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JESUITS 629 does not lead himself, and promising certain victory with a fellowship in glory after a fel- lowship in toil and danger. The offer to fol- low Christ, not as the crowd may, hut in the foremost ranks of those who shall wear his livery and share his poverty and privations, lays the foundation of what Ignatius conceives to be the apostolic virtues. These dispositions are fostered and continually increased by the meditations which follow on the incarnation, the nativity, the flight into Egypt, the private life of Christ at Nazareth, and the labors of his public career. In the midst of these medi- tations come the exercises known as the " three degrees of humility " and the " three classes of men," the whole drift of which is to raise the spiritual enthusiasm or generosity of the soul to the point of resolving to leave all to follow Christ in shame and suffering, and be content only when it has embraced what is most repugnant to flesh and blood and the judgment of the world. This resolution is still further intensified and confirmed by the meditations on Christ crucified which occupy the third week ; and the meditations on the resurrection and the life of Christ with his apostles and disciples until his ascension are destined to set forth a perfect model of the sweetness to be enjoyed in Christ's company, in such a society as Ignatius contemplated. The society spread with unparalleled rapidity, so that it was said to have had no period of youth. At the death of Ignatius there were 1,000 members in 12 provinces ; soon after the death of Acquaviva, in 1615, 13,000 members in 32 provinces; in 1749, 24 professed houses, 669 colleges, 176 seminaries, 61 novitiates, 335 residences, 273 missions in Protestant and pa- gan countries, and' about 22,600 members. In Portugal it was introduced as early as 1540 by St. Francis Xavier and Eodriguez, who found a zealous patron in King John III. Rodriguez established a college at Coimbra, which in 1544 counted 60 members. A considerable num- ber of young noblemen prayed for admission, and thus the order soon became influential. King John . appointed at the same time two Jesuits to be judges of the inquisition, but Ig- natius forbade them to accept the office. " For," said he, " the society has for its mis- sion the assistance of our neighbor by preach- ing and the duties of the confessional; more- over, it were undesirable that its members had po^er to punish heretics with death. On the contrary, their duty is to console with priestly kindness these unfortunate men." In Spain the Jesuits had at first to overcome the opposition of several bishops, but the patron- age of Francis Borgia, at that time governor of Barcelona, soon procured for them a favorable reception and a number of houses and colleges, and at the university of Salamanca they receiv- ed some of the theological chairs. In France, where they likewise appeared as early as 1540, they met with a very decided resistance on the part of the parliament, the university of Paris, and many bishops. They could not secure a legal existence until 1562, when they were recognized as " fathers of the college of Cler- mont." The parliament at first refused to register the royal patent, but had at length to yield to the order of the king. They were un- able, however, to overcome the opposition of the parliament and the Sorbonne. When Ch&- tel, who had studied in one of their colleges, made an attempt against the life of Henry IV., they were expelled from France by a decree of the parliament in 1594, and Pere Guignard, who was accused of having approved the attempt of assassination, was put to death. Henry IV. himself recalled them in 1603, and from that year they remained in the undisturbed posses- sion of their property. They enjoyed the con- fidence of Louis XIII., Cardinal Eichelieu, and Louis XIV., and were the principal combatants against the doctrines of the Jansenists. Their colleges were very numerous, and among their pupils were Descartes, Bossuet, Corneille, Vol- taire, and the astronomer Lalande. Two Jesuits were sent to Ireland as papal nuncios in the reign of Henry VIII. Elizabeth expelled them from her dominions, and forbade them upon penalty of death to return. We find them, nevertheless, again as missionaries in the reign of James I., and after the discovery of the gun- powder plot (1605) Father Garnet, to whom the plot had been communicated by his subor- dinate in an "account of conscience," was put to death. In 1678 Titus Gates charged them with having entered into a conspiracy against Charles II. and the state, in consequence of which six Jesuits were put to death. In spite of several decrees against the public exercise of the Roman Catholic religion in England in general and the residence of Jesuits in particu- lar, the society maintained itself there, although it never became very numerous. The Jesuits first appeared in Germany about 1549, at the instance of Duke William of Bavaria and of Ferdinand I. of Austria; Salmeron and Peter Canisius being appointed professors of theology in the university of Ingolstadt, and others at Prague. The society received chairs in the col- leges at Cologne (1556), Munich (1559), Treves (1561), Augsburg (1563), and several other places. In Italy they spread more rapidly and more extensively than in any other country. They were banished from Venice in 1606, and the popes did not succeed until 1657 in causing their restoration. One of the wars between France and Charles V., during which all Span- iards were ordered to leave France, brought some Jesuits to the Netherlands soon after the foundation of the society. They gained a firm footing under Philip II., although the bishops showed them less favor than in other countries. In Transylvania they were favored by Prince Christopher Bathori and his son and succes- sor Sigismund^ but the assembly of the states compelled the latter prince in 1588 to sign a decree of banishment. They became very numerous in Poland, which they divided be-