[1] History of the Council of Trent, by Fra Paolo Sarpi, tome i. p. 9.
[2] Helyot, Histoire des Ordres Monastiques, Religieux et Militaires, tome vii. p. 452. When we have modern Catholic authors who quote from Sacchinus Orlandinus, &c., we shall quote them, as books more easily to be had.
[3] Helyot, Hist. des Ord. Mon., Rel. et Mil., tome vii. p. 456.
[4] Ibid. p. 459.
[5] By the term “Spiritual Exercises,” Catholics understand that course of solitary prayer and religious meditation, generally extending over many days, which candidates for holy orders have to perform in the seclusion of a convent previous to being consecrated. Again, when a priest incurs the displeasure of his superior, he is sent as a sort of prisoner to some convent, there to perform certain prescribed “spiritual exercises,” which in this case may last from one to three weeks.
[6] The Italics here are our own.
[7] The Italics here are our own.
[8] Stephens.
[9] See the Shorter Catechism, Qu. 1.
[10] Hel. Hist. des Ord. Mon., Rel. et Mil. tome vii. p. 461.
[11] Hel. Hist. des Ord. Mon., Rel. et Mil. tome vii. p. 463.
[12] Ibid. tome vii. p. 464.
[13] Once for all, I promise my readers that I am not going to trouble them with the narrative of all the miraculous legends related concerning Loyola. They are in most instances so absurd as to be beneath the dignity of history. Let the two following suffice as specimens. It is said that the devil, determined to prevent his learning Latin, so confused his intellect that he found it impossible to remember the conjugation of the verb amo; whereupon he scourged himself unmercifully every day, until by that means the evil spirit was overcome, after which the saint was soon able to repeat amo in all its tenses. Again, when Ignatius was in Venice on his way to the Holy Land, it is said that a wealthy senator of that city, Travisini by name, whilst luxuriously reclining on his bed of down, was informed by an angel that the servant of God was lying upon the hard stones under the portico of his palace. Whereupon the senator immediately arose, and went to the door, where he found Ignatius.
[14] Negroni expounds the word societas “quasi dicas cohortem aut centuriam quæ ad pugnam cum hostibus spiritualibus conserendam conscripta est.”
[15] Hel. Hist. des Ord. Mon., Rel. et Mil. tome vii. p. 469.
[16] Fra Paolo Sarpi, History of the Council of Trent, p. 118.
[17] These famous Constitutions were composed by Loyola in the Spanish language. They were not at first the perfect system we now find them; and it was not till about the year 1552 that, after many alterations and improvements adapting them to the necessities of the times, they assumed their ultimate form. They were translated into Latin by the Jesuit Polancus, and printed in the college of the Society at Rome in 1558. They were jealously kept secret, the greater part of the Jesuits themselves knowing only extracts from them. They were never produced to the light until 1761, when they were published by order of the French parliament, in the famous process of Father Lavallette.
[18] We beg to explain the sense in which we use the word Catholic. We don’t mean that the Christians of the Roman persuasion have an exclusive right to it. We only maintain to them the current denomination, as all other historians do, to prevent confusion.
[19] History of the Council of Trent, by Paolo Sarpi, tome i. p. 47.
[20] Const. Socie. Jesu, pars i. cap i. § 3.
[21] Const. pars i. cap. ii. § 1.
[22] Const. pars i. cap. iv. § 6.
[23] Const. pars iii. cap. i. § 12.
[24] Const. pars iv. cap. x. § 5.
[25] Const. pars iii. cap. i. § 23.
[26] Const. pars vi. cap. i. § 1.
[27] Const. pars vi. cap. v. § 1.
[28] Examen, iv. § 11; and Const. pars iii. cap. i. § 7-9.
[29] After his entrance into the house of first probation, the Jesuit is not allowed either to receive or send away any letter which has not been previously read by his superior.
[30] Const. pars iii. cap. i. § 2, 3.
[31] Let not any English reader accuse me of inaccuracy on this point, upon the ground that Jesuits actually walk about the streets in this country singly, or even in disguise. They must take notice that every rule of the Constitution contains this clause—“Except the General order otherwise, for the greater glory of God, and the benefit of the Society.” Is it not “for the greater glory of God, and the benefit of the Society,” that the Jesuit, to escape suspicion, should go alone?—that he should be introduced into your family circle as a Protestant gentleman?—that he should, to gain your unsuspecting confidence, enact the part of your gay companion at theatres, concerts, and balls?—that he should converse with you upon religious matters, beginning always by cursing the Pope, &c.?
[32] Const. pars iii. cap. i, § 18.
[33] Const. pars i. cap. ii. § 13.
[34] Ibid. pars i. cap. iii. § 3-16.
[35] Const. pars v. cap. ii. § 7, 8.
[36] Ibid. pars iv. cap. xvi. § 3.
[37] Const. pars iv. cap. i. § 1, 6.
[38] Const. pars ii. cap. iii. § 5, 6, 8.
[39] In most monasteries, and more particularly in those of the Capuchins and Reformed (Riformati), there begins at Christmas a series of feasts, which continues till Lent. All sorts of games are played, the most splendid banquets are given, and in the small towns, above all, the refectory of the convent is the best place of amusement for the greater number of the inhabitants. At carnivals, two or three very magnificent entertainments take place, the board so profusely spread that one might imagine that Copia had here poured forth the whole contents of her horn. It must be remembered that these two orders live by alms. The sombre silence of the cloister is replaced by a confused sound of merrymaking, and its gloomy vaults now echo with other songs than those of the Psalmist. A ball enlivens and terminates the feast; and, to render it still more animated, and perhaps to shew how completely their vow of chastity has eradicated all their carnal appetite, some of the young monks appear coquettishly dressed in the garb of the fair sex, and begin the dance along with others transformed into gay cavaliers. To describe the scandalous scene which ensues would be but to disgust my readers. I will only say that I have myself often been a spectator at such saturnalia.
[40] A Vincenzo Gioberti Fra Pellico della Compagnia di Gesù, pp. 35, 36.
[41] Examen, iv. § 10-15.
[42] Examen, iv. § 17.
[43] Const. Pars v. cap. iv. § 4.
[44] Const. Pars v. cap. iv. § 2.
[45] Const. Pars ix. cap. iii. § 9.
[46] Const. Pars v. cap. iii. § 2-4.
[47] Const. Pars ix. cap. v. § 5.
[48] See my History of the Pontificate of Pius IX., p. 3.
[49] Const. Pars viii. cap. vi. § 6.
[50] Const. Pars ix. cap. iv. § 7.
[51] Const. Pars ix. cap. iii. § 14-19.
[52] Maffei, Vita Ign. p. 90.
[53] Maffei, Vita Ign. p. 90.
[54] Bromato Vita di Paolo IV. lib. vii. § 3.
[55] Ranke’s Hist. of the Popes, vol. i. p. 189. English translation.
[56] Crétineau, vol. i. p. 134.
[57] Orland. lib. iii. 48; Crét. vol. i. p. 134.
[58] Crét. vol. i. p. 136.
[59] Cumulatam peccatorum indulgentiam tribuebant.—Orland. lib. iii. sec. 59.
[60] Exceptiones immunitatesque, aut plane gratuitas aut ære permodico tenuoribus indugebant, &c.—Ibid. and Crét. vol. i. p. 140.
[61] Steinmetz, vol. i. p. 308.
[62] Orl. lib. iii. 60; Crét. vol. i. p. 141.
[63] Helyot, vol. vii. p. 491.
[64] Helyot, vol. vii. p. 491.
[65] Const. pars vi. cap. iii. § 7. To be a nun’s confessor was, and is still, deemed a high privilege. Before the Council of Trent, this privilege belonged to the order of St Francis, under whose rules most of the nuns also live. The conduct of these brothers and sisters was in the highest degree improper and scandalous. Although the Franciscans are now no longer the titular confessors of these nuns, nevertheless they are on the most friendly terms with one another; upon which friendships the Italians exercise their satirical and sarcastic wit. The confessors are now chosen by the respective bishops, who confer the honour upon their most faithful adherents, as a reward for their services. The rivalries of those sainted women, and their ingenious contrivances to engage the smile of their holy father, are notorious to every one who lives near a convent.
[66] Helyot, vol. iii. p. 492.
[67] Orl. lib. viii. § 6.
[68] Crét. vol. i. p. 284.
[69] Orlan. lib. viii. p. 43.
[70] Crét. vol. i. p. 285.
[71] Crét. vol. i. p. 290.
[72] Orland. lib. viii. 10.
[73] Crét. vol. i. p. 299.
[74] Ibid. p. 292. As this author generally quotes Orlandini and the other Jesuitical writers verbatim, we shall refer our readers to him, as it can much more easily be procured, and we shall only quote from the original when the translation is inaccurate.
[75] Crét. vol. i. p. 305.
[76] Ibid. p. 299.
[77] Crét. vol. i. p. 290.
[78] Our readers must not take the word parliament in the same signification it has in England. The parliament of France was composed of a body of magistrates, and formed the Supreme Court of Judicature, in which the princes of the blood had a seat; and which was sometimes presided over by the king. Every province had its parliament, but none exercised the same influence with that of Paris.
[79] Crét. vol. i. p. 320.
[80] This Postel was a rabbin converted to Catholicism. He was very learned, a graduate of the university, and held in high estimation by Francis I. and all his court. In 1545 he went to Rome to enter the Society of Gesù. This acquisition gave great joy to the Jesuits. Postel was very kindly received, and much flattered. He then went through the Spiritual Exercises; but this strange course of devotion affected his fervid imagination so much, that his faculties became impaired. He began to propound strange doctrines—to propose new rules for the Society; and, above all, would by no means obey the orders of Ignatius. Loyola having no longer any hold upon him, dismissed him, for which act of firmness Loyola’s panegyrist extols him to the skies.
[81] Crétineau, vol. i. p 334.
[82] Maffei, Ignat. Vita, p. 110.
[83] Idem, p. 109.
[84] Orland. lib. xiv. § 96, 97.
[85] The Litteræ Annuæ Societatis Jesu, from 1606 to 1614, fill eight volumes in 8vo; the Lettres Edifiantes, twenty-one volumes in 8vo, and so on.
[86] Bart. Vita Ign.
[87] Bart. Asia, p. 31.
[88] For nearly two centuries, miracles and saints rarely occurred. It seems as if they were in a state of embryo, slumbering until an opportune season for their appearance should arrive. After the Reformation, however, it was deemed expedient that some new miracles and saints should come forth to prove the truth and the superiority of the Roman Catholic religion over the Protestant, which cannot boast of such testimonials. It was then that the images of the Virgin Mary again began to speak, laugh, weep—that the hair of the images on the crucifix grew—that they shed blood from their wooden sides—that the relics of saints acted as a charm to keep away diseases and misfortunes—and that new saints sprang into existence like mushrooms.
[89] Ranke’s Hist. of the Popes, vol. ii. p. 231. English translation.
[90] Juvencius’ Hist. Soc. Jesu, pars v. tom. ii. lib. xviii.
[91] Lettres Edifiantes, tom. x. p. 324.
[92] Feringee was the name given by the Hindoos to the Portuguese.
[93] Lettres Edif. tom. xxi. p. 77.
[94] Idem, tom. x. pp. 243-245.
[95] Lettres Edifiantes, tom. xii. p. 107.
[96] Tom. xiii. p. 54.
[97] Tom. xiv. pp. 185, 186.
[98] Letters on the State of Christianity in India, p. 74. London, 1823.
[99] The Taly bears the image of the god Pollyar, supposed to preside over nuptial ceremonies. This most indecent idol was attached to a cord of 108 threads, and worn round their necks by the women ever after their marriage, as a wedding-ring.
[100] Crét. vol. v. p. 47. The italics are our own.
[101] The ashes of the cows’ dung are consecrated to the goddess Lakshini, and are supposed to cleanse from sin anybody to whom they are applied. The missionaries laid these ashes upon the altar near the crucifix (horrid to relate!) or the image of the Virgin, then consecrated and distributed them in the shape of little balls among their converts. This strange sort of Christians invoked a pagan divinity as often as they applied the dung to the body. Thus, when they rub it on the head or forehead, they say, Neruchigurm netchada Shiven—that is, may the god Shiva be within my head; when they rub it on the breast, they say, Manu Rudren—that is, may the god Rudren be in my breast; and so on.—See Mémoires Historiques, tom. iii. pp. 29, 30. Lucca, 1745.
[102] Crét. vol. v. p. 47.
[103] Crét. vol. v. p. 50.
[104] Father Norbert was a Capuchin missionary in India, who presented to Pope Benedict XIV. a book entitled, Mémoires Historiques sur les Missions des Indes Orientales. The work is illustrated with authentic documents. It was published with the approbation of all the ecclesiastical authorities, and never contradicted. Still, we will not quote Father Norbert as a proper authority, unless what he relates can be corroborated by other proofs.
[105] Mém. Hist. tom. prim. p. 142.
[106] The decree of the Inquisition of 1706, and his own of 1707, approving and confirming De Tournon’s decree.
[107] Ranke’s Hist. of the Popes, vol. ii. p. 230. Eng. trans.
[108] Ibid.
[109] Maigrot. We do not in the least wish to diminish the merit and the good intention of these two prelates. We even believe that M. de Tournon was an excellent man. We only wish to observe that both he and Maigrot were Frenchmen; that very many of the French prelates always evinced great enmity towards the Jesuits, and that this, perhaps, had some influence in stimulating their zeal for the purity of the Christian religion.
[110] “I, N., of the order N., or Society of Jesus, sent, designated as a missionary, to the kingdom or province of N. in the East Indies, by the Apostolic See, by my superiors, according to the powers granted to them by the Apostolic See, obeying the precept of our Holy Lord Pope Clement XII., in his Apostolic Letter, issued in the form of a brief, on the 13th day of May 1739, enjoining all the missionaries in the said missions to take an oath that they will faithfully observe the apostolic determination concerning the Malabar rites, according to the tenor of the Apostolic Letter in the form of a brief of the same our Holy Lord, dated 24th August 1734, and beginning Compertum deploratumque, well known to me by my reading the whole of that brief, promise that I will obey fully and faithfully, that I will observe it exactly, entirely, absolutely, and inviolably, and that I will fulfil it without any tergiversation; moreover, that I will instruct the Christians committed to my charge according to the tenor of the said brief, as well in my preaching as in my private ministrations, and especially the catechumens before they shall be baptized; and unless they promise that they will observe the said brief, with its determinations and prohibitions, that I will not baptize them; further, that I shall take care, with all possible zeal and diligence, that the ceremonies of the heathen be abolished, and these rites practised and retained by the Christians which the Catholic Church had piously decreed. But if at any time (which may God forbid!) I should oppose (that brief), either in whole or in part, so often do I declare and acknowledge myself subject to the penalties imposed by our Holy Lord, whether in the decree or in the Apostolic Letter, as above, concerning the taking of this oath, in like manner well known to me by reading the whole thereof. Thus, touching the Holy Gospels, I promise, vow, and swear, so may God help me, and these God’s Holy Gospels! Signed with my own hand—N.”
[111] I choose to speak of the procession held in this town, because I have there witnessed it myself.
[112] Ranke’s Hist. of the Popes, vol. i. p. 217. (Eng. trans.)
[113] The passage of Sacchini is most instructive upon this point. “Lainez,” says he, “did not write a single word on the matter; on the contrary, Bobadilla and Gorgodanuz did nothing else than issue pamphlet upon pamphlet, but it always happened by the Divine will (Divino tamen consilio fiebat), that their writings fell into the Vicar-General’s hand. Sometimes they (Lainez’s enemies) imprudently dropped the writings in the street, sometimes they negligently left them in their rooms unlocked, at other times they were delivered up to Lainez by the very persons to whom they were addressed.” In other words, Lainez, by the most ignoble proceedings and abject espionage, made himself master of his enemies’ writings; yet the Jesuit historian says “that it happened Divino consilio.” I wonder he does not add, ad majorem Dei gloriam.
[114] Sacch. lib. i. § 86.
[115] The act of making the sign of the cross is very significant. It is still the custom in Italy for the common people to do so on hearing of some great and unwonted crime, or of some extraordinary event.
[116] Crét. vol. i. p. 369.
[117] Crét. vol. i. p. 369.
[118] Paul IV. had hardly expired, when the Romans, highly incensed at the miseries caused by the war, and at the severities of the Inquisition, rose in a body, and with execrations and curses pulled down the statue which had been erected to him in the beginning of his Pontificate, broke into the Inquisition, and destroyed every thing in it.
[119] Crét. vol. i. p. 386.
[120] Sacch. lib. ii. § 131.
[121] I may here repeat what I have already said in one or two of my former publications. When we in 1848 took possession of the Convent of La Minerva, the seat of the Inquisition in Rome, we found among other things a packet of autograph letters, written by the priests of different countries, revealing various confessions to the Inquisitor. And it was a very curious thing that the first letter which fell into the hands of Mr Montecchi, a secretary of State, was from the capuchin of the State Prison, in which he was a prisoner a few years before. These letters, which are now out of our reach, are, however, safe, and will, I hope, be soon published.
[122] The Jesuits, in this circumstance, were again forbidden to leave Spain, or to send any money out of the country.
[123] Sacch. lib. v. § 107-10.
[124] Lainez, among other exploits, attacked with great violence the authority of the bishops, and would have had them to be mere tools in the hands of the Pope. He maintained on another occasion that, “as the slave possesses less authority than his master, in like manner the Council could not undertake a reformation upon the matter, the annates being of Divine right.” Again, “as Jesus Christ has the power to dispense from all sorts of laws, the Pope, his vicar, has the same authority, since the Judge and his Lieutenant have the same tribunal,” and other similar blasphemies. See Fra Paolo Sarpi upon the Congregations, 20th October 1562, and 16th June 1563.
[125] See the whole letter in Crét. vol. i. p. 294.
[126] Ranke, Hist. of the Popes, vol. i. p. 286.
[127] See Crét. vol. ii. pp. 25 and following.
[128] Sacchini in Ranke’s History of the Popes, vol. ii. p. 80.
[129] Sacch. lib. ii. § 134.
[130] It is a remarkable fact that during the reign of the bigoted and persecuting Mary, the Jesuits did not make their appearance in England. Cardinal Pole, to whom they had made several applications to be permitted to establish themselves in Great Britain, always refused his consent. Pole knew Loyola intimately.