And such was the case everywhere. German scepticism, French atheism, Jansenism, and Josephism began to reign supreme. Let us add here that the Protestant cause was never strengthened by any persecution of the Society; the only gainer was always infidelity. The statement of Mr. Browning, that the governments on the whole have done well to suppress the Jesuit colleges,[378] is proved utterly false by history. At the same time it advocates an intolerable state absolutism. If parents wish to send their children to the schools of the Jesuits, and of religious in general, it is a violation of parental rights, and an infringement of religious and political liberty, to make the attainment of such wishes impossible. In the light of this consideration, the legislation of M. Waldeck-Rousseau, and the recent proceedings against the teaching congregations in France must appear to all fair-minded men as tyranny and a new “reign of terror”.
To all students of history who are not blinded by fanatical hatred, the downfall of such a society of men who had devoted their lives to the propagation of religion and the advancement of science, must appear most pathetic. Such it appeared to the atheist astronomer Lalande. “The mention of a Jesuit,” he writes, “awakens all the feelings of my heart, my mind and my gratitude. It harrows all my sore feelings at the blindness of the ministers of 1762. Mankind has irretrievably lost, and will never recover, that precious and surprising union of twenty-two thousand individuals, devoted incessantly and disinterestedly to the functions of teaching, preaching, missions, to duties most serviceable and dearest to humanity. Retirement, frugality, and the renunciation of pleasure, constituted in that Society the most harmonious concord of science and virtue. I had personal knowledge of them: they were an assemblage of heroes for religion and humanity.”[379]
We close this chapter with the following sympathetic lines of a recent writer: “The rise of the Jesuits had been astonishing. Their fall was august. Annihilation could not shake their constancy. No tempests of misfortune could attaint their magnificent obedience. Defamation, incarceration, banishment, starvation, death, unthankfulness, fell upon them, and could not alter, and could not dismay. To the cabals of courtiers and the frenzy of kings, to the laugh of triumphing harlots, and the rebuke of solemn hypocrites, to the loud-voiced joy of the heretic and the unbeliever, to the poisonous sneer of banded sectaries, exulting in their secret confederation, to the gibes of traitors, to the burning sympathies of unpurchased and unpurchasable multitudes, the only response of the Jesuits was superb and indomitable duty. Girt round by cruelty and frivolity, more cruel still; as in the centre of a vast amphitheatre of the antique which they had taught so well, they remained as high resolved, as unflinching as Sebastian before the archers of the Palatine, or the virgin Blandina amid the beasts at Lyons. It was hardly a marvel that the victorious monarch of Prussia, outside the Church though he was, but accustomed to see men die at the call of honor and discipline, half owned a thrill of warrior emotion, and paid a captain’s salutation, to that infrangible, that devoted army. The Jesuits were not only the ablest of Renaissance schoolmasters, they were great priests, great missionaries, great civilizers, great practicians of the supreme art of persuading and leading men. And the sentence of destruction smote them in the midst of their activity, in a hundred regions where they had become indispensable or almost impossible to replace.... Never was such a famous company of scholars in all the records of former civilizations, deep-read in philosophies; famous for sacred eloquence; masters of languages, editors of the lore of antiquity, of the writers of Byzantium, of the obscure dialects of Malaysia and the Upper Amazon; historians, philologists, restorers of chronology.... To gain the lying promise of a lying peace, they were demanded as a holocaust to the licentious puppets on the thrones of the Bourbons, to the dark powers behind the veils of the lodge. And their loss to civilization, their loss to France, was not to be computed even by the largest enumeration of what they had done, and what they were capable of doing. The Christendom to which they had become so necessary, and which in an hour was forced to do without them, was yet to learn the unspeakable significance of such a deprivation. In proportion to the services of the Jesuits was the void of their disappearance, the calamity of their fall. When main pillars of an edifice are shattered, more may be shattered than the pillars alone.”[380]
FOOTNOTES:
[279] See Hughes, Loyola, pp. 69–77; and especially Hamy, S. J., Documents pour servir à l’histoire des domiciles de la Compagnie de Jésus, Paris, Alphonse Picard.
[280] Du Lac, Jésuites, p. 297.
[281] Advancement of Learning, book 1.
[282] History of the United States, vol. III, page 120 (18th edition, Boston 1864).
[283] History of the Papacy, vol. I, book V, sect. 8 (Ed. London 1896, p. 416).
[284] Döllinger, Die Reformation, vol. I, p. 447 (note 55).
[285] Döllinger, l. c., p. 543.
[286] Ib., pp. 544–545.
[287] Further testimonies see Janssen, vol. IV (16th ed.), pp. 473–476; vol. VII, pp. 80–82.
[288] Janssen, vol. VIII, p. 650.
[289] Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, par Carlos Sommervogel. Brussels, 1890–1900. On the writers of the old Society see Crétineau-Joly, Histoire de la Compagnie de Jésus, vol. IV, ch. IV (3rd ed., pp. 214–296).
[290] Huber, Der Jesuiten-Orden, pp. 418–420.
[291] La destruction des Jésuites, p. 43; quoted by De Badts de Cugnac, Les Jésuites et l’éducation, p. 9.
[292] Lectures on the Science of Language (6th ed. 1871), vol. I, p. 157, note 40.
[293] Ib., pp. 154–157.
[294] Ib., p. 174.
[295] Ib., p. 174.
[296] Max Müller, l. c., p. 175. Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, XV, 1901, pp. 313–320. Father Roth’s grammar was extant in the Roman College, when Hervas wrote his Catalogue.
[297] Max Müller, l. c., p. 179.
[298] Ib., p. 183.
[299] Dahlmann, Die Sprachkunde und die Missionen (Herder, 1891), p. 19.
[300] Dahlmann, l. c., pp. 12–15.
[301] Truebner’s American and Oriental Literary Record, London 1872, p. 258. (Dahlmann, l. c., p. 15.)
[302] Dahlmann, l. c., p. 27.
[303] Mélanges Asiatiques, vol. II, p. 11. (Dahlmann, l. c., p. 28.)
[304] Dahlmann, l. c., pp. 40–41.
[305] Ib., page 42.
[306] Zeitschrift der deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, XXXII, p. 604. (Dahlmann, l. c., p. 45.)
[307] Neumann, quoted by Dahlmann, p. 25; a specimen of such plagiarism which occurred quite recently, shall be mentioned in chapter VII.
[308] Ib., pp. 29–56.
[309] Ib., pp. 57–144.
[310] Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, Boston, 1889, vol. I, p. 279. See also pp. 262–264.
[311] Mulhall, Between the Amazon and Andes, London, 1881, p. 263. (Dahlmann, l. c., p. 85.)
[312] A History of Mathematics, by Florian Cajori, Professor in Colorado College. Macmillan, 1894, p. 155.
[313] Ball, A Short Account of the History of Mathematics, Macmillan, 1888, p. 275.
[314] Professor Halsted of the University of Texas published a translation of Saccheri’s work in the American Mathematical Monthly, and Professor Manning of Brown University states that he has taken Saccheri’s method of treatment as the basis of the first chapter of his recent book Non-Euclidean Geometry, Boston, Ginn and Company, 1901, p. 92. See also Cajori, A History of Mathematics, p. 303.—Hagen, Synopsis der höheren Mathematik, vol. II, p. 4.
[315] Meyer’s Conversations-Lexicon (1895), vol. VII, p. 983.—Cajori, A History of Physics, Macmillan, 1899, pp. 88–89.
[316] Ib., vol. XV, p. 400; XVI, p. 475; and Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, vol. XXX, p. 718.
[317] Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, vol. XVI.
[318] Mädler, Geschichte der Himmelskunde.
[319] Ferdinand von Richthofen, China, Berlin, 1877.
[320] China, vol. I, pp. 650–692.—See Dahlmann, l. c., pp. 35–37.—Huonder, Deutsche Jesuiten-Missionäre des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts (Herder, 1899), pp. 86–89.
[321] Chapter IV, pp. 127–129.
[322] Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. I, pp. 262–263. On the works of Father Clavigero on Mexico see Ib., p. 158.
[323] History of Pedagogy, p. 144.
[324] Ideler, Handbuch der Chronologie, vol. II, pp. 602–604. See Weiss, Weltgeschichte (2nd ed.), vol. V,II, pp. 544–552.
[325] It is a rather curious fact that some have blamed the Jesuit Superiors for allowing the publication of several of Father Hardouin’s works, curious I say, because it is said again and again that the severe censorship of the Order suppresses all original and independent works of its subjects. “Do what you may, we shall find fault with you,” seems to be the principle guiding some critics of the Order.
[326] Quoted by De Badts de Cugnac, Les Jésuites et l’éducation, p. 34.
[327] See Baumgartner, Geschichte der Weltliteratur, vol. IV, pp. 642–644.
[328] Of Herder’s works, the whole twelfth volume (Cotta, 1829), “Terpsichore”, is devoted to Balde.
[329] The extensive literature on Balde’s works is given by Baumgartner, l. c., p. 645. A most flattering estimate of this Jesuit is to be found in Herzog’s Real-Encyclopädie für protestantische Theologie, vol. II. (3. edition, 1897), article “Balde”, by List, where it is said that “one always likes to return to the perusal of the lyrics of this God-inspired man.”
[330] Saintsbury, A History of Elizabethan Literature, London, 1887, pp. 119–120.
[331] Compayré asserts: “The Jesuits have never written anything on the principles and objects of education. We must not demand of them an exposition of general views or a confession of their educational faith.” L. c., p. 142. Voltaire called Jouvancy’s Method of Learning and Teaching the best work written since Quintilian’s famous Institutes.—Sacchini, Jouvancy and Kropf were published again in 1896, as vol. X of Herder’s Bibliothek der katholischen Pädagogik; selections from the works of Perpinian, Bonifacio and Possevin in 1901 as vol. XI.
[332] Quick, Educational Reformers, p. 40. That also in the nineteenth century the Jesuits were able to write good text-books may be seen from a statement of Thomas Arnold, son of Dr. Arnold of Rugby. During his sojourn in New Zealand, he used to borrow books from Frederick Weld, a Jesuit pupil of Fribourg (afterwards Governor of Western Australia.) “One of his text-books,” says Arnold, “which he had brought with him from Fribourg, was a history of philosophy by the Jesuit professor Freudenfelt [the name is Freudenfeld, died at Stonyhurst 1850]. This book seemed to me more genially and lucidly written than similar works that had been put in my hands at Oxford.” Passages in a Wandering Life, London, 1900, p. 99.
[333] See Professor Dr. Lotholz, Pädagogik, der Neuzeit, 1897, p. 323.
[334] On this subject see Baumgartner, Geschichte der Weltliteratur, vol. IV, pp. 623–637.
[335] Paulsen, Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts, vol. I, p. 358.
[336] Jouvancy, l. c., ch. II, art. II, §3, §6.—Masen, Palaestra Eloquentiae Ligatae Dramatica, Cologne, 1664.—Lang, Dissertatio de Actione Scenica etc., Munich, 1727.
[337] That is, “the subject should be pious and edifying”, as the 13th Rule of the Rector has it.
[338] Duhr, pp. 136 foll.—In France many dramas were given in French since 1679. Rochemonteix, l. c., vol. III, p. 189.—The report of 1832 says dramas should be in the vernacular. Pachtler, op. cit., vol. IV, p. 479.
[339] History of Pedagogy, vol. I, p. 272. (Janssen’s History of the German People, vol. VII, p. 108.)
[340] Ibid., p. 113 sq.
[341] Ibid., p. 117.
[342] Janssen, vol. VII, pp. 120–121.
[343] Titles and programmes of dramas in French colleges by Rochemonteix, l. c., vol. III, pp. 189–195 and 215–353. The names of the best Jesuit dramatists are given by Baumgartner, l. c., vol. IV, pp. 627–637.—Janssen, l. c., pp. 130–134.
[344] Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts, vol. I, p. 418.
[345] Rochemonteix, l. c., pp. 96–99.
[346] Janssen, vol. VII, pp. 128–129.
[347] K. Trautmann, Ober-Ammergau und sein Passionsspiel (1890). “This play is an offshoot of the Munich Jesuit drama”, p. 47.
[348] Janssen, vol. VII, p. 133.
[349] Janssen, vol. VII, p. 125.
[350] Quoted by Janssen, vol. VII, pp. 120–121.
[351] Janssen, vol. VII, p. 133.
[352] Goethe writes: “This public performance has convinced me anew of the cleverness of the Jesuits. They rejected nothing that could be of any conceivable service to them, and knew how to wield their instruments with devotion and dexterity. This is not cleverness of the merely abstract order: it is a real fruition of the thing itself, an absorbing interest, which springs from the practical use of life. Just as this great spiritual society has its organ builders, its sculptors, and its gilders, so there seem to be some who, by nature and inclination, take to the drama; and as their churches are distinguished by a pleasing pomp, so these prudent men have seized on the sensibility of the world by a decent theatre.” Italienische Reise (Goethe’s Werke, Cotta’s edition, 1840, vol. XXIII, pp. 3–4).
[353] Many more are commemorated by Crétineau-Joly, l. c., vol. IV, ch. III.
[354] See particularly the series of articles by the Rev. Sydney Smith, in the Month (London), 1902.
[355] Letter of August 4, 1773, in the Royal Archives at Munich.
[356] Geschichte des Pontificats Clemens XIV., vol. I, p. 3.
[357] So Körner in his History of Pedagogy.—See also the Open Court, Chicago, January 1902, p. 21 foll.
[358] Alzog, Church History, vol. III, p. 566.
[359] Ibid., p. 570.
[360] Schoell, Cours d’histoire des États européens, vol. XXXXIV, p. 83.
[361] See documents given by Zalenski, Les Jésuites de la Russie-Blanche, vol. I, livre II, ch. IV, “Frédéric II. et les Jésuites.” Frederick strictly forbade the Bishops of his kingdom to promulgate the Papal Brief of suppression.
[362] Maynard, The Study and Teaching of the Society of Jesus, p. 246.
[363] Lettre à Voltaire, 7. Juillet, 1770. Oeuvres de Voltaire, tom. XII.
[364] See Zalenski, l. c., pp. 239–429.
[365] Maynard, l. c., p. 240.
[366] History of the Pontificate of Clement XIV.
[367] Most flattering testimonies as to the educational success of the Jesuits in Russia and Galicia, at the time of the suppression, are given by Zalenski, Les Jésuites de la Russie Blanche, Paris 1886.
[368] Bibliogr. Astron., 1792, p. 722; see Maynard, p. 205.—For many decades it was suspected that Father Hell had tampered with the figures of his observations after others had been published, so as to make his square with the rest. In the Atlantic Monthly, Nov. 1900, Professor Simon Newcomb, of the Washington Naval Observatory, completely exonerates Father Hell from this malicious charge. The distinguished American Astronomer, who professes in his article a personal affection for the Jesuit scientist, has examined the manuscripts of Father Hell, in Vienna, and found that the accusation was groundless, and based on the assertion of a man whose sight was defective. Professor Newcomb further affirms that Father Hell’s observations gave figures somewhat different from those of other astronomers, but that recent discoveries have proved the Jesuit’s observations to have been the more correct ones.
[369] Histoire des Mathématiques, par J. F. Montucla, tome IV, achevé et publié par Jérôme de la Lande, Paris, 1802, pp. 347 foll.
[370] Bibliotheca Mathematica, Zeitschrift für Geschichte der mathematischen Wissenschaften, 3. Folge, 3. Band, 2. Heft, 1902 (Leipzig, Teubner), pp. 208–225.
[371] De Badts de Cugnac, Les Jésuites et l’éducation, p. 11.
[372] Jourdain, Histoire de l’Université de Paris, vol. II, pp. 298–300.
[373] Abbé Maynard, l. c., p. 237.
[374] Pensées de Leibnitz, p. 429. (Maynard, l. c., p. 238.)
[375] Maynard, l. c., p. 242.
[376] Notes of Conversations with the Duke of Wellington, by the Earl of Stanhope, London, Murray, 1888, p. 42.
[377] Historisches Jahrbuch, Munich 1885, vol. VI, p. 420.
[378] Encyclopedia Britannica, article “Education”.
[379] Quoted in the Annales Philosophiques, Morales, et Littéraires, by M. de Boulogne, vol. I, p. 221.
[380] The London Tablet, Dec. 7, 1901, p. 884.