intimate with Manning. Purcell's _Life_ is +misleading. The author intended to be candid, but the Jesuits and +others made such threats, when it became known what disclosures the +book would contain, that he was compelled to omit much. The suppression +of truth has greatly injured its historical value.] + +[Footnote 48: There are in Count von Hoensbroech's book some scathing +reflections on the character and culture of the English Jesuits. The +Count underwent part of his Jesuit training in England.] + +[Footnote 49: Let me recall that I do not personally expect the Society +to produce anything but theologians, and of these it has produced +many in the nineteenth century. In controversial theology, however, +the work of the Jesuits is grossly unscholarly and casuistic; truth +seems to be a secondary consideration. But it is so often claimed that +the Jesuits are a learned body in the more general sense, that it is +necessary to invite reflection on their record. Of the fifteen thousand +living Jesuits, and their predecessors for a century, who has won even +secondary rank in letters, history, or philosophy? In science there +are only Father Secchi, the single distinguished product of their +science-schools, and Father Wasmann, whose philosophy (apart from his +observations) is the laughing-stock of biology.] + + + + +INDEX + + + Abyssinia, the Jesuits in, 52, 78, 140, 296. + + Acosta, Father, 114, 115. + + Acquaviva, General, 106-140. + + Adorno, Father, 96. + + Aiguillon, the Duc d', 350. + + Alberoni, Cardinal, 270, 271. + + Alcalà, the Jesuits at, 10, 42, 44, 85. + + Alessandrini, Cardinal, 84, 87. + + Alexander I., 377, 378, 380, 381. + + Allen, Cardinal, 144, 152. + + Almeida, Father, 136. + + Alphonso VI., 256-7. + + " XII., 437. + + Alva, Duke of, 88, 91. + + Anderledy, General, 434. + + Anna, Queen, 266, 297. + + Annat, Father, 238. + + Antonelli, Cardinal, 427. + + Aranda, 275, 276, 277. + + Araoz, Father, 38, 42, 72, 84. + + Armada, the, 152, 153. + + Arnauld, Angélique, 222, 223, 236. + + " Antoine, 223, 225, 227, 231, 237, 243. + + Arrowsmith, Father E., 199. + + Aubeterre, Marquis d', 343. + + Auger, Father, 89, 90, 99, 117, 118. + + _Augustinus_, the, 224, 230. + + Austria, the Jesuits in, 92, 93, 101, 132, 324-7, 360, 417, 426, 428. + + Azpeitia, 3, 17. + + Azpuru, Mgr., 343. + + + Bañez, 135. + + Barrière, 123. + + Barry, Mme du, 350. + + Bathori, Stephen, 101, 131. + + Bavaria, the Jesuits in, 327, 328. + + Bay, Michel de, 100, 130. + + Bayle, 176, 238. + + Bayonne, the Conference of, 88. + + Beaumont, Archbishop de, 360. + + Beckx, General, 417, 428, 429. + + Bedloe, 210, 211. + + Belgium, the Jesuits in, 48-9, 75, 91-2, 100, 128, 130, 180, 421-2. + + Bellarmine, Cardinal, 100, 113. + + Benedict XIV., 262, 287, 295, 339. + + Benislawski, Bishop, 373. + + Bermudez, Father, 271, 272. + + Bernis, Cardinal, 343, 344, 346, 350. + + Bérulle, Cardinal de, 177, 178. + + Bismarck, 432, 433. + + Blackwell, G., 158, 159. + + Bobadilla, 14, 20, 40, 49, 50, 56-8, 94, 106. + + Bodler, Father, 316. + + Borgia, Francis, 43, 71-2, 80-94. + + Borromeo, Charles, 67, 68, 69, 96-9. + + " Frederic, 69. + + Bosgrave, Father, 149. + + Bossuet, 236, 241. + + Boulanger, General, and the Jesuits, 436. + + Bourbon, Cardinal de, 88, 99. + + Bourg Fontaine, the Plot of, 230. + + Brazil, the Jesuits in, 52, 78, 104, 139, 304. + + Briant, Father, 151. + + Britto, Father, 291. + + Broglie, Abbé Count de, 382, 413. + + Brouet, Paschase, 16, 20, 36, 41, 47, 58. + + Buckingham, Countess of, 199. + + Burnet, 38, 39. + + Bzrozowski, General, 378, 381. + + + California, the Jesuits in, 308. + + Camara, Gonzales da, 70, 71, 86. + + Campion, Father E., 143, 144-9, 150. + + Campmüller, Father, 351. + + Canada, the Jesuits in, 193, 308-9. + + Canisius, Peter, 49, 50, 75, 92. + + Cano, Melchior, 42, 43. + + Caraffa, Cardinal, 17, 53. + + Caravita, Father, 383. + + Cardenas, Bishop, 299-302. + + Carlists, the, and the Jesuits, 408, 409, 426. + + Carroll, John, 414. + + Catesby, 157, 159, 160, 161-4. + + Catherine de Medici, 73, 74, 88-91. + + Catherine of Portugal, 71, 86. + + Catherine the Great and the Jesuits,370-4. + + Catholic League, the, 117, 118, 119. + + Caussin, Father, 176. + + Chambord, the Duc de, 435. + + Charles I., 201, 202. + + " II., 205, 206, 209, 212, 268. + + " III., 274-7, 349, 351. + + " IV., of Lorraine, 179. + + " X., 402-4. + + Charles Albert, 393. + + " Felix, 393. + + Chastel, Jean, 123. + + Chateaubriand, 234. + + Cheminot, Father, 179, 180. + + China, the Jesuits in, 78, 104, 138-40, 190-1, 281-8, 423. + + "Chinese Rites," the, 281-8. + + Choir, 29, 31. + + Choiseul, 348, 349, 350. + + Christina of Spain, 408, 409. + + Christina of Sweden, 312-4. + + Cisneros, 8. + + Cistercians, the, and the Jesuits, 187. + + Civiltà Cattolica, the, 427. + + Clarke, Father, 272. + + Claver, Father, 297. + + Clavius, Father, 107, 133. + + Clement VIII., 114, 115, 155. + + " XI., 284, 286, 339. + + " XII., 295. + + " XIII., 262, 264, 277, 339, 340, 342. + + " XIV., 345, 346, 347, 348, 350, 352-7, 358, 368. + + Clément, Jacques, 119, 126. + + Clenock, Dr., 144. + + Clermont College, the, 75. + + Cochin China, the Jesuits in, 289-90. + + Cock, Archbishop, 322. + + Codacio, 21, 25. + + Codde, Archbishop, 321-2. + + Codure, 16, 20, 36. + + Cogardan, 58, 73. + + Coimbra, the Jesuits at, 46, 70. + + Coleman, 208, 209, 211. + + Colleges, 31. + + Colmar, the Jesuit college at, 331. + + Cologne, the Jesuits at, 49, 361. + + Condé, 73, 74. + + Congo, the Jesuits in the, 52, 78, 296. + + Congregation of the Holy Virgin, 398, 402. + + Congregation of the Sacred Heart, 382, 384. + + Consalvi, Cardinal, 391, 392. + + Constitutions, the Jesuit, 24, 28-31, 59. + + Contarini, Cardinal, 24, 25. + + Contzen, Adam, 216. + + Copts, Mission to the, 296. + + Cordara, Father, 168, 274, 347. + + Coster, Father, 129. + + Coton, Father, 125, 127, 128, 178. + + Cottam, Father, 149, 150. + + Coxe, 269, 273, 275. + + Cracow, the Jesuits at, 185. + + Crétineau-Joly, vi, 4, 23, 38, 50, 56, 69, 77, 85, 96, 98, 120, 165, + 168, 171, 178, 183, 215, 225, 228, 238, 285, 305, 344, 349, 353, 360, + 373, 391, 402, 405. + + Crichton, Father, 64, 149, 151. + + Cromwell and the Jesuits, 203, 204. + + + D'Alembert, 351, 365, 366. + + Damiens, 248. + + D'Andilly, Arnauld, 225. + + Darbyshire, Thomas, 142. + + Daubenton, Father, 268, 269, 271. + + Declaration of the Gallican Clergy, 241, 250. + + Democracy, the Jesuits and, 400, 401. + + Despotism of the Jesuit general, 335. + + Destelbergen, 421. + + Dillingen, the University of, 76, 92. + + "Doleful even-song," the, 200. + + _Dominus ac Redemptor Noster_, the bull, 353-8. + + Douai fraud, the, 243. + + Drury, Father, 200. + + Dubois, Cardinal, 246. + + + Edict of Nantes, Revocation of the, 242, 321. + + "Edifying Letters," the, 279, 299. + + Eguia, 17. + + Elizabeth, Queen, 145, 148, 152. + + Emerson, Ralph, 144, 151. + + England, the Jesuits in, 38-9, 64, 142-66, 198-219, 412-4, 441-3. + + Épernon, the Duc d', 127. + + Espartero, 409. + + + Falk, Dr., 432. + + Farnese, Cardinal A., 33. + + Farnese, Elizabeth, 270, 271. + + Fathers of the Faith, 383-5, 397, 399, 406. + + Favre, Peter, 13, 20, 22, 25, 32, 43, 46. + + Fawkes, Guy, 158. + + Ferdinand II., 182, 186, 324, 325, 417. + + " IV., (Naples), 342, 378. + + " VI., 272-4, 302. + + " VII., 389, 406-8. + + Fernandez, Father, 254-6. + + Ferry, Jules, 435. + + Figueroa, Gomez de, 39. + + Florida Blanca, Count, 350. + + Fortis, General, 392, 394, 400. + + Fourth vow, the, 24, 29. + + France, the Jesuits in, 47-8, 72-5, 87-91, 99, 117-28, 174-9, 220-252, + 397-407, 434-7. + + Franco, Father, 254. + + Frederic Augustus I., 317, 318. + + Frederick the Great and the Jesuits, 351, 364-70. + + Freiburg, the Jesuits at, 361, 418, 420. + + Franzelin, Father, 434. + + + Gaeta, flight of the Pope to, 427. + + Galitzin, Prince, 379, 380, 381. + + Galicia, the Jesuits in, 417. + + Gambar, Father, 66. + + Gambetta, 434. + + Ganga, Cardinal della, 391, 392, 393. + + Garibaldi, 428. + + Garnet, Father H., 152, 153, 157, 158, 159-64. + + General, authority of the Jesuit, 30. + + Gerard, Father J., 153, 158. + + Gerbillon, Father, 283. + + Germany, the Jesuits in, 49, 50, 75-6, 92, 101, 130-3, 184-7, 364-70, + 416-7, 431-4. + + Gesù, the, 33, 107. + + Gilbert, George, 146, 147. + + Gioberti, 397. + + Giussano, 96, 97. + + Godfrey, Sir E. Berry, 209-12. + + Gonzalez, General, 335-6, 339. + + Good, William, 64, 103, 143. + + Gouda, Nicholas, 64, 65. + + Greenway, Father, 154, 157, 162-4. + + Gregorian Calendar, the, 107, 133. + + Gregory XIII., 94, 95, 107. + + " XVI., 353, 394, 395, 396. + + Griffiths, Dr., 441. + + Gruber, Father, 374, 376, 377, 378. + + Guéret, Father, 123, 124. + + Guerrero, Archbishop, 289. + + Guiddiccioni, Cardinal, 24, 25, 26. + + Guignard, Father, 124. + + Guise, the Duc de, 117, 118. + + Gunpowder Plot, the, 158-64. + + + Hagenbrunn, 382, 384. + + Hay, Father Edmund, 64, 118, 142. + + Henriquez, Leo, 70. + + Henry III., 117-9. + + " IV., 117, 119, 121, 122-5. + + Hernandez, Father, 109. + + Heywood, Father, 149, 151. + + Hoensbroech, Count von, 120, 433, 436, 443. + + Holland, the Jesuits in, 128-30, 180-1, 320-3, 422. + + Holt, Father, 149, 151, 154. + + Hozes, 17, 20. + + Hume, Major, 266, 408. + + Hungary, the Jesuits in, 330-1, 417. + + + Ignatius, St., birth of, 1. + + " at Barcelona, 9. + + " canonisation of, 169. + + " and Cardinal Pole, 38, 39. + + " character of, 5, 27, 28, 33, 34, 53. + + " conversion of, 4, 6. + + " daily life of, 34, 35. + + " death of, 54. + + " diplomacy of, 28, 45. + + " early disciples of, 9, 10, 11, 14. + + " early morals of, 5. + + " election of, 32. + + " founds his Society, 15. + + " and the Inquisition, 10, 11, 22, 40. + + " at London, 12. + + " at Manresa, 7, 8. + + " in Palestine, 9. + + " at Paris, 11-16. + + " at Rome, 9, 20-35. + + " secrecy of, 14, 16, 28, 43. + + " at Venice, 9, 17. + + " at Vicenza, 19. + + " and women, 21. + + " wounding of, 2. + + _Imago Primi Sæculi_, the, 180. + + Immaculate Conception, the, 100. + + _In Coena Domini_, the bull, 348. + + India, the Jesuits in, 51, 77-8, 103-4, 188-90, 291-5, 422-3. + + Infallibility, papal, and the Jesuits, 429. + + Innocent X., 305, 307, 308. + + " XI., 240, 241, 336. + + " XIII., 287. + + Inquisition, Jesuits and the, 10, 11, 22, 40, 45, 110, 258. + + _Interim_, the, 50. + + Ireland, the Jesuits in, 35-7, 64, 149. + + Italy, the Jesuits in, 40-2, 65-76, 93-4, 96-9, 169-70, 334-60, 383-9, + 390-7, 426-31. + + + James I., 157, 198, 199. + + " II., 206, 211, 213-8. + + " V., 35, 36. + + Jansen, Bishop, 221, 222, 223, 224, 229. + + Jansenists, character of the, 225-6. + + Japan, the Jesuits in, 51, 78, 136-8, 191, 280. + + Jessopp, Dr., 143, 153. + + Jesuits, the, and the Papacy, 24, 35, 50, 57, 60, 61, 82-4, 95, 110-4, + 240, 277, 285, 286-8, 289, 295, 307, 339, 353-63, 367, 371-3, 412. + + " casuistry of the, 43, 61, 75,81, 100, 119, 129, 136, 179, 183, + 205, 232-4, 280, 281, 284-95, 316, 319, 335-7, 411. + + " and the Catholic clergy, 39, 44, 85, 97, 110, 154, 177, 178, + 181, 201, 202, 237, 244, 283, 285, 289, 290, 299-302, 305-8, + 321-2, 323, 442, 443. + + " and church-dignities, 44, 45, 93, 215, 254, 267, 272, 330. + + " commerce of the, 52, 81, 137, 172, 192-3, 202, 248-9, 255, + 269, 283, 288, 290, 294, 298-9, 307, 308, 309, 319, 328, 331, + 339, 373. + + " learning of the, 140-1, 196, 281, 326-7, 366, 395. + + " morality of the, 46, 65, 66, 68, 69, 109, 110, 171, 177, 226, + 238, 246, 272, 274, 280, 282, 285, 289, 290, 300-2, 306, 327, + 329, 351, 359, 362. + + " and national decay, 314-5. + + " obedience of the, 58, 72, 110, 169, 336-7. + + " political activity of the, 70, 71, 86-7, 89, 103, 117-21, + 134, 149, 153-7, 176, 182, 203, 215, 256-7, 267-72, 316, 317, + 325, 328, 330, 376, 436, 438. + + Jesuits, quarrels of the, 58-9, 72, 106, 107, 110, 114-7, 167, 336-7, + 362, 391-2. + + " untruthfulness of the, 75, 102, 153-4, 157, 161, 164, 171, + 179, 180, 186-7, 188-9, 229, 230, 240, 243, 260, 272, 273, 291, + 292, 305, 316, 339, 349, 353-4, 360, 368, 372, 373, 380, 434. + + " wealth of the, 41, 81, 85, 86, 92, 109, 122, 132, 136, 186, 269, + 283, 290, 294, 298, 304, 307, 325, 326, 328, 331, 362, 436, 438. + + John III., 45, 59. + + " IV., 254, 255. + + " VI., 389, 409. + + John Casimir, 316. + + Jones, Dom, 202. + + Joseph II. (Austria), 345, 350. + + Joseph of Portugal, 259, 260, 261-5. + + Jouvency, Father, 116, 245. + + Julius III., 53. + + July Revolution, the, 394, 404. + + + Kaempfer, 138. + + Kang Hi, 282, 287. + + Kaunitz, Count, 344, 350. + + Keene, Sir B., 273. + + Kelly, Father, 415. + + King, Thomas, 64. + + Kulturkampf, the, 433. + + + La Chaise, Father, 208, 238, 243. + + Lainez, Diego, 14, 20, 22, 25, 41, 49, 53, 56-65, 72, 76-9. + + Lamennais, Abbé de, 400, 401. + + Lamormaini, Father, 186, 324, 325. + + Lang, K. von, 325. + + Lavalette, bankruptcy of, 248-9, 251. + + Law, T., 143, 154. + + Le Jay, 16, 20, 49. + + Leo XII., 393. + + Letellier, Father, 243, 244, 245. + + Leu, 419, 420. + + Lippomani, 41. + + Lisbon, the earthquake at, 261. + + Louis XIII., 174, 176, 183. + + " XIV., 206, 207, 208, 236, 238, 239, 242, 245. + + Louis XV., 247, 248, 251. + + " XVIII., 389, 398. + + Louis Philippe, 402, 403, 404. + + Louvain, the Jesuits at, 48, 75, 100, 130. + + Loyola, the house at, 1, 2, 3, 16. + + Lucerne, the Jesuits at, 360, 419-20. + + Luisa, Queen, 254, 255, 270. + + Luynes, Cardinal, 343. + + + Macedo, Father, 313. + + Maggio, Father, 124. + + Maintenon, Mme de, 242. + + Maistre, Joseph de, 377, 379. + + Malabar Rites, the, 293-4. + + Malagrida, Father, 265. + + Maldonat, Father, 100. + + Malta, Jesuits expelled from, 170, 342. + + Malvezzi, Cardinal, 352. + + Manares, Oliver, 88, 89, 91, 95, 106. + + Manning, Cardinal, 426, 441, 442. + + Manresa, 7, 8. + + Marcenius, Father, 110. + + Margaret of Parma, 76. + + Maria Theresa, 326, 344, 350, 351, 360. + + Mariana, Father, 108, 114, 119, 120, 126. + + Marianne, Archduchess, 382, 384, 385. + + Marie Isabelle, Queen, 256, 257. + + Marie de Medici, 125, 128, 175. + + Mary Queen of Scots and the Jesuits, 64, 142, 151, 153. + + Maryland, the Jesuits in, 218, 308. + + Martignac, 402, 403. + + Martin, Commandant, 280, 294. + + Martini, the Jesuit Mandarin, 283. + + Matthieu, Father Claude, 117. + + Maurice of Nassau, 128. + + May Laws, the, 432, 434. + + Mayenne, the Duc de, 121. + + Mazzarino, Father, 97. + + Mendoza, 148, 149, 151, 344. + + Mental reservation (_see_ Untruthfulness of the Jesuits), 164. + + Mercurian, General, 94-104. + + Metternich, 417. + + Mexico, the Jesuits in, 139, 305-8, 416. + + Mezzabarba, Mgr., 286, 287. + + Michael Angelo, 33. + + Michelet, 405. + + Miguel, King, 410, 411. + + Milan, the Jesuits at, 67-70, 96-9. + + Missions, the Jesuit, 51-2, 77, 103-4, 135-40, 187-94, 279-310, 422-3. + + Molinism, 135. + + Monita Privata, the, 184. + + Monod, Father, 176. + + Montepulciano, the Jesuits expelled from, 65. + + Montespan, Mme de, 236, 238. + + Montmartre, the vows on, 15. + + Montserrat, 6. + + Morality, Catholic, in the seventeenth century, 49. + + More, Father, 143. + + Müller, H., 8. + + + Naples, the Jesuits at, 66. + + " Jesuits expelled from, 342. + + Napoleon and the Jesuits, 376. + + Natalis, Father, 56, 72. + + Navarro, 275. + + Neale, Bishop, 414. + + Neercassel, Archbishop, 321. + + Netterville, Father, 203, 204. + + Nicolai, Father, 102, 103. + + Nicolini, 46. + + Nidhard, Father, 267, 268. + + Noailles, Cardinal, 244, 245, 246. + + Nobili, Robert de, 188-90. + + Nouet, Father, 226. + + + Oates, Titus, 207, 209, 211. + + Obedience, Jesuit [see Jesuits], 29, 34. + + Ogilvie, Father, 149. + + Oldcorne, Father E., 153, 164. + + Oliva, General, 257, 336. + + Oratorians, the, 177-8. + + Orlandini, 25, 37, 38. + + Orsini, Princess, 268, 269, 270. + + Ortiz, 18, 21, 25. + + Otho, Cardinal, 62. + + + Paccanari, 383-5. + + Paccanarists, the, 383-5, 397, 398, 402. + + Pacheco, Cardinal, 59. + + Palafox, Bishop, 172, 274, 305-8, 351. + + Palermo, the Jesuits at, 93. + + Palmio, Father, 95. + + Pamiers, Bishop of, 237, 240. + + Panne, Peter, 128, 129. + + Panzani, 201, 202, 203. + + Paraguay, the Jesuits in, 140, 191-3, 260, 273, 297-304. + + Pardo, Archbishop, 289. + + Pariahs, Jesuit, 293. + + Parsons, Father Robert, 112, 143-53, 155-7, 165. + + Pascal, Blaise, 231-5. + + Pasquier, 86. + + Paul I., 374, 376. + + " III., 18, 20, 23, 24, 53. + + " IV., 53, 57, 58, 60, 62. + + Pedro I., 256, 257. + + " II., 411. + + Percy, Father, 199. + + Persia, Jesuits penetrate, 296. + + Petre, Father E., 214, 215, 216. + + Petrucci, Father, 390, 391, 392. + + Phaulcon, 291. + + Philip II., 96, 110, 121, 152, 153. + + " IV., 266. + + " V., 268, 270, 271. + + Philippines, the Jesuits in the, 288-9. + + Piazza Margana, house in the, 22, 23, 33. + + Piedmont, the Jesuits in, 388, 393. + + Pigenat, Fr. Odon, 118. + + Pius IV., 63, 70, 82. + + " V., 82, 83, 84. + + " VI., 369, 372, 373, 374, 382, 383. + + " VII., 375, 376, 386, 387, 392. + + " IX., 396, 397, 426, 427. + + Poissy, colloquy at, 74. + + Polanco, 38, 94, 95. + + Poland, the Jesuits in, 101, 131, 185, 314-20, 361, 370-1. + + Pole, Cardinal, 38, 39. + + Polignac, 404. + + Pollock, J., 208, 209, 211. + + Polotzk, College at, 377, 378, 380. + + Pombal, Marquis de, 259-65. + + Pompadour, Mme de, 247. + + Popish Plot, the, 207, 208, 209-12. + + Port Royal, 222-4, 229, 231, 236, 237, 243. + + Portugal, the Jesuits in, 45-7, 70-1, 86-7, 174, 254-65, 409-11, 437. + + Possevin, Father, 87, 88, 90, 103, 122, 131, 132. + + Postel, 48. + + Privileges of the Jesuits, 31, 48, 63. + + Probabilism, 235 (note), 336-7. + + Professed houses, 31. + + _Provincial Letters_, the, 231-5. + + Prussia, the Jesuits in, 364-70. + + Purgatory, Jesuit view of, 100. + + Puritans, the, and the Jesuits, 203. + + Puteo, Cardinal, 61. + + + Quesnel, 244, 245. + + + Rabago, Father, 272, 273, 303. + + _Ratio Studiorum_, the, 140, 395. + + Ravaillac, 125, 126. + + Ravignan, Father de, 404, 405. + + Reductions, the, 192, 193, 297-9. + + Reformation, the, 1, 16, 20. + + Regale controversy, the, 239-42. + + Regicide, Jesuit doctrine of, 120, 126. + + Rhodes, Father de, 289. + + Ribadeneira, Father, 33, 38, 39, 48, 75, 169. + + Ribera, Father, 68. + + Ricci, Father, 138, 139. + + Ricci, General, 251, 262, 275, 339, 340, 341, 343, 345, 357, 359. + + Richelieu, 174, 175, 176, 177, 183, 224. + + Ripperdá, 271, 272. + + Robinet, Father, 269, 270, 271. + + Rodriguez, Simon, 14, 20, 25, 45, 46, 57. + + Rohan, Anne de, 224, 225. + + Rome, Jesuits expelled from, 430, 440. + + Roothaan, General, 294, 400, 405, 406. + + Rossi, Count, 396, 406. + + Royal confessor, instructions to, 324. + + Rozaven, Father, 391, 392. + + Russia, the Jesuits in, 370-81. + + + Sacchini, Father, 47, 55, 57, 59, 61, 65. + + Saint Simon, 244, 245, 269. + + Salamanca, the Jesuits at, 11, 42. + + Saldanha, Cardinal, 262, 264. + + Salerno, Father, 330. + + Salmeron, Alfonso, 14, 20, 36, 37, 41, 49, 67, 94. + + Sammier, Fr. Henri, 118. + + Saniassi, the Jesuit, 188-90, 291-2. + + Saragossa, the Jesuits at, 44. + + Sasbold, Archbishop, 181. + + Savelli, Cardinal, 68. + + Saxony, the Jesuits in, 329. + + Schall, Adam, 190, 281-2. + + Schoppe, Caspar, 69. + + Scotland, the Jesuits in, 35-7, 64, 65, 142, 149. + + Sebastian I., 87. + + Secular education, the Dutch clergy and, 422. + + Sens, the Archbishop of, 237. + + Seville, Jesuit bankruptcy at, 171-4. + + Siam, the Jesuits in, 290-1. + + Sicily, the Jesuits in, 333, 342, 378, 386, 395, 428. + + Sigismund III., 132. + + Simpson, R., 143, 148. + + Sixtus V., 107, 110-3, 121. + + Sobieski, 317. + + Socialism and the Jesuits, 433. + + Society of the Faith of Jesus, 383-5. + + Society of Jesus, establishment of the, 15, 22, 25. + + Society of Jesus, origin of the name, 20. + + _Sollicitudo_, the bull, 387. + + Sonderbund, the, 420. + + Southwell, Father R., 152, 153. + + Spain, the Jesuits in, 42-5, 71-2, 84-6, 96, 107-12, 170-4, 265-78, + 389, 406-9, 437-9. + + Spiritual Coadjutors, 29, 30. + + "Spiritual Exercises," the, 7. + + Spying in Jesuit houses, 30. + + Sta. Maria della Strada, 33. + + St. Bartholomew Massacre, the, 89-91. + + St. Cyran, the Abbé de, 221, 222, 224, 225, 227. + + St. Omer, the college of, 145, 209, 219. + + St. Petersburg, the Jesuits at, 377-9. + + Steinmetz, 92. + + Stonyhurst, 412, 413. + + Sunderland, the Earl of, 215, 216. + + Suppression of the Society, 353-63. + + Sweden, the Jesuits in, 101-3, 312-4. + + Switzerland, the Jesuits in, 321-2, 360-1, 418-20. + + + Taicosama, 137, 138. + + Talbot, Mgr., 443. + + Talleyrand, 398. + + _Taly_, the, 293. + + Tamburini, General, 339. + + Taunton, E.L., 143, 201, 203. + + Tavora plot, the, 263. + + _Teatro Jesuitico_, the, 171. + + Theatine order, the, 18. + + Theiner, Father, 327, 342, 344, 353, 396. + + Thibet, Jesuits penetrate, 295. + + Thirty Years' War, the, 182-3, 325. + + Thompson, Francis, 13, 37. + + Thorn, Edward, 92. + + Thorn, the massacre of, 318-20. + + Thorpe, Father, 412. + + Tilly, the Jesuits and, 182, 183. + + Toledo, Cardinal, 101, 115, 122. + + Tonge, Dr., 209. + + Torres, Miguel de, 70, 71. + + Tournon, Cardinal de, 284, 285, 294. + + Transylvania, the Jesuits in, 131, 132. + + Trent, the Council of, 49, 50, 77. + + Trevisani, Archbishop, 66. + + Turks, Ignatius and the, 4, 7, 9, 15, 18. + + + _Unigenitus_, the bull, 244, 245, 246. + + United States, the Jesuits in the, 414-6, 441. + + Urban VIII., 224, 227. + + + Valais, the Jesuits in, 418, 419. + + Valignani, Father, 137. + + Vallière, Mlle de la, 236, 238. + + Valtellina, the Jesuits expelled from the, 65. + + Vatican Council, the, 429. + + Venice, the Jesuits at, 18, 41-2, 66, 133-4, 337-8. + + Verbiest, Father, 282. + + Vermi, Onufrio de, 169. + + Victor Emmanuel I., 388. + + " " II., 428, 429. + + Vieira, Father, 255, 256, 304. + + Villalon, Friar, 299, 300. + + Villanueva, Father, 42. + + Villèle, 402. + + Vincent de Paul, St., 178, 226. + + Vitelleschi, Mutio, 167, 168, 179. + + Viterbo, the prophetess of, 359. + + Vota, Father, 317, 318. + + Vows, the Jesuit, 24, 30, 82. + + Vrillière, Father de la, 360. + + + Waldeck-Rousseau, 436. + + Walpole, Father H., 154. + + Warner, Father, 211, 215. + + Warsevicz, Father, 102, 103. + + Weld, Thomas, 412, 413. + + Weston, Father, 151, 152, 153, 154. + + Whitbread, Fattier, 210. + + William of Orange, 129. + + Wisbeach, the quarrels at, 154-6. + + Wiseman, Cardinal, 441. + + Woulfe, David, 64. + + + Xavier, Francis, 13, 16, 20, 25, 45, 51. + + + Zahorowski, Jerome, 184. + + Zapata, 34, 36. + + + + + _Printed by_ + Morrison & Gibb Limited + _Edinburgh_ + + + + +Mr. EVELEIGH NASH'S LIST OF NEW BOOKS + + +"MY PAST" + +_MR. EVELEIGH NASH has acquired the world-rights of a sensational +autobiography written by a relative of one of the reigning monarchs of +Europe._ + +_The memoirs, which are now in active preparation, will be published +under the above title during the London season, but, owing to the terms +of his agreement with the personage in question, Mr. Nash is unable +to give particulars at present. The identity of the author and full +details regarding the book will be announced in April._ + + +_MR. EVELEIGH NASH'S NEW BOOKS_ + + +ADVENTURES BEYOND THE ZAMBESI + +Of the O'Flaherty, the Insular Miss, the Soldier-Man, and the Rebel +Woman. + +By MRS. FRED MATURIN + +(Edith Cecil-Porch) + + With Illustrations Price 10_s._ 6_d._ net. + +Four widely diverse, yet up-to-date people agreed to seek together the +risks, excitements, discomforts and delights of sport, adventure and +companionship beyond the Zambesi. One of these was Mrs. Fred Maturin +(Mrs. Cecil-Porch) whose previous book "Petticoat Pilgrims on Trek" +showed that she possesses a rare power of vivid and amusing narrative. +Wanderers and stay-at-homes will revel in her lively description of the +six months' trip of this delightful quartette in quest of big game and +sport in the African wilds. Her buoyant optimism and her rich sense of +humour found full play in the many adventures that befel them, and it +is just this humorous, friendly and intrepid outlook of hers that lends +such charm to her written record. The book is illustrated with some +remarkably good photographs. + + +SPORTING RECOLLECTIONS OF AN OLD 'UN + +By FRANK N. STREATFIELD, C.M.G. + +(_Author of "Reminiscences of an Old 'Un."_) + + Illustrated Price 7_s._ 6_d._ net. + +A book after the heart of all good sportsmen, brimming over with +cheerfulness and good fellowship. The author, who has been a +universally popular figure in sporting circles for over a quarter +of a century, relates many amusing anecdotes on shooting of every +description, fishing, falconry and cricket, and has packed his book +with incidents of interest to all who use the rod and gun. + + +THE ROMANCE OF THE ROTHSCHILDS + +By IGNATIUS BALLA + + Illustrated Price 7_s._ 6_d._ net. + +A full and picturesque narrative of the rise of the House of +Rothschild. The characteristics and early vicissitudes of the famous +Five Frankfurters who laid the foundations of the House are shown, and +many amusing anecdotes are related of them in Mr. Balla's book. + + +Some Early Press Opinions + +"The author takes us, in a sense, behind the scenes, gives us a hundred +details of the Rothschilds' methods, and shows us, step by step, how +the accumulation of these enormous sums was made possible."--_The +Globe._ + +"Extremely interesting."--_Daily Express._ + +"Interesting all the way through."--_Standard._ + +"Abounds in interesting quotations and anecdotes."--_Liverpool Daily +Post._ + + +THE MARRIED LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA + +By CLARE JERROLD + +_Author of "The Early Court of Queen Victoria," etc._ + + Illustrated. Price 15_s._ net. + +In this volume Mrs. Jerrold carries a stage further her interesting +study of Queen Victoria's life. She endeavours to tell the real truth +regarding the Queen's married life and her relations with the Prince +Consort, and in doing so relies on their own recorded actions and words +rather than upon the highly coloured and in many cases exaggerated +pictures presented by the "lives" of Prince Albert which were +authorised by the Queen. + +The result is a human and fascinating story. The relations of the Queen +and Prince with those around them, with their children and with their +ministers--especially their hatred and fear of Palmerston--their love +for Louis-Philippe, for the German confederation, and their complacency +towards Russia are all dealt with and throw a strong new light upon the +English Court during the years in which Prince Albert was virtually +King. + + +THE SAILOR WHOM ENGLAND FEARED + +Being the Story of Paul Jones, Scotch Naval Adventurer and Admiral in +the American and Russian Fleets. + +By M. MACDERMOT CRAWFORD. + +_Author of "The Wife of Lafayette."_ + + Illustrated. Price 15_s._ net. + +John Paul Jones was unquestionably one of the most striking characters +of the eighteenth century. Born in 1747, the son of a gardener in +Kirkcudbrightshire, he was, at the age of seventeen, third mate on a +slaver, at twenty a merchant captain; at twenty-eight lieutenant in +the United States Revolutionary Navy; at twenty-nine a captain; at +thirty-two commodore, "the ocean hero of the Old World and the New," +spoiled, adulated, petted by great and small. A vice-admiral in the +Russian Navy at forty-three--at forty-five he was dead! + +A traitor who terrorised his countrymen, known alternately as "rebel," +"corsair," and "pirate," Paul Jones was none the less a man of rare +distinction and ability--a brilliant seaman endowed with courage and +determination; and the record of his deeds is a story of unflagging +interest. + + +A CANDID HISTORY OF THE JESUITS + +By JOSEPH McCABE. + +_Author of "The Decay of the Church of Rome," "Twelve Years in a +Monastery," &c._ + +Price 10_s._ 6_d._ net. + +It is curious, in view of the endless discussion of the Jesuits, +that no English writer has ever attempted a systematic history of +that body. Probably no religious body ever had so romantic a history +as the Jesuits, or inspired such deadly hatred. On the other hand, +histories of the famous society are almost always too prejudiced, +either for or against, to be reliable. Mr. McCabe, whose striking +book "The Decay of the Church of Rome" attracted such widespread and +well-merited attention, has attempted, in his new book, to give the +facts impartially, and to enable the inquirer to form an intelligent +idea of the history and character of the Jesuits from their foundation +by Loyola to the present day. Every phase of their remarkable +story--including the activity of political Jesuits and their singular +behaviour on the foreign missions--is carefully studied, and the record +of the Jesuits in England is very fully examined. + + +A KEEPER OF ROYAL SECRETS + +Being the Private and Political Life of Madame de Genlis. + +By JEAN HARMAND + + Illustrated. Price 15_s._ net. + +The career of Madame de Genlis is one of the baffling enigmas of +history. For the greater part of her life she played an important +_role_ in the social and political life of France. + +By virtue of her intimate association with Philip Egalité, Duc +d'Orleans, and her high position as the Governor of Louis Philippe +and the other Orleans children, the influence she wielded practically +amounted to royal power. + +She cast her spell over a wide circle, winning admiration even from her +enemies, and yet her life has been the subject of a storm of scandalous +reports and speculations. + +What was her exact relationship to the Duke? was she the mother of +the famous "Pamela" whom Lord Edward Fitzgerald married? what was her +share in the astounding affair of "Maria Stella"? what part did she +play in the Revolution?--these are some of the mysteries surrounding +her on which M. Harmand, with the help of many unpublished letters and +documents, throws much new light. + +The whole truth will probably never be known, but M. Harmand in his +elaborate biography gives us an immensely fascinating and vivid story, +and unearths many new details regarding her curious and romantic life. + + +THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMEN + +By C. GASQUOINE HARTLEY + +(Mrs. Walter M. Gallichan) + +Price 6_s._ + +This book is the outcome of twelve years' careful study of the +conditions of women in this country and abroad. Believing that the +time has now arrived when women must speak out, fearlessly, the truth +about their own sex, the author has endeavoured to review the situation +as it appears to her after her lengthy study of the subject. Her book +is divided into three parts--the biological consideration of the +question--the historical consideration, and the present day aspects +of the woman problem. It is a book of much plain speaking and closely +reasoned argument and, whether or not one agrees with its conclusions +and directness, it is a work which undoubtedly merits the attention of +every responsible person, male and female. + + +BY-PATHS IN COLLECTING + +By VIRGINIA ROBIE. + + Profusely illustrated. Price 7_s._ 6_d._ net. + +Every enthusiast over rare and unique things which have passed the +century-old mark will want this delightful book by Virginia Robie. It +contains a wealth of sound advice upon the quest of the quaint, and +much reliable information is given upon the collecting of such things +as china, furniture, pewter, copper, brass, samplers, and sundials. + + +PRINTS AND THEIR MAKERS + +Essays on Engravers and Etchers Old and Modern + +Edited by FITZROY CARRINGTON + + With 200 Illustrations. Price 10_s._ 6_d._ net. + +A volume exquisite in every detail of the planning and making. The +chapters--contributed by notable authorities--discuss various phases of +etching and engraving from the time of Raphael and Durer to the close +of the nineteenth century. The plates for the illustrations (200) have +all been made with unusual care from original engravings and etchings, +and together form a valuable collection. + + +_New Six-Shilling Novels._ + + +VEILED WOMEN + +By MARMADUKE PICKTHALL + +_Author of "Saïd the Fisherman," "Children of the Nile," etc._ + +A fine novel of the East telling the life story of an English girl +who marries an Egyptian noble and lives the harem life. The gradual +mental and physical effect of the secluded life of the harem upon a +healthy western woman is shown with great effect, while the story of +her ineffectual appeal to the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of +Occupation to take her back, of her escape from the harem and flight +into the desert, of her return and eventual relapse into a state of +resigned contentment with her lot, will appeal strongly to every woman. +The wonderful world of the Cairene women, their comings and goings, +their intrigues, their pleasures and pastimes, the gorgeous colouring +and the subtle perfume of their surroundings, the mystery, the charm +and the insidious influence of the harem life are depicted with the +brilliance of characterisation and richness of detail that one has come +to expect from the author of "Saïd the Fisherman." + + +LADY OF THE NIGHT + +By BENJAMIN SWIFT + +A charming story centreing round the romantic attachment of two +delightful people--Ysmyn Veltry, the daughter of a wealthy French +perfume manufacturer and Vivian Darsay, a great-grandson of an old +Crimean veteran, Colonel Darsay--whom, years before the story opens, +chance had brought together and made playmates of among the perfumed +fields of roses, jasmine and all the other fragrant flowers which +surrounded Veltry's world-renowned distillery at Grasse. + +At the instigation of an ambitious sister-in-law, Veltry has come to +London to inaugurate, on lines which shall outvie in magnificence any +similar establishment, a shop in which to sell his perfumes. Ysmyn and +Vivian meet again under dramatic and greatly changed conditions to +find their path to happiness beset with difficulties, and it is not +until the "Maison Merveille," which has quickly become the talk of +fashionable London and developed into a veritable "palace of beauty +culture" is, in the height of its success, overtaken by disaster, +that the "Lady of the Night"--so called after jasmine, her father's +favourite flower--becomes the wife of her erstwhile playmate. + + +THE EMPEROR'S SPY + +By HECTOR FLEISCHMANN + +"The Emperor's Spy," which deals with the struggle between Napoleon +Bonaparte's secret police, headed by a beautiful woman spy--Elvire--and +a gang of daring Royalist conspirators led by Georges Cadoudal and the +Chevalier Lahaye Saint Hilare, is one of the most exciting, vivid and +elaborate historical novels since Dumas's "Three Musketeers." + +Famous historical characters, from Napoleon downwards, crowd its pages. +Incident follows incident in quick succession, and plot is met by +counter-plot, until, at last, under the shadow of the wild cliffs of +Brittany the Emperor's Spy, having achieved the crowning triumph of her +life, meets with a swift and tragic death at the hands of the last of +the Royalists. The book is 576 pages long and there is not one page of +this tremendous story which does not glow with living, human interest. + + +GLOOMY FANNY AND OTHER STORIES + +By MORLEY ROBERTS + +_Author of "Thorpe's Way," "David Bran," etc._ + +Readers of Mr. Morley Roberts's novel "Thorpe's Way" will remember that +"Gloomy Fanny," otherwise the Hon. Edwin Fanshawe, was one of the most +amusing characters in that very amusing story. + + +I'D VENTURE ALL FOR THEE + +By J.S. FLETCHER + +_Author of "The Town of Crooked Ways," "The Fine Air of Morning," etc._ + +A story of the Yorkshire coast, 1745. + + +THE LOST MILLION + +by WILLIAM LE QUEUX + +_Author of "The Mystery of Nine," "Without Trace," etc., etc._ + + +CARNACKI +THE GHOST-FINDER + +By WILLIAM HOPE HODGSON + +_Author of "The Night Land," "The Boats of Glen Carig," etc._ + + +A NEW NOVEL + +By LADY TROWBRIDGE + + +A HAREM ROMANCE + +By E. DE LA VILLENEUVE + + +A very lifelike picture of the Young Turk Revolution is contained in +this novel. A double love story, full of thrilling incidents, is woven +into the web of public events, the two heroines, one a lovely Turkish +girl, the other a beautiful Armenian, having each been prisoners in the +Palace of Yildiz. The personality of Abdul Hamid is vividly realised, +and the cruel oppression to which he subjected the inmates of his harem +is graphically described. + + + + +_Three-and-Sixpence Net Novels._ + + +POISON + +By ALICE AND CLAUDE ASKEW + +_Authors of "The Shulamite," "The Woman Deborah," etc._ + + +ROADS OF DESTINY + +By O. HENRY + +_Author of "Cabbages and Kings," "Heart of the West," etc._ + + +_Two-Shilling Net Novels._ + + +QUEEN SHEBA'S RING + +By H. RIDER HAGGARD + +_Author of "King Solomon's Mines," etc._ + + +THE MYSTERY OF NINE + +By WILLIAM LE QUEUX + +_Author of "Without Trace," etc., etc._ + + +SETH OF THE CROSS + +By ALPHONSE COURLANDER + +_Author of "Mightier than the Sword."_ + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Candid History of the Jesuits, by Joseph McCabe + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 56414 *** |