It has been said that the Jesuits had a way of keeping their most brilliant members before the public eye while sending their inferior men to the missions to be eaten by the savages. That this is not an accepted opinion in America is evidenced by the publication of what are called the "Jesuit Relations," in seventy-two volumes, by a firm in Cleveland, Ohio, whose members had no affiliation with Catholics or Jesuits, and whose venture involved immense financial risks. "The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents" is the title of the work. The subsidiary title is "Travels and Explorations of Jesuit Missionaries in New France, 1610-1791. The Original French, Latin and Italian Texts, with English Translations and Notes, illustrated by Portraits, Maps and Facsimiles."
The editor is Reuben Gold Thwaites, Secretary of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. In his preface he says: "American historians from Shea and Parkman down have already made liberal use of the 'Relations,' and here and there antiquarians and historical societies have published fragmentary translations. The great body of the 'Relations' and their allied documents however have never been Englished; hence these interesting papers have never been accessible to the majority of historical students. The present edition offers to the public for the first time an English rendering side by side with the original.
"The authors of the journals which form the basis of the 'Relations' were for the most part men of trained intellect, acute observers, and practiced in the art of keeping records of their experiences. They had left the most highly civilized country of their times to plunge at once into the heart of the wilderness and attempt to win to the Christian Faith the fiercest savages known to history. To gain these savages it was first necessary to know them intimately, their speech, their habits, their manner of thought, their strong points and their weak. These first students of American Indian history were not only amply fitted for their task but none have since had better opportunity for its prosecution. They performed a great service to mankind in publishing their annals, which are for historian, geographer and ethnologist our best authorities.
"Many of the 'Relations' were written in Indian camps amid a chaos of distractions. Insects innumerable tormented the journalists; they were immersed in scenes of squalor and degradation, overcome by fatigue and lack of proper sustenance, often suffering from wounds and disease, maltreated in a hundred ways by hosts, who at times, might more properly be called jailers; and not seldom had savage superstition risen to such heights that to be seen making a memorandum was certain to arouse the ferocious enmity of the band. It is not surprising that the composition of these journals is sometimes crude; the wonder is that they could be written at all. Nearly always the style is simple and earnest. Never does the narrator descend to self-glorification or dwell unnecessarily upon the details of his continual martyrdom. He never complains of his lot, but sets forth his experiences in matter of fact phrases.
"From these writings we gain a vivid picture of life in the primeval forests. Not only do these devoted missionaries — never in any field has been witnessed greater personal heroism than theirs — live and breathe before us in these 'Relations,' but we have in them our first competent account of the Red Indian when relatively uncontaminated by contact with Europeans. Few periods of history are so well illuminated as the French régime in North America. This we owe in a large measure to the existence of the Jesuit Relations."
"The existence of these Relations," to use Mr. Thwaites' expression, is due to the scholarly modern Jesuit, Father Félix Martin, the founder and first rector of St. Mary's College at Montreal, who in 1858 induced the Quebec government to reprint the old Cramoisy editions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It was Martin who developed in Gilmary Shea, then a Jesuit scholastic in Montreal, the historical instinct; and gave to Parkman much if not all of the information that made that author famous, in spite of the bigotry or lack of comprehension that sometimes reveals itself in his pages. Martin's first publication consisted of three double columned, closely printed and bulky octavos in French. He never dreamed that the interest in the book would grow until the splendid edition of Thwaites in seventy-two volumes would signify to the scientific world the value of these documents "written in canoes or in the depths of the forests," as Thwaites says, "a decade before the landing of the Plymouth Pilgrims."
While these "Relations" about the Canada missions were being published Father Le Gobien began to issue his "Lettres sur les progrès de la religion de la Chine," which ultimately developed into the well-known "Lettres édifiantes et curieuses" describing missionary enterprises all over the world. During the Suppression they were issued in twenty-six duo-decimo volumes. An Austrian Jesuit began in 1720 to translate some of these letters, entitling his work "Neue Welt Bott." It soon became independent of the "Letters" and appeared in five volumes folio. It is still being published.
A certain number of periodicals are published by the Society, the most important of which are the "Civiltà Cattolica," the "Etudes," the "Stimmen aus Maria-Laach" and the "Razón y Fe."
The "Civiltà" was begun in 1850 by express order of Pius IX. Its first editors were Fathers Curci, Bresciani, Liberatore, Taparelli, Oreglia, Piccirillo, and Pianciani, a staff which would insure the success of any publication. Its articles are of the most serious kind, dealing with questions of theology, philosophy, sociology and literature. Its first issue of 4,200 copies appeared at Naples; later it was published at Rome. In 1870 the staff was transferred to Naples, but returned in 1887 to Rome. It is published every fortnight, and at present has a circulation of over 12,000 copies. It is under the direct control of the Pope, and unlike other Society publications of the same kind it is not connected with any house or college. It has received the highest commendations from Pius IX and from Leo XIII.
In 1856 the "Etudes" was begun by the Jesuits in France under the editorship of Daniel Gagarin and Godfroy. In character it closely resembles the "Civiltà." The troubles of 1876 caused its suspension for almost a year, but the various dispersions of the French provinces have not affected it, except perhaps in the extent of its circulation. It is published at Paris, but was at one time issued from Lyons. From a monthly it has developed into a fortnightly review in latter years.