Chapter 8
DIFFUSION
OF THE JESUITS THROUGHOUT CHRISTENDOM.
The Conflict Great—the Arms Sufficient—The
Victory Sure—Set Free from Episcopal Jurisdiction—Acceptance
in Italy—Venice—Spain— Portugal—Francis Xavier—France—Germany—Their
First Planting in Austria—In Cologne and Ingolstadt—Thence Spread
over all Germany—Their Schools—Wearing of Crosses—Revival
of the Popish Faith.
THE soldiers of Loyola are about to
go forth. Before beginning the campaign we see their chief assembling
them and pointing out the field on which their prowess is to be displayed.
The nations of Christendom are in revolt: it will be theirs to subjugate
them, and lay them once more, bound in chains, at the feet of the Papal
See. They must not faint; the arms he has provided them with are amply
sufficient for the arduous warfare on which he sends them. Clad in that
armor, and wielding it in the way he has shown them, they will expel knowledge
as night chases away the day. Liberty will die wherever their foot shall
tread. And in the ancient darkness they will be able to rear again the
fallen throne of the great Hierarch of Rome. But if the service is hard,
the wages will be ample. As the saviors of that throne they will be greater
than it. And though meanwhile their work is to be done in great show of
humility and poverty, the silver and the gold of Christendom will in the
end be theirs; they will be the lords of its lands and palaces, the masters
of the bodies and the souls of its inhabitants, and nothing of all that
the heart can desire will be withholden from them if only they will obey
him.
The Jesuits rapidly multiplied, and
we are now to follow them in their peregrinations over Europe. Going forth
in little bands, animated with an entire devotion to their General, schooled
in all the arts which could help to further their mission, they planted
themselves in a few years in all the countries of Christendom, and made
their presence felt in the turning of the tide of Protestantism, which
till then had been on the flow.
There was no disguise they could not
assume, and therefore there was no place into which they could not penetrate.
They could enter unheard the closet of the monarch, or the cabinet of
the statesman. They could sit unseen in Convocation or General Assembly,
and mingle unsuspected in the deliberations and debates. There was no
tongue they could not speak, and no creed they could not profess, and
thus there was no people among whom they might not sojourn, and no Church
whose membership they might not enter, and whose functions they might
not discharge. They could execrate the Pope with the Lutheran, and swear
the Solemn League with the Covenanter. They had their men of learning
and eloquence for the halls of nobles and the courts of kings; their men
of science and letters for the education of youth; their unpolished but
ready orators to harangue the crowd; and their plain, unlettered monks,
to visit the cottages of the peasantry and the workshops of the artisan.
"I know these men," said Joseph II of Austria, writing to Choiseul,
the Prime Minister of Louis XV— "I know these men as well as
any one can do: all the schemes they have carried on, and the pains they
have taken to spread darkness over the earth, as well as their efforts
to rule and embroil Europe from Cape Finisterre to Spitzbergen! In China
they were mandarins; in France, academicians, courtiers, and confessors;
in Spain and Portugal, grandees; and in Paraguay, kings. Had not my grand-uncle,
Joseph I, become emperor, we had in all probability seen in Germany, too,
a Malagrida or an Alvieros."
In order that they might be at liberty
to visit what city and diocese they pleased, they were exempted from episcopal
jurisdiction. They could come and go at their pleasure, and perform all
their functions without having to render account to any one save to their
superior. This arrangement was resisted at first by certain prelates;
but it was universally conceded at last, and it greatly facilitated the
wide and rapid diffusion of the Jesuit corps.
Extraordinary success attended their
first efforts throughout all Italy. Designed for the common people, the
order found equal acceptance from princes and nobles. In Parma the highest
families submitted themselves to Extraordinary success attended their
first efforts throughout all Italy. Designed for the common people, the
order found equal acceptance from princes and nobles. In Parma the highest
families submitted themselves to
the "Spiritual Exercises." In Venice, Lainez expounded the Gospel
of St. John to a congregation of nobles; and in 1542 a Jesuits’ college
was founded in that city. The citizens of Montepulciano accompanied Francisco
Strada through the streets begging. Their chief knocked at the doors,
and his followers received the alms. In Faenza, they succeeded in arresting
the Protestant movement, which had been commenced by the eloquent Bernardino
Ochino, and by the machinery of schools and societies for the relief of
the poor, they brought back the population to the Papacy. These are but
a few instances out of many of their popularity and success.1v
In the countries of Spain and Portugal
their success was even greater than in Italy. A son of the soil, its founder
had breathed a spirit into the order which spread among the Spaniards
like an infection. Some of the highest grandees enrolled themselves in
its ranks. In the province of Valencia, the multitudes that flocked to
hear the Jesuit preacher, Araoz, were such that no cathedral could contain
them, and a pulpit was erected for him in the open air. From the city
of Salamanca, where in 1548 they had opened their establishment in a small,
wretched house, the Jesuits spread themselves over all Spain. Two members
of the society were sent to the King of Portugal, at his own request:
the one he retained as his confessor, the other he dispatched to the East
Indies. This was that Francis Xavier who there gained for himself, says
Ranke, "the name of an apostle, and the glory of a saint." At
the courts of Madrid and Lisbon they soon acquired immense influence.
They were the confessors of the nobles and the counselors of the monarch.
The Jesuits found
it more difficult to force their way into France. Much they wished to
found a college in that city where their first vow had been recorded,
but every attempt was met by the determined opposition of the Parliament
and the clergy, who were jealous of their enormous privileges. The wars
between the Guises and the Huguenots at length opened a door for them.
Lainez, who by this time had become their General, saw his opportunity,
and in 1561 succeeded in effecting his object, although on condition of
renouncing the peculiar privileges of the order, and submitting to episcopal
jurisdiction. "The promise was made, but with a mental reservation,
which removed the necessity of keeping it."2
They immediately founded a college
in Paris, opened schools—which were
taught by clever teachers—and planted Jesuit seminaries at Avignon,
Rhodes, Lyons, and other places. Their intrigues kept the nation divided,
and much inflamed the fury of the civil wars. Henry III was massacred
by an agent of theirs: they next attempted the life of Henry IV. This
crime led to their first banishment from France, in 1594; but soon they
crept back into the kingdom in the guise of traders and operatives. They
were at last openly admitted by the monarch—a service which they
repaid by slaughtering him in the streets of his capital. Under their
rule France continued to bleed and agonize, to plunge from woe into crime,
and from crime into woe, till the crowning wickedness of the revocation
of the Edict of Nantes laid the country prostrate; and it lay quiet for
more than half a century, till, recovering somewhat from its exhaustion,
it lifted itself up, only to encounter the terrible blow of its great
Revolution.
We turn to Germany. Here it was that
the Church of Rome had suffered her first great losses, and here, under
the arms of the Jesuits, was she destined to make a beginning of those
victories which recovered not a little of the ground she had lost. A generation
had passed away since the rise of Protestantism. It is the year 1550:
the sons of the men who had gathered round Luther occupy the stage when
the van of this great invading host makes its appearance. They come in
silence; they are plain in their attire, humble and submissive in their
deportment; but behind them are the stakes and scaffolds of the persecutor,
and the armies of France and Spain. Their quiet words find their terrible
reverberations in those awful tempests
Ferdinand I of Austria,
reflecting on the decay into which Roman Catholic feeling had fallen in
Germany, sent to Ignatius Loyola for a few zealous teachers to instruct
the youth of his dominions. In 1551, thirteen Jesuits, including Le Jay,
arrived at Vienna. They were provided with pensions, placed in the university
chairs, and crept upwards till they seized the entire direction of that
seminary. From that hour date the crimes and misfortunes of the House
of Austria.3
A little colony of the disciples of
Loyola had, before this, planted itself at Cologne. It was not till some
years that they took root in that city; but the initial difficulties surmounted,
they began to effect a change in public sentiment, which went on till
Cologne became, as it is sometimes called, the "Rome of the North."
About the same time, the Jesuits became flourishing in Ingolstadt. They
had been driven away on their first entrance into that university seat,
the professors dreading them as rivals; but in 1556 they were recalled,
and soon rose to influence, as was to be expected in a city where the
memory of Dr. Eck was still fresh. Their battles, less noisy than his,
were fated to accomplish much more for the Papacy.
From these three centers—Vienna,
Cologne, and Ingolstadt—the Jesuits extended themselves over all
Germany. They established colleges in the chief cities for the sons of
princes and nobles, and they opened schools in town and village for the
instruction of the lower classes. From Vienna they distributed their colonies
throughout the Austrian dominions. They had schools in the Tyrol and the
cities at the foot of its mountains. From Prague they ramified over Bohemia,
and penetrated into Hungary. Their colleges at Ingolstadt and Munich gave
them the possession of Bavaria, Franconia, and Swabia. From Cologne they
extended their convents and schools over Rhenish Prussia, and, planting
a college at Spires, they counteracted the influence of Heidelberg University,
then the resort of the most learned men of the German nation.
Wherever the Jesuits
came, there was quickly seen a manifest revival of the Popish faith. In
the short space of ten years, their establishments had become flourishing
in all the countries in which they were planted. Their system of education
was adapted to all classes. While they studied the exact sciences, and
strove to rival the most renowned of the Protestant professors, and so
draw the higher youth into their schools, they compiled admirable catechisms
for the use of the poor. They especially excelled as teachers of Latin;
and so great was their zeal and their success, that "even Protestants
removed their children from distant schools, to place them under the care
of the Jesuits."4
The teachers seldom failed to inspire
the youth in their schools with their own devotion to the Popish faith.
The sons of Protestant fathers were drawn to confession, and by-and-by
into general conformity to Popish practices. Food which the Church had
forbidden they would not touch on the interdicted days, although it was
being freely used by the other members of the family. They began, too,
to distinguish themselves by the use of Popish symbols. The wearing of
crosses and rosaries is recorded by The teachers seldom failed to inspire
the youth in their schools with their own devotion to the Popish faith.
The sons of Protestant fathers were drawn to confession, and by-and-by
into general conformity to Popish practices. Food which the Church had
forbidden they would not touch on the interdicted days, although it was
being freely used by the other members of the family. They began, too,
to distinguish themselves by the use of Popish symbols. The wearing of
crosses and rosaries is recorded by
Ranke as one of the first signs of the setting of the tide toward Rome.
Forgotten rites began to be revived; relics which had been thrown aside
buried in darkness, were sought out and exhibited to the public gaze.
The old virtue returned into rotten bones, and the holiness of faded garments
flourished anew. The saints of the Church came out in bold relief, while
those of the Bible receded into the distance. The light of candles replaced
the Word of Life in the temples; the newest fashions of worship were imported
from Italy, and music and architecture in the style of the Restoration
were called in to reinforce the movement. Customs which had not been witnessed
since the days of their grandfathers, began to receive the reverent observance
of the new generation. "In the year 1560, the youth of Ingolstadt
belonging to the Jesuit school walked, two and two, on a pilgrimage to
Eichstadt, in order to be strengthened for their confirmation by the dew
that dropped from the tomb of St. Walpurgis."5 The
modes of though and feeling thus implanted in the schools were, by means
of preaching and confession, propagated through the whole population.
While the Jesuits
were busy in the seminaries, the Pope operated powerfully in the political
sphere. He had recourse to various arts to gain over the princes. Duke
Albert V of Bavaria had a grant made him of one-tenth of the property
of the clergy. This riveted his decision on the side of Rome, and he now
set himself with earnest zeal and marked success to restore, in its ancient
purity and rigor, the Popery of his territories. The Jesuits lauded the
piety of the duke, who was a second Josias, a new Theodosius.6
The Popes saw clearly that they could
never hope to restore the ancient discipline and rule of their Church
without the help of the temporal sovereigns. Besides Duke Albert, who
so powerfully contributed to re-establish the sway of Rome over all Bavaria,
the ecclesiastical princes, who governed so large a part of Germany, threw
themselves heartily into the work of restoration. The Jesuit Canisins,
a man of blameless life, of consummate address, and whose great zeal was
regulated by an equal prudence, was sent to counsel and guide them. Under
his management they accepted provisionally the edicts of the Council of
Trent. They required of all professors in colleges subscription to a confession
of the Popish faith. They exacted the same pledge from ordinary schoolmasters
and medical practitioners. In many parts of Germany no one could follow
a profession till first he had given public proof of his orthodoxy. Bishops
were required to exercise a more vigilant superintendence of their clergy
than they had done these twenty years past. The Protestant preachers were
banished; and in some parts the entire Protestant population was driven
out. The Protestant nobles were forbidden to appear at court. Many withdrew
into retirement, but others purchased their way back by a renunciation
of their faith. By these and similar arts Protestantism was conquered
on what may be regarded as its native soil. If not wholly rooted up it
maintained henceforward but a languishing existence; its leaf faded and
its fruit died in the mephitic air around it, while Romanism shot up in
fresh strength and robustness. A whole century of calamity followed the
entrance of the Jesuits into Germany. The troubles they excited culminated
at last in the Thirty Years’ War. For the space of a generation the
thunder of battle continued to roll over the Fatherland. But the God of
their fathers had not forsaken the Germans; it pleased him to summon from
the distant Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus, and by his arm to save the remnants
of Protestant liberty in that country. Thus the Jesuits failed in their
design of subjugating the whole of Germany, and had to content themselves
with dominating over those portions, unhappily large, of which the ecclesiastical
princes had given them possession at the first.
Footnotes
1 Ranke, Hist. of the Popes, book. 2, sec.
7.
2 Duller, Hist. of the Jesuits, p. 83; Lond.,
1845.
3 Ranke, book 5, sec. 3.
4 Ranke, book 5, sec. 3.
5 Ranke, bk. v., sec. 3.
6 Ibid.
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