THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Jesuit style what was believed to be the actual practise of members, and if it be formally a fabrication, it was written by one who was thoroughly conversant with the society's literature, modes of thought, and practise at that time. There is nothing in the work that is more cynical or immoral than much that is found in acknowledged Jesuit writings. II. History of the Society: The popes from Paul III. to Urban VIII. bestowed one after another almost every imaginable privilege and i. Privi- exemption upon the society, including leges and the performing of religious services Exemp- of all kinds without regard to the tions. rights of the clergy and of other orders and even when an interdict is in force. Nothing seems to have been omitted that would add to their influence and authority (cf. Litterae apostolicae, quibus institutio, confirmatio, et varia privilegia continentur Societatis Jesu, Antwerp, 1635, and often, with later documents, and Compendium privilegiorum et gratiarum Societatis Jesu, Antwerp, 1635). These privileges and exemptions covered nearly all cases ordinarily reserved to the popes and all cases ordinarily reserved to the bishop, ordination, unction, chrism, adjuration, exorcism, confirmation, distribution of indulgences, granting divorces, baptizing bells, making new statutes, dispensing from fasts and prohibited foods for members of the order and others, neglecting canonical hours for worship and masses, and acting as advocates, judges, and guardians in all sorts of cases, criminal, civil, or mixed. Gregory XIII. ordered that all refusing to assist them in work of this kind be excommunicated. He expressly commanded archbishops, bishops, and other clergy to assist the Jesuits laboring within their jurisdiction with their power and resources and never to permit them to be impeded, molested, expelled, or deprived of their possessions. In 1575 he appointed Jesuits as pontifical librarians and charged them with the censorship of books. Armed with such privileges, and with the resources of the whole papal church at their command, it is no wonder that they multiplied in numbers and planted their institutions of learning and their religious houses throughout the world; nor that they became arrogant and oppressive. That they should have incurred the jealousy and hatred of the other religious orders, of the secular clergy, and of the prelates, and that they should have struck terror to the hearts of Protestants in regions exposed to their ravages, might have been expected. A learned Roman Catholic writer (Caspar Scioppius [?] in his Anatomia Societatis Jesu, n.p., 1668) charges them with attempting to establish for themselves a monopoly of things of the greatest necessity and dignity:
" Of grace with God, that nobody may be able to be in God's grace nor to obtain indulgence or absolution of sins save through the Jesuits; of grace with princes and magnates, that no one may be able to obtain honors, offices or wealth from them, save through the Jesuits; of the Catholic faith, that no one may be able from being a pagan to become a Christian or from being a heretic to become a Catholic, save by the work of the Jesuits; of perfection, that no one may be able to be perfect or holy, save through the Jesuits, i.e., unless he be received into their society; of learning, that no one may be able to learn divine and human letters, unless he avail himself of Jesuit masters; of virtue or good morals,
that no one may become well moralized, save through the admonitory examples of the Jesuits; of reputation or good name, that no one may be esteemed good or learned, save by their votes, or at least with the suffrance of the Jesuits " (p. 11; for several other classified and tabulated statements against the society cf. pp. 9-23).
Having approved of the constitution of the society and conferred upon it extensive privileges, Paul III. proceeded at once to employ 2. Early its members in the most difficult and Achieve- responsible undertakings. In fact his ments in eagerness to send his associates on Italy, missions was embarrassing to the Portugal, founder, who feared that such promiand nent service would interfere with the France, maintenance of obedience, humility, and poverty that he thought essential. They soon came into sharp rivalry with the Dominicans, the recognized leaders in philosophy and theology, and formerly the promoters and executive officers of the Inquisition (see Dominic, Saint, and the Dominican Order). In the Council of Trent, especially the later sessions, they were the confidential spokesmen of the papal teaching and policy and took a leading part in the revival and the establishment of the Inquisition wherever it was practicable. In Italy the influence of the society soon became paramount. The Collegium Romanum, endowed with special privileges and most generously supported by the pope and his friends, carried on the educational work of the society with the greatest enthusiasm and success (1550 onward). Side by side with this the Collegium Germanicum was established by Gregory XIII. (1753) for the education of those who were to carry forward the Counter-Reformation in German-speaking countries. It was the policy of the pope and of the Jesuit administration to fill this college with students of noble birth, though it was not found practicable to make the restriction absolute. About the middle of the seventeenth century the nobles were in the majority (cf. documents cited by Reusch in ZKG, xiii. 269- 270, 1892). The king of Portugal invited Francis Xavier (q.v.) and Simon Rodriguez d'Azendo, two of Ignatius' earliest and most zealous associates, to his court and committed himself to the fullest cooperation with the society. Rodriguez became his chief counselor and Xavier went on his great mission to India and China under the king's patronage. The Jesuits were soon in control of the college at Coimbra, and until a reaction occurred in 1578 they virtually ruled the state. In Spain their conquest was less rapid and complete. They were opposed to the policy of conciliation in relation to Protestantism that had been adopted by Charles V The Dominicans, who had gained great prestige in Spain because of their leadership in the drastic measures against Mohammedans and Jews as well as against nascent Protestantism, bitterly opposed the society, partly because of its early manifestation of Pelagian tendencies. Melchior Cano (q.v.) denounced the Jesuits as the forerunners of Antichrist (II Tim. iii. 2). Philip II., though in accord with their uncompromising hostility to Protestantism and influenced to some extent by them, never surrendered himself completely to their domination. The winning of Francis of Borgia (q.v.),