The Jesuits, 1534-1921

The Observatory of Stonyhurst dates back to 1838-39, when a building consisting of an octagonal centerpiece with four abutting structures was erected in the middle of the garden. But it was not until 1845 that a 4-inch Jones equatorial was mounted in its dome. Meteorological observations were begun as early as 1844, and magnetic in 1856 by Father Weld. In 1867 an 8-inch equatorial was set up. The chief workers were Fathers Stephen Perry, Walter Sidgreaves and Aloysius Cortie. All three were members of the Royal Astronomical Society and were frequently chosen to fill official positions. Father Perry achieved special prominence. He was the director from 1860 to 1862, and again from 1868 till his death in 1889. He was a member of more scientific expeditions than any other living astronomer. He was at Cadiz for the solar eclipse in 1870; he was sent as astronomer royal in 1874 for the transit of Venus to Kerguelen or Desolation Island, and for another observation to Madagascar in 1882. In 1886 he observed a total eclipse at Carriacou in the West Indies. For the eclipse of 1887 he was sent to Russia, and for that of 1889 to Cayenne. On the latter expedition he was attacked by a pestilential fever and died on board the warship "Comus" off Georgetown, Demerara, after receiving the last sacraments from a French Abbé resident in Georgetown. Father Perry was buried there in the cathedral cemetery. His death was that of a saint, and a touching account of it has been left by his assistant, a Jesuit lay-brother.

Father Perry's prominence in the scientific world may be judged by the honors bestowed upon him. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society and a member of the Council; also a member and Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and, shortly before he died, he had been proposed as Vice-President. At the time of his death he held the post of President of the Liverpool Astronomical Society. He was a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, a member of the Physical Society of London, and an associate of the Papal Academy of the Nuovi Lincei, the oldest scientific society in Europe. He belonged also to the Societé Géographique of Antwerp, and had received the degree of Doctor of Science honoris causa from the Royal University of Ireland. For several years before his death, he served on the committee of the council on education, as well as on the committee for comparing and reducing magnetic observations, for which work he had been appointed by the British Association for the Advancement of Science, a body of which he was a life-member. In 1887 and 1889 he attended at Paris the meetings of the Astrographic Congress for the photographic charting of the heavens.

In the "Monthly Notices" of the Royal Astronomical Society (L, iv) the following resolution appears on the occasion of his death: "The Council having heard with the deepest regret of the death of the Rev. S. J. Perry while on the Society's expedition to observe the total eclipse at the Salut Islands, desire to put on record their sense of the great loss which astronomy has suffered by the death of so enthusiastic and capable an observer, and to offer to his relations and to his colleagues at Stonyhurst the expression of their sincere sympathy and condolence on this sad event." The list of his scientific papers covers twelve pages of his biography. Father Cortie, his associate in the Stonyhurst Observatory, says of him: "His death was glorious, for he died a victim to his sense of duty and his zeal for science. Truly he may lay claim to the title of 'martyr of science,' and a part of the story of the eclipse of December 22, 1889, will be the account of how Father Perry was carried from a sick bed to take his last observation."

Besides the Observatories in Granada and Oña the Spanish Jesuits have another near Tortosa. The main object of the latter is the study of terrestrial magnetism, seismology, meteorology, study of the sun, etc. It has five separate buildings and a valuable periodical regularly published by the observers.

The Zo-se Observatory near Zikawei in China is in charge of the French Fathers. The Observatory is about 80 feet in length. It has a library of 20,000 volumes with numerous and valuable Chinese manuscripts. They have another station in Madagascar, which is 4,600 feet above sea-level, and consequently higher by 100 metres than the Lick Observatory in California. When the Jesuits were expelled from Madagascar, the Observatory was demolished by the natives who thought it was a fortress. It was rebuilt later at the expense of the French government and the director, Father Colin, was made a corresponding Member of the French Academy. In 1890, 1895, 1898 and 1899 the observers were honored by their home government with purses of considerable value, one being of 6,000 and another of 3,000 francs.

There are other observatories at Calcutta, Rhodesia, Feldkirch, Louvain, Oudenbosch (Holland), Puebla (Mexico), Havana, Woodstock and other Jesuit colleges in the United States; these are attracting notice principally by their seismographical reports. The most conspicuous of all these North American observatories is that of Georgetown which was founded in 1842-43, about the same time as the Naval Observatory. It was built under the direction of Father Curley, whose determination of the longitude of Washington in conjunction with Sir G. B. Airy, the Astronomer Royal of Greenwich, England, was made by observing a series of transits of the moon, and was later shown by the electric telegraph to have been correct to within the tenth of a second. Fathers De Vico, Sestini and Secchi labored at Georgetown. Secchi's "Researches in Electrical Rheometry" was published in 1852 by the Smithsonian Institute. It was his first literary contribution to science. Sestini's drawings of the sun spots were published by the Naval Observatory. In 1889 Father Hagen, then the director, published his "Atlas stellarum variabilium." In 1890 Father Fargis solved the question of "the personal equation" in astronomical observations by his invention of the Photochronograph. It had been attempted by Father Braun in Kalocsa (Hungary) and by Repsola in Königsberg, but both failed. Professors Pickering and Bigelow in the United States had also given it up, but Father Fargis solved the difficulty by a fixed photographic plate and a narrow metal tongue attached to the armature of an electric magnet. It has proved satisfactory in every test.

In Sommervogel's "Bibliothèque" the list of the astronomical works written by Secchi covers nineteen pages quarto, in double columns. He was equally active in physics and meteorology and his large meteorograph described in Ganot's "Physics" merited for him the Grand Prix (100,000 francs) and the Cross of the Legion of Honor at the Paris Universal Exposition in 1867. It was conferred upon him by the hand of the Emperor Napoleon, in the presence of the Emperors of Russia and Austria and the Kings of Prussia and Belgium. The Emperor of Brazil sent him a golden rose as a token of appreciation.

The "Atlas stellarum variabilium" by Father Johann Hagen is according to "Popular Astronomy" (n. 81, p. 50) the most important event in the star world. Ernst Harturg (V. J. S., vol. 35) says: "It will without doubt become in time an indispensable requisite of the library of every observatory just as the Bonn maps have become." Father Hagen has also won distinction in the mathematical world by his "Synopsis der höheren Mathematik," in four volumes quarto.

The seismological department of Georgetown, under Father Francis A. Tondorf, has attained an especial prominence in the United States. Its equipment is of the latest perfection, and its earthquake reports are those most commonly quoted in the daily press of America.

Important in their own sphere are the books "Astronomisches aus Babylon" by Fathers Joseph Epping and Johann Nepomuk Strassmaier, and "Die babylonische Mondrechnung" by Epping. F. K. Ginzel (in V. J. S., vol. 35.) expresses the following opinion of them: "It is well known that the investigations made by the Jesuit Father Epping, in conjunction with the Assyriologist Father Strassmaier, upon many Babylonian astronomical bricks have had as a consequence that the scientific level upon which the history of astronomy had formerly placed the Babylonians must be taken considerably higher. Epping's investigations now receive a very valuable extension through the labor of Father Kugler of Valkenburg, Holland. From the communications received concerning Kugler's work the importance of his book to the history of astronomy may be inferred."

"Die Gravitations-Constante" (Vienna, 1896), by Father Carl Braun of Mariaschein, Bohemia, represents about eight years of patient work, and according to Poynting (Proc. of the Royal Soc. Inst, of Great Britain, XVI, 2) "bears internal evidence of great care and accuracy. He obtained almost exactly the same result as Professor Boys with regard to the earth's mean density. Father Braun carried on his work far from the usual mechanical laboratory facilities and had to make much of the apparatus himself. His patience and persistence command our highest admiration."

With regard to the "Kosmogonie vom Standpunkte christlicher Wissenschaft," by Father Braun, Dr. Foster says: (V. J. S., vol. 25) "this problem, mighty in every aspect, is treated from all points of view with clearness and impressiveness. One could hardly find at this time in any other book all the essential features of a theory of the sun collected together in such a directive manner."

Perhaps the famous phrase of St. Ignatius, Quam sordet tellus quum cælum aspicio, had something to do with the Society's passion for astronomy. "How sordid the earth is when I look at the sky." His sons have been looking at the sky from the beginning not only spiritually but through telescopes, and many of them have become famous as astronomers. This is all the more notable, because star-gazing was only a secondary object with them. They were first of all priests and scientific men afterwards. As early as 1591 Father Perrerin, in his "Divinatio astrologica," denounced astrology as a superstition although his Protestant friend, the great Kepler, did not admit the distinction between it and astronomy. The book of Perrerin's went through five editions. Father de Angelis published in 1604 five volumes entitled "In astrologos conjectores" (Against astrological guessers). As late as 1676, the work was still in demand, for illustrious personages like Rudolph II, Wallenstein, Gustavus Adolphus, Catherine de' Medici and even Luther and Melanchthon with a host of others were continually having their horoscopes taken.

Another eminent worker was Father Riccioli, of whom we read: "If you want to know the ancient follies on this point consult Riccioli." (Littrois in "Wunder des Himmels," 1886, 604.) The implication might be that Riccioli approved of them, but the reverse is the case, for, as Thomas Aquinas furnishes a list of every actual and almost every possible theological and philosophical error, but after each adds videtur quod non, which he follows up by a refutation, so does Riccioli in his Astrology. He was a genius. He became a Jesuit when he was sixteen, and for years never thought of telescopes. He taught poetry, philosophy and theology at Parma and Bologna, and took up astronomy only when his superiors assigned him to that study. Being an Italian, he did not like Copernicus or Kepler. They were from the Protestant North and had refused to accept the Gregorian Calendar. He admitted, indeed, that the Copernican system was the most beautiful, the most simple, the best conceived, but not solid, so he made one of his own, but did not adhere to it tenaciously.

Appreciating the deficiencies of the astronomy of the ancients, he composed the famous "Almagestum novum," which placed the whole science on a new basis. Beginning by the measurement of the earth, he produced, though he made mistakes, the first meteorolog-system. His lunar observations revealed 600 spots on the moon, which is fifty more than had been found by Hevelius. His collaborator, Grimaldi, the greatest mathematician of his age, made the maps. His remarks on libration fill an entire volume, and the writer in the "Biographie universelle" gives him the credit of experimenting on the oscillations of the pendulum before Galileo. His health was always poor, but he worked like a giant. His "Almagestum" consists of 1500 folio pages, and is described as a treasure of astronomical erudition. Lalande quotes from it continually. His "Astronomia reformata" is in two volumes folio, and he has twelve folio volumes on geography and hydrography. Its learning is astounding. Thus, for instance, in the second part of his "Chronologia" there is a list of the principal events from the creation to the year 1688, along with the names of kings, patriarchs, nations, heresies, councils, and great personages, which was really collateral matter.

What the Jesuit astronomers accomplished in China from the time of Ricci down to Hallerstein in 1774 has been continued there to the present day. The first government observatory in Europe was erected in the University of Vienna, then in the hands of the Jesuits. There were others at Vilna, Schwetzingen and Mannheim. Twelve other private ones had been built in the various European colleges of the Society. The establishment of these observatories was providential, for when the Society was suppressed they afforded occupation and support to a great number of dispersed Jesuits, who remained in charge of them during their forty years of homelessness and kept alive the old spirit of the Order in its affection for that particular study. As in the old Society this work is still a matter of private enterprise. As far as we are aware there is only one observatory where a government assists, the Observatory of Manila, in which the employees are salaried by the United States government. The equipment itself, however, was provided by the Jesuits, who reduced their living expenses to the minimum in order to build the house and buy the instruments.

On the other hand, the number of actual Jesuit observatories in the strict sense of the term already rivals that of the old Society. The Roman establishment which had been made famous by Scheiner, Gottignes, Asclepi, Borgondius, Maire and Boscovich was continued during the Suppression by the secular priest Calandrelli. In 1824 Leo XII restored it to the Society, and Father Dumouchel took charge of it with De Vico as an assistant. The latter's reputation was European. He was known as the Comet Chaser, for he had discovered eight of them. The well-known five and a half years periodic comet bears his name. He succeeded Dumouchel as director in 1840, and was holding that office when the Revolution of 1848 drove the Jesuits from Rome. He was received with great enthusiasm in France by Arago, and in England he was offered the directorship of the Observatory of Madras but he preferred to go to Georgetown in the United States. Being called to London on business, he died there on November 15, 1848, at the age of 43. Herschel wrote his obituary in the "Notices of the Astronomical Society."

Secchi had gone with De Vico to Georgetown, but was recalled to Rome in 1849 by Pius IX, and given charge of the observatory. He was born at Reggio in 1818, and, after studying in the Jesuit college there, entered the Society at the age of sixteen. He began as a tutor in physics and continued at that work when he went to Georgetown. Astronomy had as yet not appealed to him, but in Washington he met the famous hydrographer, meteorologist and astronomer, Maury, and a deep affection sprang up between them, and Secchi dedicated one of his books to his American friend. His appointment to the Roman Observatory in 1859 was due to the recommendation of De Vico, and in two years his brilliant success as an observer attracted the attention of the scientific world. He began by a revision of Struve's "Catalogue of Double Stars," which necessitated seven years' strenuous work, and he was able to verify 10,000 of the entries. Meantime he was studying the physical condition of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and the four great moons of Jupiter. In 1852 the moon became the special object of his investigations, and his micrometrical map of the great crater was so exact that the Royal Society of London had numerous photographs made of it. In 1859 he published his great work "Il quadro fisico del sistema solare secondo il piu recenti osservazioni." The study of the sun spots was his favorite task, and his expedition to Spain in 1860 to observe the total eclipse established the fact that the red protuberances around the edge of the eclipsed sun were real features of the sun itself and not optical illuminations or illuminated mountains of the moon. He began the "Sun Records" in Rome, and they are kept up till this day. No other observatory has anything like them. All this, with his inventions, and the study of the spectroscope, heliospectroscope and telespectroscope, besides the mass of scientific results which he arrived at, has put him in the very first rank of astronomers. He was equally conspicuous as a meteorologist and a physicist. When the Piedmontese took Rome, Secchi was offered the rank of senator and the superintendency of all the observatories of Italy if he would leave the Society. Of course he scoffed at the proposal; but his authority in Italy was so great that the invaders did not dare to expel him from his observatory. He died in 1878.

Clerke says of him: "The effective founders of stellar photography were Father Secchi, the eminent Jesuit astronomer of the Collegio Romano, and Dr. Huggins with whom the late Professor Mullen was associated. The work of each was happily made to supplement that of the other. With less perfect appliances, the Roman astronomer sought to render his work extensive rather than precise; whereas, at Upper Tulse Hill, searching accuracy over a narrower gauge was aimed at and attained. To Father Secchi is due the merit of having executed the first spectroscope view of the heavens. Above 4000 stars were all passed in review by him and classified according to the varying qualities of their light. His provisional establishment (1863-7) of four types of stellar spectra has proved a genuine aid to knowledge, through the facilities afforded by it for the arrangement and comparison of rapidly accumulating facts. Moreover it is scarcely doubtful that these spectral distinctions correspond to differences in physical conditions of a marked kind."

"I saw the great man," said one who was in the audience of the splendid hall of the Cancelleria, "when he was giving a course on the solar spectrum. The vast auditorium was crowded with a brilliant throng in which you could see cardinals, archbishops, monsignori and laymen, all representing the highest religious, diplomatic and scientific circles. Though an Italian, Secchi spoke in French that was absolutely perfect. Everyone was enthralled, but what captivated me was the gentleness and even deference with which he spoke to the men who were adjusting the screens. He almost seemed to be their servant and I could not help saying to myself, 'Oh! I love you.' I saw him later in the street. It was in the turbulent days of the Italian occupation. He was walking alone; his head slightly bowed. Suddenly the cry was heard: 'Death to the Jesuits!' and an excited mob was seen rushing towards him. He stood still; grasped the stout stick in his hand, glared at them; and they fled. I never saw anything like it. I loved him before. I adored him now." In brief, Secchi was a great man in the eyes of the world, but he was a greater religious. Indeed it is said that when his superiors told him to apply himself to mathematics he burst into tears. He wanted to be a missionary. He was such, while being at the same time one of the most distinguished men in the scientific world.

The Manila Observatory in the Philippines, strictly speaking, began its meteorological service in 1865, though observations had been made many years previously. In 1881 it was officially approved by the Spanish government and in 1901 by that of the United States. The meteorological importance and efficiency of the Manila Observatory overshadows its astronomical, for the reason that it is situated in the eastern typhoon path. Astronomy, however, is by no means neglected. From 1880 up to the present time it has rendered very valuable services to the world. First, the official time was given to the city of Manila and, after the American occupation, it was extended to all the telegraph stations throughout the islands. Secondly, about one hundred ship chronometers are annually compared and rated at the Observatory free of charge.

In 1894 Father José Algué began to complete the astronomical equipment and erected a new building at the cost of $40,000, equipping it with instruments of the latest and best type. Three years later he was given charge of the whole establishment, and is now rendering immense and indispensable service to the shipping interests of the Far East by his weather predictions. His barocyclonometer is carried on every ship in those waters. In 1900 he was sent to Washington by the United States government to supervise the printing of his immense work entitled "El Archipiélago Filipino," and he gave later to the World's Fair at St. Louis one of its remarkable exhibits, – a relief map covering a great expanse on the ground and representing every island, river, bay, cape, peninsula, volcano, village and city of the Archipelago. Previous to his appointment in Manila Father Algué had worked for several years in the Georgetown Observatory.

In the matter of the theological teaching it will suffice to note that the Collegium Germanicum was given back to the Society in 1829 and entrusted to Father Aloysius Landes as rector. The German government for some time forbade German students to attend its classes, but in 1848 there were 251 on the roster. Since it opened its doors to the present day, it has given to the Church 4 cardinals, 4 archbishops, 11 bishops, 3 coadjutor bishops, 1 vicar Apostolic, besides a number of distinguished professors, canons and priests.

A very notable recognition of the Society in the field of education was given by Pius IX, when he confided to it the government of the college known as the Pium Latinum. The distinguished ecclesiastic who suggested it was the Apostolic prothonotary, José Ignacio Eyzaguirre, a Chilian by birth. The college was founded in 1858 to prepare a body of learned priests for the various countries of South America. In 1908 at its golden jubilee it could show a record not only of distinguished priests but of a cardinal, Joachim Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti, and of 30 bishops, though it began with only 15 students. The house that first sheltered them was extremely small, but the Pope saw to it that they had a larger establishment. While urging the bishops of Latin America to support it liberally – for having been Apostolic delegate in Chili no one knew better than he the urgent necessity of such a school – he himself was lavish in his gifts of money, books, vestments, etc. In 1867 a part of the old Jesuit novitiate was purchased from the Government, and although in 1870 the Jesuits were expelled from Rome those in the Pio Latino were not disturbed. In 1884 a new site was found near the Vatican and on the banks of the Tiber where there is now a splendid college with a capacity of 400 students. In 1905 Cardinal Vives y Tuto published an Apostolic Constitution which gave the title "Pontifical" to the college and confided the education in perpetuum to the Society. This Constitution had been asked for by the Latin American Bishops during the Council, it was promised by Leo XIII, and finally realized by Pius X. When formally handed over to the Jesuits there were 104 alumni present. The trust was accepted in the name of Father General by Father Caterini, provincial of the Roman province.