632 JESUITS was estimated at about 9,000. Attempts to restoru the order under other names were made in 1704, when the ex- Jesuits De Broglie and De Tournely founded the " Society of the Sacred Heart," and in 1798, when Paccanari founded the " Society of the Faith of Jesus," known aspires de lafoi. This latter organiza- tion, in spite of the defection of its founder, maintained its existence, and its members form- ed the nucleus of the restored society in France. The prospects of restoration dawned with the pontificate of Pius VII. (1800). Solicited by Ferdinand IV., he authorized in 1804 the in- troduction of the order into the kingdom of the Two Sicilies ; and on Aug. 7, 1814, he is- sued the bull of restoration. The vicar general of Russia, Brzozowski, was recognized in Rome as general. At his death an attempt was made to have the constitutions changed in such a way as to suit the altered circumstances of societ}'. At the head of the influential per- sons who originated and actively favored this scheme was Cardinal della Genga, soon to be Pope Leo XII. The vicar general appointed to govern the order during the interim was drawn into the scheme, and despatched couriers with sealed orders to the electors already on their way to Rome, commanding them to pro- ceed no further on their journey. The assis- tant of France, De Rozaven, in the name of his colleagues, issued a counter order, enjoining on the deputies to hasten to Rome. Not one failed to be there on the appointed day, and the first act of the congregation was to decree the expulsion of the vicar general and his associates in the order, among whom was the celebrated Padre Ventura, afterward the un- compromising opponent of the Jesuits. Aloisio Fortis was elected general, Oct. 18, 1822, and took up his residence at the Gesu in Rome. Cardinal della Genga succeeded Pius VII. Sept. 28, 1823, and his election filled the Jesuits with alarm ; but the new pope on his way to St. John Lateran descended from his chair of state in front of the Gesu, to bless the general and his household. In 1824 the Jesuits received the direction of the Roman college, and in 1836, under Gregory XVI., of the college of the prop- aganda. As no Jesuits were allowed to oc- cupy chairs in the latter, and the teaching was principally intrusted to their theological op- ponents, their connection with it became a source of such serious annoyance, that Pius IX. in 1850, at the petition of Father Roothaan, relieved them from this charge. In Modena, Sardinia, and Naples they were restored in 1815, and reinstated in the possession of a part or the whole of the former property of the order, and several new houses were established. They returned to Lombardy in 1837, to Parma and Venice in 1844, and to Tuscany (for a short time) in 1846. The revolution of 1848 endan- gered their existence in all Italy ; mobs attack- ed their houses in Genoa and Naples, and they were expelled from nearly every state, even from the dominions of the pope. The general found for some time a refuge in England. They returned after the success of the counter revolution in 1849 to most states, except Sar- dinia and Tuscany, but were again expelled by the movements of 1859 from Lombardy, Parma, Modena, and the legations. In Naples the principal organ of the Jesuits, the Cimlta Cattolica of Rome, was prohibited in 1855 for having censured the government; but in 1858 they received from the latter new marks of confidence. In 1860 the progress of Garibaldi in Sicily and the Neapolitan provinces was at- tended by the expulsion of the Jesuits and the sequestration of their property. The establish- ment of the kingdom of Italy was the signal for the final suppression of the order in the peninsula. Pius IX., who was thought not to favor them in the beginning of his pon- tificate, gave them many proofs of special affection after his return from Gaeta. As province after province was taken from him, the Jesuits were driven from their houses. When Rome became the capital of Italy in 1870, the Italian parliament decreed the sup- pression of all religious orders and corpora- tions. The houses destined as residences for the heads of these orders and their officers were at first reserved from the general decree ; but in October, 1873, despite the efforts of the Italian ministry, these central residences were suppressed by the legislature, and no Jesuit at present legally exists in Rome or elsewhere in Italy. In Portugal, John VI. protested against their restoration ; Dom Miguel admitted them by a decree of 1829, but Dom Pedro exiled them in 1834, since which time there have been no recognized communities of Jesuits in that country. In Spain, Ferdinand VII., after his restoration in 1814, put them in possession of all their former rights and property. They were banished again during the revolution of 1820, but restored with Ferdinand in 1823. In 1834 the ravages of the cholera were attributed to the poisoning of the wells by the Jesuits. The populace in consequence broke into the professed house and massacred the inmates. In 1835 Queen Christina was compelled to sup- press the order, and in 1840 its last house, at Loyola in Guipuzcoa, was dissolved by order of the provincial regency; but in 1844 they succeeded in establishing themselves again in the Spanish dominions. They were once more banished by Espartero in 1854, but were re- called by O'Donnell in 1858, at the instance of the emperor and empress of the French. They were intrusted with several colleges and seminaries, among others the university of Salamanca, and with important missions at Fernando Po and the Philippine islands ; and a wider scope was allowed to their labors in Cuba and Porto Rico. Their numbers increased with astonishing rapidity, many novices from Portugal hastening to join them. But after the revolution of 1868 they were once more banished from Spain, and allowed only a pre- carious existence in her colonies. In France,
Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/652
This page needs to be proofread.