It is not only edifying but inspiring to hear that the Venerable Father de Clorivière occupied himself while in prison in the Temple at Paris during the Revolution in writing commentaries on the Sacred Scriptures. He was over seventy years of age and was expecting to be summoned to the guillotine at any moment, but he had plenty of time to write, for his imprisonment lasted five years. Sommervogel credits him with commentaries on "The Canticle of Canticles," "The Epistles of St. Peter," "The Discourse at the Last Supper," "The Animals of Ezechiel," "The Two Seraphim of Isaias," besides Constitutions for the religious orders he had founded, lives of the saints, novenas, and religious poems. He also translated "Paradise Lost" into French. Evidently the commentary written in a prison cell cannot have measured up to the scientific exegesis of the present day, but perhaps for that reason it reached the soul more readily. In any case, the Scriptural students of the modern Society made an excellent start with a saint and a virtual martyr.
Francis Xavier Patrizi distinguished himself as an exegete. He was one of the first to enter the Society after the Restoration, and was so esteemed for his virtue and ability that he came very near being elected General of the Society. His first publication on "The Interpretation of the Holy Scriptures" appeared in 1844. He translated the Psalms word for word from the Hebrew. His works are packed with erudition, of scrupulous accuracy in their citations, and of most sedulous care in defending the Sacred Text against the Protestants of the early days of the nineteenth century. The "Cursus Scripturæ" of the Fathers of Maria-Laach: Cornely, Knabenbauer, Hummelauer, and others, is a monument of erudition and labor and is without doubt the most splendid triumph of exegesis in the present century.
In 1901, the Sovereign Pontiff appointed and approved a Biblical Commission for the proper interpretation and defense of Holy Scripture. It consists of five cardinals and forty-three consultors. Among the distinguished men chosen for this work we find Fathers Cornely, Delattre, Gismondi, von Hummelauer, Méchineau, and Prat. One of the duties with which the commission was charged was the establishment of a special institute for the prosecution of higher Biblical Studies. In 1910 Father Fonck, its first rector, began the series of public conferences which was one of the assigned works of the Institute. It publishes the "Biblical Annals." The French Fathers in Syria are very valuable adjuncts to this institute, because of their knowledge of Oriental languages. One of them, Father Lammens, was for years the editor of "Bachir," an Arabic periodical.
When Father John Carroll went to England to be consecrated Bishop of Baltimore, he probably met at Lulworth Castle, where the ceremony took place, a French Jesuit of the old Society who had found shelter with the Weld family during the Revolution and was acting as their chaplain. He was Father Grou, a man of saintly life. It was while he was in England that he wrote "La Science de crucifix" the "Caractère de la vraie dévotion," "Maximes spirituelles," "Méditation sur l'amour de Dieu," "L'intérieur de Jésus et de Marie," "Manuel des âmes intérieures," "Le livre du jeune homme." These works were frequently reprinted and translated.
It is very interesting to find that, before the expulsion from France, Father Grou had been an ardent student of Plato and had even published eight books about the great philosopher. He also wrote an answer to La Chalotais' attack on the Society. Sommervogel mentions another book written by him in conjunction with Father du Rocher. It is entitled "Temps Fabuleux," an historical and dogmatic treatise on the true religion.
Among the other noted ascetical writers were Vigitello, author of "La Sapienza del cristiano," Mislei, who wrote "Grandezze di Gesù Cristo" and "Gesù Cristo e il Cristiano," Hillegeer, Dufau, Verbeke, Vercruysse, de Doss, Petit, Meschler, Schneider and Chaignon, whose "Nouveau cours de méditations sacerdotales" has gone through numberless editions; Watrigant has made extensive studies on the "Exercises;" Ramière's "Apostolat de la Prière" made the circuit of the world and gave the first impulse to the League of the Sacred Heart. Coleridge's "Life of Our Lord," consisting of thirty volumes, is a mine of thought and especially valuable for directors of religious communities.
In 1874 Father Camillo Tarquini was raised to the cardinalate for his ability as a canonist. His dissertation on the Regium placet exequatur made him an international celebrity. With him high in the ranks of canonists are Father General Wernz, Laurentius, Hilgers, Beringer, Oswald, Sanguinetti, Ojetti, Vermeersch, and the present Assistant General Father Fine.
Stephen Anthony Morcelli, who is eminent as a historian and is regarded as the founder of epigraphy, was born in Trent, in the year 1737. He made his studies in the Roman College, and there founded an academy of archæology. At the Suppression he became the librarian of Cardinal Albani. He re-entered the restored Society. He was then eighty-four years of age. He had no superior as a Latin stylist. His "Calendar of the Church of Constantinople," covering a thousand years, his "Readings of the Four Gospels" according to various codices, and his notes on "Africa Christiana" are of great value.
Possibly the Portuguese Francis Macedo might be admitted to this list of famous authors. It is true that he left the Society but as he had been a member for twenty-eight years it deserves some credit for the cultivation of his remarkable abilities. Maynard calls him the prodigy of his age. Thus at Venice in 1667 Macedo held a public disputation on nearly every branch of human knowledge, especially the Bible, theology, patrology, history, literature and poetry. In his quaint and extravagant style he called this display the literary roarings of the Lion of St. Mark. It had been prepared in eight days. On account of his success, Venice gave him the freedom of the city and the professorship of moral philosophy at the University of Padua. In his "Myrothecium morale" he tells us that he has pronounced three hundred and fifty panegyrics, sixty Latin harangues, thirty-two funeral orations, and had composed one hundred and twenty-three elegies, one hundred and fifteen epitaphs, two hundred and twelve dedicatory epistles, two thousand and six hundred heroic poems, one hundred and ten odes, four Latin comedies, two tragedies and satires in Spanish, besides a number of treatises on theology such as "The Doctrines of St. Thomas and Scotus," "Positive theology for the refutation of heretics," "The Keys of Peter," "The Pontifical Authority," "Medulla of Ecclesiastical History," and the "Refutation of Jansenism." The Society made him great but failed to teach him humility.
In most theological libraries which are even moderately equipped one sees long lines of books on which the name of Muzzarelli appears. They are of different kinds; ascetical, devotional, educational, philosophical and theological, and many of them have been translated into various languages. He belonged to the old Society, entering it only four years before the suppression. He was then twenty-four years of age. As he was of a noble family of Ferrara, he held a benefice in his native city at the time of his banishment, and a little later, the Duke of Parma made him rector of the College of Nobles. Pius VII called him to Rome and made him theologian of the Penitentiaria, which meant that he was the Pope's theologian. When the Society was re-established in Naples, he asked permission to join his brethren there, but the Pope refused. It was just as well, for Napoleon's troops soon closed the establishment. When Pius VII was carried off a prisoner in 1809, Muzzarelli was also deported. He never returned to Rome, but died in Paris one year before the Restoration of the Society. He was not however forgotten in his native city, which regarded him as one of its glories. Among his works were several of an ascetic character such as "The Sacred Heart," "The Month of Mary," and also a "Life of St. Francis Hieronymo."