The Footprints of the Jesuits

by Richard W. Thompson

After a preliminary statement of his powers and responsibilities, he declares the Jesuits to have been accused of things "very detrimental to the peace and tranquillity of the Christian Republic," and proceeds to enumerate the Christian sovereigns who have, from time to time, complained of them, and asserts that Pope Sixtus V had found charges against them "just and well founded." Referring to the favor shown them by Gregory XIV, he says that, notwithstanding this, "the accusations against the society were multiplied without number, and especially with their insatiable avidity of temporal possessions." He enumerates eleven popes, including Benedict XIV, who had "employed, without effect, all their efforts" to provide remedies against the evils they had engendered. He accuses them with opposition to "other religious orders;" with "the great loss of souls, and great scandal of the people;" with the practice of "certain idolatrous ceremonies;" with the use of maxims which the Church had "proscribed as scandalous and manifestly contrary to good morals;" with "revolts and intestine troubles in some of the Catholic States;" and with "persecutions against the Church" in both Europe and Asia. He refers to the fact that Innocent XI had been compelled to restrain the society by "forbidding the company to receive any more novices;" that Innocent XIII was obliged to threaten "the same punishment;" and that Benedict XIV had ordered a general visitation and investigation of all their houses in the Portuguese dominions. Alluding to the decree of Clement XIII in their favor, he says it "was rather extorted than granted"—that is, that it was obtained by undue means and influences—and that it "was far from bringing any comfort to the Holy See, or any advantage to the Christian Republic;" but had made the times "more difficult and tempestuous," so that "complaints and quarrels were multiplied on every side. In some places dangerous seditions arose—tumults, discords, dissensions, scandals, which, weakening or entirely breaking the bonds of Christian charity, excited the faithful to all the rage of party hatred and enmities." Then follows the assertion that the Kings of France, Spain, Portugal, and Sicily had "found themselves reduced to the necessity of expelling and driving from their States, kingdoms, and provinces, these very Companions of Jesus," because "there remained no other remedy to so great evils;" and that "this step was necessary in order to prevent the Christians from rising one against the other, and for massacring each other in the very bosom of our common mother, the holy Church." For these and many other reasons, and because the Christian world could not be otherwise reconciled, it was urged upon him, he said, that the Jesuits should be "absolutely abolished and suppressed."

He then proceeded to declare that he had examined attentively and weighed carefully all the matters touching the conduct of the Jesuits; that he had invoked "the presence and inspiration of the Holy Spirit;" that, under the responsibilities of his high station, he had been compelled to reach the conclusion that they could "no longer produce those abundant fruits and those great advantages" which had been promised when the society was instituted; but that, "on the contrary, it was very difficult, not to say impossible, that the Church could recover a firm and durable peace so long as the said society subsisted." Wherefore, for these controlling reasons, he announced that "after a mature deliberation, we do, out of our certain knowledge and the fullness of our apostolic power, suppress and abolish the said company." And to make his decree final, complete, and absolute, so that thereafter it should not be misunderstood, he thus pronounced his pontifical judgment:

"We deprive it of all activity whatever, of its houses, schools, colleges, hospitals, lands, and, in short, every other place whatsoever, in whatever kingdom or province they may be situated. We abrogate and annul its statutes, rules, customs, decrees, and constitutions, even though confirmed by oath, and approved by the Holy See or otherwise. In like manner we annul all and every its privileges, indults, general or particular, the tenor whereof is, and is taken to be, as fully and as amply expressed in the present Brief as if the same were inserted word for word, in whatever clauses, form, or decree, or under whatever sanction their privileges may have been conceived. We declare all, and all kind of authority, the general, the provincials, the visitors, and other superiors of the said society, to be forever annulled and extinguished, of what nature soever the said society may be, as well in things spiritual as temporal." He denies them any right to teach in colleges or schools—prohibits them from calling in question his act of suppression and abolition, and, after varying his language in every way necessary to show the inviolability of his decree, he makes this declaration: "Our will and pleasure is, that these our letters should forever and to all eternity be valid, permanent, and efficacious, have and obtain their full force and effect, and be inviolably observed by all and every whom they do or may concern, now or hereafter, in any manner whatsoever." This solemn decree was then executed by the pope "under the seal of the Fisherman"—the highest emblem of Church authority.[140]

These extracts from the celebrated decree are necessary to convey to the mind of the reader a correct idea of its character and scope. A mere statement of the fact of its issuance is insufficient for that purpose. That it was the solemn and deliberate act of Clement XIV is not denied by anybody. The Jesuits assail its author, and by that means seek to invalidate it. They boastingly assert that it was unduly obtained, contrary to the Christian sentiment of that period. Every view suggested by them is an impeachment of the integrity of the pope, upon whom they have bestowed innumerable severe and hostile censures. Those who now examine the document and the circumstances which led to it, together with the Jesuit comments upon it, and are influenced only by the desire to judge it accurately, can not withhold their surprise at the many false and mendacious representations made by them with regard to it. One of their most influential authors—seemingly insensible to the idea that even an adversary should be treated fairly—represents Clement XIV as "conscientiously opposed to the suppression of the Jesuits,"[141] in the very face of the fact, conceded by him, that he did issue this decree in his official capacity as pope. This is an unequivocal charge that he violated his own conscience, and acted faithlessly to the Church and dishonorably as a man, by yielding to influences condemned by his judgment, and which he was too cowardly to resist. In ordinary intercourse such an accusation is highly offensive, and there is nothing to make it otherwise when made by a Jesuit against a pope—especially when he professes to believe that the latter was infallible. This same author does not scruple to charge that the Spanish ambassador "bribed the household of the sovereign pontiff, and undertook to overpower the pope by his indomitable persistence"[142]—as if the pope were surrounded by corrupt hirelings who were able to influence his decision, and could be overpowered upon so great and serious a question by the importunities and threats of others. And, continuing his comments in the same spirit, he asserts, upon the alleged authority of Cardinal Pacca, that after Clement XIV signed the Act of Suppression, "he dashed the document to one side, cast the pen to another, and from that moment was demented. This signature had cost the unhappy pontiff his reason! From that day he possessed it only at intervals, and then only to deplore his misfortunes."[143]

Statements of this character pertain to a low order of partisanship, and are discreditable to their authors. No facts whatsoever have ever been given, or can be, upon which to base them. Clement XIV lived until September 22, 1774, fourteen months after his decree abolishing the Jesuits. The French ambassador, Bernis, in a letter written at Rome, November 3, 1773, three months and twelve days after the decree, said: "His health is perfect, and his gayety more remarkable than usual."[144] Nicolini says "all the authors are unanimous upon this point," and quotes the historian Botta to the same effect. He retained this condition of health for eight months, when his sudden sickness gave rise, as already stated, to the belief that he had been poisoned by the Jesuits. Certainly if he had experienced any such remorse as the Jesuits allege, it would have been exhibited before that time. After his illness his faculties may have become somewhat impaired, but this was the natural result of intense physical suffering. The Jesuits represent him, when in the agony of pain, as having exclaimed, "I have been compelled," which they interpret to mean that he was unduly influenced by the sovereigns. They fail in this to exhibit their usual shrewdness by deriving an argument from an expression used by him when in what they say was a demented condition. If he did speak the words alleged, it is far more probable, as Nicolini suggests, that he intended to express regret that the iniquities of the Jesuits had been so enormous and so clearly established that he was compelled to suppress and abolish their society, because of the injury they had already inflicted, and would be likely to inflict in the future, upon the Church and Christianity. It should also be remarked in this connection that neither Cormenin nor De Montor, in their separate histories of the pontificate of Clement XIV, says anything about his having been demented, or about his remorse. That accusation is the fruit of Jesuit revenge.

But we have now less to do with the motives of the pope in abolishing the society, and with the circumstances immediately attending the act, than with the act itself and its consequences. As pope, Clement XIV had the undoubted power to make and promulgate the decree. When this was done, it was accepted with satisfaction, not alone by the sovereigns who had made themselves accusers of the Jesuits, but by the great body of the European Christians. Among the latter the belief almost universally prevailed that he had thereby conferred a benefit upon the Church and the Christian world by removing a serious and disturbing evil. In the course of history no important public act has been more generally approved. This would have been the case even if but part of what is alleged in their terrible arraignment by the pope had been true. But there is every reason for believing that all the charges were fully verified by proof, and that the Christian people accepted that fact as complete justification for the abolition and absolute suppression of the society.

FOOTNOTES:

[125] History of the Popes of Rome. By Cormenin. Vol. II, p. 392.

[126] Ibid.

[127] History of the Popes of Rome. By Cormenin. Vol. II, p. 393.