Dealings with the Inquisition; Or, Papal Rome, Her Priests, and Her Jesuits

by Giacinto Achilli

From these societies the subtle and busy instruments for the extension of the Papal power have been selected; and by their means has Rome preserved her influence over the conscience, and extended her work of proselytism.

The knights, on the contrary, enjoyed too much liberty to remain long in the service of the priests. It was, therefore, often contemplated to unite the knightly with the monastic life; thus the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem considered themselves partly a military and partly a monastic order. Many professed chastity, poverty and obedience, and sometimes a fourth vow was added, that of making war against the infidels. But all this was insufficient to bring them completely under subjection; a life of still greater mortification was necessary, in order to humiliate and degrade the individual, and render him a mere automaton; and this was a life purely monastic. Whoever professes it, if he be sincere, ought to possess no faculty of willing or understanding, apart from that of his superiors; to whatever order he belongs he must bring himself to the persuasion that there is no hope for him in the mercy of heaven, unless he be obedient to them; who alone, according to the Romish doctrine, are responsible for his acts. At the last dread tribunal he believes it will only be demanded of him, has he been obedient?—this is all he has to look to; he who gives the order is alone answerable for its justice or its iniquity. Such is the teaching that these degraded beings are accustomed to receive. What its results are we need only look round those countries where it is most extensively carried on, to determine.

Now these so-called superiors ascend by regular degrees, and at their head is the Pope himself. An order emanating from him, quickly extends, by means of these subordinates, into any direction he chooses, through all its ramifications. Every one knows that his ministers amount to several hundreds of thousands, all belonging to the same system, sworn to obedience, and ready to undertake whatever may be required of them.

I will frankly confess my own private opinion of this organization. Doubtless it was planned by men of consummate ability. It is a diabolical invention to effect the greatest possible mischief. And such was the intention of the three or four popes who had a hand in its formation. Providentially for society, the succeeding ones were men of inferior genius, and did not see all its advantages. With respect to the present time, I should imagine there is little danger, as these gentry no longer enjoy the same credit as they did formerly. Moreover, in those countries where papistical doctrines predominate, the monks are held in the greatest disrepute: at least it is so in Italy, where they are well known; and I believe the case is the same in Spain. With respect to France, it is a matter of regret that they have renewed their former influence in that country, which, since the revolution of 1850, has become the reproach of Europe. Who would have believed that she would not only grant an asylum to Jesuits, but also become their defender and their partizan? It is, however, to be hoped that such a state of things cannot last long; and that this nation may at length recover from her delirium. This hope is founded on the conviction that he cannot in reality but detest the Papacy, which, at the present juncture, actually excites in the people no other sentiment than infidelity in everything pertaining to religion.

Now, with regard to England, so great was the enthusiasm of her Reformation in the fourteenth century, and such was the spirit of the people, and so firm their laws, that Rome had no longer any hope of regaining the country she had lost. Had it not been for Ireland, she would as soon have thought of establishing her empire in Jerusalem and Antioch, as in London or Edinburgh. Nevertheless, her hopes once more revived, on perceiving the good effects of her operations in 1829. The Emancipation Bill, in the estimation of Rome, opened the door for her return into England; and it was conjectured that in about thirty years, by adopting every possible means, the "good old times," such as they were in the early part of the reign of Henry VIII., might return.

The plan was no secret; in fact, about the same time the Jesuits renewed their operations. Pius VIII. was pope; a good old man enough in private life, but a great stickler for the Council of Trent. It was a serious grief to him that this sacro-santo Council was not law to the whole world. He was what the Romans call a good Canonist; indeed he was of opinion that the Canon Laws were the greatest possible blessing that the bounty of the Deity had ever bestowed upon mankind. And if such were his real opinion, independent of any personal interest or bias, no doubt he meant well in maintaining it. The Catholic Emancipation Act, therefore, quickly inspired him with the consolatory idea, that he should soon be able to introduce the Canon Laws of the Council of Trent into this kingdom, which, according to his view, was already preparing a return to Rome.

The Congregation of the Propaganda at the same time naturally fostered the idea of establishing a hierarchy of bishops and archbishops, in order to govern the Church of England according to the Romish laws. The project was a daring one, but there was work to do beforehand. Every colonist, before he plants, begins by preparing the soil. In like manner England had to be prepared to receive a Romish hierarchy. I imagine it was in the policy of Pius VIII. to prepare this ground in a better manner than it has been done by Pius IX. With another ten years of Jesuitical labour, their attempt would probably have obtained a better result, at least according to their own opinion; but it has pleased the Lord to confound their councils.

In what does this work of preparation consist? The grand secret of the Inquisition, the labour of the Jesuits, is to employ every means in their power that is most likely to secure their end. All the world knows that in the moral code of the Jesuits, which is also that of the Court of Rome, it is maintained that, provided the end sought be a holy and religious one, of which they make themselves the sole judge, ALL means whatever are good and lawful; and the reason, according to the doctrine of Thomas Aquinas, is, that our actions take their character from the end we have in view. Now the means employed to prepare England to receive the ecclesiastical hierarchy, with the Council of Trent, and the Canon Laws, on which her conversion depends,—the means, I say, are truth or falsehood, as may best serve; promises and threats, secret gifts, and hidden treachery; exaggerated praises to their friends, and the foulest calumny to those they believe to be their enemies. These are the means which the Inquisition invariably employs, in order to gain its end.

With respect to preparing England for the late coup de main, it was deemed expedient to arrange a grand Jesuitical mission to the two universities of Oxford and Cambridge. How well this mission succeeded, it is needless for me to bring proof. It is an acknowledged fact, that a number of clergymen of the Church of England have seceded to the Church of Rome since the year 1829. The rise and progress of Tractarianism and Puseyism, and the actual state of affairs, must be well known to all my readers. How many good-hearted people in England are now lamenting over the wounds that have been inflicted on their unhappy Church! God grant that they may one day,—and that day no distant one,—be healed!

Let us now inquire what the Roman Propaganda has achieved in this country from the year 1829 to 1850. It established, in the first instance, four apostolic vicariates, and subsequently, four others. The first four were entitled, "the district of London, the Western, the Central or Midland, and the Northern District:" the other four were established in the year 1840, and received the names of "the Eastern, Welsh, Lancaster, and York Districts." The eight bishops attached to these districts carried on their operations under the immediate directions and superintendence of the Propaganda—the principal organ of the Inquisition; and their schemes went on quietly enough, until some among them, more ambitious than the rest, and not calculating the danger there might be of losing all the fruits of their previous labour, took advantage of the Pope's weakness, and the ignorance of the greater portion of the cardinals, and hurried matters on to the termination of the plot which was not originally intended to explode so soon. The effect of this precipitation, however, has been to render their measures for the conversion of England altogether abortive. Providence, in its all-wise purposes, influenced a certain Doctor Wiseman, whose ambition of being created a cardinal had long tormented his soul, to lead the weak mind of Pius IX. to commit the egregious blunder which has ruined the whole scheme laboured at by the Romish Church, and the poor Jesuits, with so much toil and perseverance, to bring to perfection.