History of the Jesuits: Their origin, progress, doctrines, and designs

by G. B. Nicolini

IV. THE PROFESSED.

This fourth class, the first in order of power and dignity, may be said to constitute, alone, the Society. The probation required for it is longer and more rigorous than that of any of the other classes. Two additional years of trial must be endured, in order to gain admission into it. This is partly to prevent the class becoming too numerous. The Professed must, in terms of the Constitutions, be priests, above twenty-five years of age, eminent in learning and virtue. In addition to their acquirements in literature and philosophy, they must devote four years specially to the study of theology. Their admission is the immediate act of the General, who seldom delegates his power for that purpose, as he generally does for admitting to the other classes. Solemn vows are taken by this class only; those of the other classes are designated merely as simple vows. Besides the three ordinary vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the Professed take a fourth—to obey the Holy See, and to go, as missionaries, into whatever part of the world the Pope pro tempore chooses to send them. My readers will remember, that it was this fourth vow which overcame the crafty Pope Paul’s objections to sanction the order. But this pontiff, with all his cunning, was no match for Loyola, who quite nullified this vow by the formula in which he embodied it. According to this formula, the vow is made only in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution. Now, the Constitution enacts, “that the General shall have all power over every individual of the Society, to send any one on a mission, to recall missionaries, and to proceed in all things as he thinks will be best for the greater glory of God.”[45] Thus, obedience to the Pope depends entirely on the will and pleasure of the General. Hence the General’s preponderating influence with the Court of Rome.

The ceremony of taking the vows of the Professed is more solemn than that of the others. It must take place in the church, which with the others is not imperative. “First of all, the General, or some one empowered by him to admit to Profession, when he has offered the sacrifice of the public Mass in the church, before inmates and others there present, shall turn to the person who is about to make profession with the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist; and he, after the general confession and the words which are used before the communion, shall, with a loud voice, pronounce his written vow (which it is meet that he should have meditated on for several days), whereof this is the form:—

“I, N., make profession, and promise Almighty God, before His Virgin Mother, and before all the heavenly host, and before all bystanders, and you, reverend father, General of the Society of Jesus, holding the place of God, and your successors; or you, reverend father, Vice-General of the Society of Jesus, and of his successors, holding the place of God, perpetual poverty, chastity, and obedience, and therein peculiar care in the education of boys, according to the form of living contained in the Apostolic Letters of the Society of Jesus, and in its Constitutions. Moreover, I promise special obedience to the Pope in missions, as is contained in the same Apostolic Letters and Constitutions. At Rome or elsewhere, on such a day, month, and year, and in such a church.

“After this, let him take the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist. Which being done, the name of him who makes profession shall be written in a book which the Society shall keep for that purpose; the name of the person to whom he made it—the day, month, and year, being also set down; and his written vows shall be preserved, that an account of all the particulars may appear for ever, to the glory of God.”[46]

It is this class, and that of the Coadjutors, who are wont to live by alms, and who, for appearance’ sake, sometimes go begging from door to door—(this is the case in Italy, at least). But, either from pride or roguery, they never ask, in our day, anything in their own name, but always in the name of the poor, the hospitals, and the prisoners, and thus they win for their order the veneration of the credulous and the ignorant.

To the Professed alone are confided the missions, and the management of the more important affairs of the order, into the secrets of which they are admitted farther than any other class. Hence they were never, except in urgent cases, to be appointed rectors of colleges, or superiors of the House of Probation. It was the strict observance of this rule which, perhaps more than anything else, contributed to the ruin of the order.

The General, as we have already said, is at the head of the hierarchy, the absolute master of persons and things. He is elected for life, by a General Congregation of the Society, the decision requiring a majority of votes, and the observance of certain rules. But sometimes, when “elected by general inspiration, those rules may be dispensed with,” for the Holy Ghost, who inspires such an election, supplies the want of every form of election.[47] To this Congregation there are convened two Jesuits of the Professed class residing in Rome, all the Provincials, and also two Professed members chosen in every province by a Provincial Congregation. The formalities of the election are very much the same as those observed in the election of the Pope.[48] After attending mass, the electors are confined in an apartment, where they cannot communicate with any one from without; and, to compel them to decide within a reasonable time, they are allowed no better aliment than bread and water until a General is chosen. When this fortunate occurrence takes place, and the new General is proclaimed, every one present must come forward to do him reverence, and, kneeling on both knees, kiss his hand.[49] The same Congregation which elects the General appoints also four assistants, to reside near him in Rome. At the period when the Constitution was ultimately defined, toward 1552, the Jesuits had divided the world into four provinces, viz. India, Spain and Portugal, Germany and France, and Italy and Sicily. Each of the four assistants attend separately to the affairs of one of these four provinces, and all of them together, when required, assist the General in the general business of the Society. At the same Congregation there is also appointed a pious man as admonitor to the General, whose duty is to be near the General, to watch him, and, “should he perceive him swerving from the right path, with all possible humility to advise him, after earnest and devout prayer to God, what he considers to be the best course to follow.”

In the event of the death or prolonged absence of any of these officials, the General may appoint some one to the vacant post, provided his choice be approved by the majority of the Provincials. All these officials are given to the General by the Constitution, partly to assist him in the fulfilment of his duties, and partly to be constant and keen surveyors of his conduct. “And should the General sin in copula carnalis, wounding any one, applying to his own use or giving away any of the revenues of the colleges, or holding depraved doctrines, as soon as the charge is proved by adequate evidence, the four assistants immediately call forth the General Congregation.”[50] However, with the exception of alienating any real property of the colleges, the General has full and unlimited power, even to the granting of a dispensation for any of the rules of the Constitution. He appoints and disposes of all the subaltern officials of the Society, and receives into it, or dismisses from it, any person whom he pleases, and that at any time he may choose. He buys or exchanges property for the order by his own authority, and has the superintendence of its whole administration.

The Provincials send him, once a year, an elaborate and detailed account of every member of the order, the correctness of which is ascertained by private investigation through different and opposite sources, because (as is thought) he does not place implicit confidence even in them. The Constitutions say—“The General scrutinises as far as possible the character of those who are under his control, and especially Provincials, and others to whom he intrusts matters of importance.”[51]