7. They were indefatigable in missionary enterprise, and zealous in the propagation of their principles, both religious and educational.
8. They stimulated authorship, advanced learning, and produced many great men.
9. They exerted a powerful influence upon the intellectual, social, and political movements of their time.
THE PORT ROYALISTS
Opposed to the Jesuits was another body of Catholics, sometimes called Jansenists from the organizer of the movement, and sometimes Port Royalists, because their chief school was at Port Royal near Paris. Their purpose was to check the progress of the Jesuits, to promote greater spirituality in the Church, and to revive the pure Catholicism of St. Augustine. Among their great leaders may be mentioned Pascal, Nicole, and Launcelot. The purpose of the Jansenists was very different from that of the Jesuits, and their methods were more modern. They gave preference to modern languages, while the Jesuits gave chief attention to the classic tongues. Their discipline, like that of the Jesuits, was humane, but firm.
Their greatest contribution to education is the phonic method of spelling. They also laid stress upon the use of objects, the development of the sense perceptions, especially in early childhood. One of their axioms was, "The intelligence of childhood always being very dependent on the senses, we must, as far as possible, address our instruction to the senses, and cause it to reach the mind, not only through hearing, but also through seeing." This appears to be the first instance in which object teaching was taught as a principle, a principle which Bacon, Comenius, Pestalozzi, and Froebel worked out, and which has been one of the most important factors of modern educational progress.
FOOTNOTES:
[63] "Jesuit Education," p. 77.
[64] See Hughes, "Loyola," pp. 46, 113, 156, 282. Also Schwickerath, "Jesuit Education," p. 415.
[65] "Jesuit Education," p. 105. See also Hughes, "Loyola," pp. 4, 14, 43, 46, 68, 72, 82, and 86 (lines 12-23).