Meantime Napoleon had released Pius VII from captivity, not voluntarily, but as a political measure, to propitiate the anger of the Catholics of the world, who were beginning to open their eyes to the extent of the outrage. Eighteen months previously he had dragged the venerable Pontiff from Rome and hurried him night and day over the Alps, absolutely heedless of the age and infirmity of his victim, until at last the Pope entered Fontainebleau a prisoner. According to Pacca, it was a jail more than a palace. There by dint of threats and brutal treatment Napoleon so wore out the strength of the aged man that a Concordat was signed which sacrificed some of the most sacred rights of the Holy See. It was cancelled, indeed, subsequently, but it almost drove the Pope insane when he realized the full import of what he had been driven to concede. "I shall die like Clement XIV," he exclaimed. But his jailer was heartless and it was only after a year and a half of imprisonment, and when the Allies were actually entering France as conquerors, that he made up his mind to send the Pontiff back to Rome. Had he done it with less brutality he might even then, have succeeded in his calculations, but only one attendant was sent to accompany the prisoner. The cardinals were purposely dismissed some days later in batches, and ordered to go by different routes so as to prevent any popular demonstration on the way.
Pacca overtook the Pope at Sinigaglia on May 12, and on May 24, after a brief stay at Ancona, Loreto, Macerata, Tolentino, Foligno, Spoleto, Terni and Nepi, entered Rome. What happened at these places deserves to be recorded, as it shows that the Faith was not only not dead but had grown more intense because of the outrages of which the Vicar of Christ had been the object. At Ancona, for instance, Artaud tell us, "he was received with transports of delight. The sailors in the harbor flocked around his carriage, unhitched the horses and with silken ropes of yellow and red drew it triumphantly through the city, while the cannon thundered from the ramparts, and the bells of every tower proclaimed the joy of the people. From the top of a triumphal arch the Pope gave his benediction to the kneeling multitudes, and then blessed the wide Adriatic. From there he went to the palace of the Picis for a brief rest. The next day he crowned the statue of the Blessed Virgin, Queen of All Saints, and then set out for Osimo escorted as far as Loreto by a scarlet-robed guard of honor. Entering Rome by the Porto del Popolo, his carriage was drawn by young noblemen, and he was met by a procession of little orphan children chosen from the Protectory of Providence. They were all clothed in white robes and in their hands they held golden palm branches which they waved above their heads, while their young voices filled the air with jubilant songs. When the crowd became too dense, the little ones knelt before him to present their emblems of peace, which he affectionately received, while tears rolled down his cheeks. At last, the city gates were reached and he proceeded along the streets lined on either side by kneeling multitudes who were overcome with joy at his return."
Almost the first official act of the Pope was to re-establish the Society. How that came about may be best told in the words of his faithful servant, Cardinal Pacca.
"While we were in prison together," says the illustrious cardinal, "I had never tired of adroitly leading the conversation up to this important matter, so as to furnish His Holiness with useful information if ever it happened that he would again ascend the Chair of St. Peter. In those interviews he never failed to manifest the greatest esteem and affection for the Society. The situation in which we found ourselves was remarkable, and it shows the admirable Providence of God with regard to this celebrated Society.
"When Barnabo Chiaramonte was a young Benedictine, he had teachers and professors in theology whose sentiments were anti-Jesuit, and they filled his mind with theological views that were most opposed to those maintained by the Society. Everyone knows what profound impressions early teaching leaves in the mind; and, as for myself, I also had been inspired from my youth with sentiments of aversion, hatred and, I might say, a sort of fanaticism against the illustrious Society. It will suffice to add that my teachers put in my hands and ordered me to make extracts from the famous 'Lettres Provinciales,' first in French and then in Latin, with the notes of Wendrok (Nicole) which were still more abominable than the text. I read also in perfect good faith, 'La morale pratique des Jésuites,' and other works of that kind and accepted them as true.
"Who then would have believed that the first act of the Benedictine Chiaramonte who had become Pope, immediately after emerging from the frightful tempest of the Revolution, and in the face of so many sects, then raging against the Jesuits, should be the re-establishment of the Society throughout the Catholic world; or that I should have prepared the way for this new triumph; or, finally, that I should have been appointed by the Pope to carry out those orders which were so acceptable to me and conferred on me so much honor? For both the Pope and myself, this act was a source of supreme satisfaction. I was present in Rome on the two memorable occasions of the Suppression and the Re-establishment of the Society, and I can testify to the different impressions they produced. Thus, on August 17, 1773, the day of the publication of the Brief 'Dominus ac Redemptor,' one saw surprise and sorrow painted on every face; whereas on August 7, 1814, the day of the resurrection of the Society, Rome rang with acclamations of satisfaction and approval. The people followed the Pope from the Quirinal to the Gesù, where the Bull was to be read, and made the return of the Pope to his palace a triumphal procession.
"I have deemed it proper to enter into these details, in order to profit by the occasion of these 'Memoirs' to make a solemn retraction of the imprudent utterances that I may have made in my youth against a Society which has merited so well from the Church of Jesus Christ."
Some of the cardinals were opposed to the Restoration, out of fear of the commotion it was sure to excite. Even Consalvi would have preferred to see it deferred for a few months, but it is a calumny to say that he was antagonistic to the Society. As early as February 13, 1799, he wrote as follows to Albani, the legate at Vienna: "You do me a great, a very great wrong, if you ever doubted that I was not convinced that the Jesuits should be brought back again. I call God to witness that I always thought so, although I was educated in colleges which were not favorable to them, but I did not on that account think ill of them. In those days, however, I did say one thing of them, viz., that although I was fully persuaded of their importance, I declared it to be fanatical to pretend that the Church could not stand without them, since it had existed for centuries before they existed, but when I saw the French Revolution and when I got to really understand Jansenism, I then thought and think now that without the Jesuits the Church is in very bad straits. If it depended on me, I would restore the Society to-morrow. I have frequently told that to the Pope, who has always desired their restoration, but fear of the governments that were opposed to it made him put it off, though he always cherished the hope that he could bring it about. He would do it if he lived; and if he were unable he would advise his successor to do it as quickly as possible. The rulers of the nations will find out that the Jesuits will make their thrones secure by bringing back religion."
Of course, the thought of restoring the Society did not originate with Pius VII and Pacca. Pius VI had repeatedly declared that he would have brought it about had it been at all feasible. Even after the return of Pius VII to Rome, some of the most devoted friends of the Jesuits, as we have seen, thought that the difficulties were insuperable; but the Pope judged otherwise, and hence the affection with which the Society will ever regard him. Indeed, he had already gone far in preparing the way for it. He had approved of the Society in Russia, England, America and Italy. He had permitted Father Fonteyne to establish communities in the Netherlands; Father Clorivière was doing the same thing in France with his approval so that everyone was expecting the complete restoration to take place at any moment. The Father provincial of Italy had announced that the Bull would be issued before Easter Sunday 1814, although some of his brethren laughed at him and thought he was losing his mind. This did not disturb him, however, and in June, 1814 he knelt before the Sovereign Pontiff and in the name of Father General Brzozowski presented the following petition:
"We, the Father General and the Fathers who, by the benignity of the Holy See, reside in Russia and in Sicily, desiring to meet the wishes of certain princes who ask our assistance in the education of the youth of their realms, humbly implore Your Highness to remove the difficulty created by the Brief of Clement XIV and to restore the Society to its former state in accordance with the last confirmation of it by Clement XIII, so that in whatever country we may be asked for we may give to the princes above referred to whatever help the needs of their several countries may demand."