The Jesuits, 1534-1921

It was fortunate that they had succeeded in putting that volume into print, for that very year the French invaded Belgium and both Premonstratensians and Bollandists were obliged to disperse. Some of the treasures of the library were hidden in the houses of the peasants, and others were hastily piled into wagons and carried to Westphalia, with the only result that could be anticipated – the loss of an immense amount of most valuable material; a certain number of the books were returned to the abbey, and left there in the dust until 1825. As there was no hope, at that time, of the Bollandists ever being able to resume their work, the monks disposed of most of the library treasure at public auction, and, what was not sold, was given to the Holland government and incorporated in the library of the Hague. The manuscripts were transported to Brussels and deposited in the Burgundian Library. They are still there.

In 1836 a hagiographical society in France under the patronage of Guizot and several bishops proposed to take up the work of the Bollandists and an envoy was sent to purchase the documents from the Belgian government. The proposition evoked a patriotic storm in the little country, and a petition was made to the minister of the interior, de Theux, imploring him to lose no time in securing for his native land the honor of completing the work, and to entrust the task to the Jesuit Fathers, who had begun it and carried it on for two centuries. The result was that on January 29, 1837, the provincial of Belgium appointed four Fathers who were to live at St. Michel in Brussels. The government gave them an annual subsidy of six thousand francs, but this was withdrawn in 1868 by the Liberals and never restored, though the Catholics have been in control since 1884.

There are more than one hundred volumes to the credit of the writers up to the present time, sixty-five of which are huge folios. What they contain may be learned from the most competent of all authorities, Charles de Smedt, the Bollandist director, who wrote the most complete and scientific account of the Bollandist collection for the Catholic Encyclopedia. It is sufficient to state that in the opinion of the most distinguished and capable scholars in the field, the work of the later Bollandists is in no wise inferior to the work of their illustrious predecessors of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

In reviewing a recent publication of a Bollandist work, the scholarly "American Historical Review" (July, 1920) has this to say: "It is to be hoped that a more widely diffused knowledge of what the Bollandists have been doing for human learning, historical and literary, may bring American aid to fill the gaps in their resources caused by the devastations of war. It is a pleasure to know that the Princeton University Press intends to issue an English translation of Father Delehaye's admirable book, which gives an account of the labors of the Bollandists from 1638 down to the present day."

It has been said that the Jesuits had a way of keeping their most brilliant members before the public eye while sending their inferior men to the missions to be eaten by the savages. That this is not an accepted opinion in America is evidenced by the publication of what are called the "Jesuit Relations," in seventy-two volumes, by a firm in Cleveland, Ohio, whose members had no affiliation with Catholics or Jesuits, and whose venture involved immense financial risks. "The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents" is the title of the work. The subsidiary title is "Travels and Explorations of Jesuit Missionaries in New France, 1610-1791. The Original French, Latin and Italian Texts, with English Translations and Notes, illustrated by Portraits, Maps and Facsimiles."

The editor is Reuben Gold Thwaites, Secretary of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. In his preface he says: "American historians from Shea and Parkman down have already made liberal use of the 'Relations,' and here and there antiquarians and historical societies have published fragmentary translations. The great body of the 'Relations' and their allied documents however have never been Englished; hence these interesting papers have never been accessible to the majority of historical students. The present edition offers to the public for the first time an English rendering side by side with the original.

"The authors of the journals which form the basis of the 'Relations' were for the most part men of trained intellect, acute observers, and practiced in the art of keeping records of their experiences. They had left the most highly civilized country of their times to plunge at once into the heart of the wilderness and attempt to win to the Christian Faith the fiercest savages known to history. To gain these savages it was first necessary to know them intimately, their speech, their habits, their manner of thought, their strong points and their weak. These first students of American Indian history were not only amply fitted for their task but none have since had better opportunity for its prosecution. They performed a great service to mankind in publishing their annals, which are for historian, geographer and ethnologist our best authorities.

"Many of the 'Relations' were written in Indian camps amid a chaos of distractions. Insects innumerable tormented the journalists; they were immersed in scenes of squalor and degradation, overcome by fatigue and lack of proper sustenance, often suffering from wounds and disease, maltreated in a hundred ways by hosts, who at times, might more properly be called jailers; and not seldom had savage superstition risen to such heights that to be seen making a memorandum was certain to arouse the ferocious enmity of the band. It is not surprising that the composition of these journals is sometimes crude; the wonder is that they could be written at all. Nearly always the style is simple and earnest. Never does the narrator descend to self-glorification or dwell unnecessarily upon the details of his continual martyrdom. He never complains of his lot, but sets forth his experiences in matter of fact phrases.

"From these writings we gain a vivid picture of life in the primeval forests. Not only do these devoted missionaries – never in any field has been witnessed greater personal heroism than theirs – live and breathe before us in these 'Relations,' but we have in them our first competent account of the Red Indian when relatively uncontaminated by contact with Europeans. Few periods of history are so well illuminated as the French régime in North America. This we owe in a large measure to the existence of the Jesuit Relations."

"The existence of these Relations," to use Mr. Thwaites' expression, is due to the scholarly modern Jesuit, Father Félix Martin, the founder and first rector of St. Mary's College at Montreal, who in 1858 induced the Quebec government to reprint the old Cramoisy editions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It was Martin who developed in Gilmary Shea, then a Jesuit scholastic in Montreal, the historical instinct; and gave to Parkman much if not all of the information that made that author famous, in spite of the bigotry or lack of comprehension that sometimes reveals itself in his pages. Martin's first publication consisted of three double columned, closely printed and bulky octavos in French. He never dreamed that the interest in the book would grow until the splendid edition of Thwaites in seventy-two volumes would signify to the scientific world the value of these documents "written in canoes or in the depths of the forests," as Thwaites says, "a decade before the landing of the Plymouth Pilgrims."

While these "Relations" about the Canada missions were being published Father Le Gobien began to issue his "Lettres sur les progrès de la religion de la Chine," which ultimately developed into the well-known "Lettres édifiantes et curieuses" describing missionary enterprises all over the world. During the Suppression they were issued in twenty-six duo-decimo volumes. An Austrian Jesuit began in 1720 to translate some of these letters, entitling his work "Neue Welt Bott." It soon became independent of the "Letters" and appeared in five volumes folio. It is still being published.

A certain number of periodicals are published by the Society, the most important of which are the "Civiltà Cattolica," the "Etudes," the "Stimmen aus Maria-Laach" and the "Razón y Fe."

The "Civiltà" was begun in 1850 by express order of Pius IX. Its first editors were Fathers Curci, Bresciani, Liberatore, Taparelli, Oreglia, Piccirillo, and Pianciani, a staff which would insure the success of any publication. Its articles are of the most serious kind, dealing with questions of theology, philosophy, sociology and literature. Its first issue of 4,200 copies appeared at Naples; later it was published at Rome. In 1870 the staff was transferred to Naples, but returned in 1887 to Rome. It is published every fortnight, and at present has a circulation of over 12,000 copies. It is under the direct control of the Pope, and unlike other Society publications of the same kind it is not connected with any house or college. It has received the highest commendations from Pius IX and from Leo XIII.

In 1856 the "Etudes" was begun by the Jesuits in France under the editorship of Daniel Gagarin and Godfroy. In character it closely resembles the "Civiltà." The troubles of 1876 caused its suspension for almost a year, but the various dispersions of the French provinces have not affected it, except perhaps in the extent of its circulation. It is published at Paris, but was at one time issued from Lyons. From a monthly it has developed into a fortnightly review in latter years.

The German Fathers have their monthly "Stimmen aus Maria-Laach," the first number of which appeared in 1865. The defense of the Syllabus called it into being. When the Kulturkampf drove the editors from Maria-Laach, they migrated to Tervuren in Belgium. There they remained until 1880, when they went to Blijenbeck in Holland. In 1910 we find them at Valkenburg, Holland, attached to the Scholasticate. The ability of the staff has placed the "Stimmen" on a very high plane as a periodical.

The monthly "Razón y Fe" was begun by the Spanish Fathers in 1901, and "Studies" by the Irish Jesuits in 1912. This latter, however, admits contributors who are not of the Society. The same may be said of the "Month" (London), the weekly "America" (New York), the "Irish Monthly" (Dublin) and a number of minor periodicals. There are also publications for private circulation, such as the "Woodstock Letters," the "Letters and Notices"; "Lettres Edifiantes" of various provinces of the Society, most of which are printed in the scholasticates, and convey information about the different works of the Society in different parts of the world. They are largely of the character of the ancient "Relations des Jésuites" of the old French Fathers and are of great value as historical material. Finally the American "Messenger of the Sacred Heart" publishes a monthly edition of 350,000, besides millions of leaflets to promote the devotion. There are fifty-one editions of the "Messenger" published in thirty-five different languages.

The reason why the Society has not succeeded in producing since the Restoration any theologians like Suárez, Toletus and others, is the same that prevented Napoleon Bonaparte from winning back his empire when he was a prisoner on St. Helena. Conditions have changed. Suárez, de Lugo, Ripalda and their brilliant associates passed their lives in Catholic Spain which gloried in universities like Salamanca, Valladolid or Alcalá. There those great men wrote and taught; Bellarmine and Toletus labored in Rome and Lessius in Louvain; whereas the Jesuit theologians in our day have been not only debarred from the great universities but robbed of their libraries, sent adrift in the world and compelled to seek not for learned leisure but for a roof to shelter them. They were expelled from France in 1762, and were never allowed to open a school even for small boys until 1850. At present they are permitted to shed their blood on the battle field for their country from which they have been driven into exile. They were banished from Italy repeatedly, and have never secured a foothold in Germany since 1872; they do not exist in Portugal and any moment may see them expelled from Spain. In England and Ireland Catholics were not emancipated until 1829, and it is only grudgingly that the government allows Ireland to have a university which Catholics can safely frequent, and even there no chair of Catholic theology may be maintained with the ordinary revenues. In America everything is in a formative state and what money is available has to be used for elementary instruction, both religious and secular, of the millions whom poverty and persecution have driven out of Europe. It is very doubtful if Suárez and his great associates would have written their splendid works in such surroundings.

As the eye travels over Hurter's carefully prepared chronological chart, it catches only an occasional gleam of the old glory, when the names of the Wiceburgenses, Zaccaria, Mai, Muzzarelli, Arévalo and Morcelli make their appearance in the late sixties of the nineteenth century. But those were the days of the French Revolution and of its subsequent upheavals. The Church itself was in the same straits between 1773 and 1860, and its number of great theologians of any kind is extremely small. Thus, abstracting from the Jesuits, we find in 1773 only Flórez, the Augustinian, who wrote ecclesiastical history; in 1782 the erudite Maronite Assemani, who is classed as a moralist; in 1787 St. Alphonsus Liguori; and in 1793 the Benedictine Gerbert, who is also a moralist. The Barnabite Gerdil appears under date of 1802 as an apologist, and from that year up to 1864 there is no one to whom Hurter accords distinction in any branch of divinity. Perhaps the reason is that the century was in the full triumph of its material civilization and that men derided and despised the dogmatic teachings of religion.

A study of Hurter's "Nomenclator" is instructive. In 1774, the year after the Suppression, there are only four publications by Jesuit authors; in 1775 there are nine; and then the number begins to grow smaller. In 1780 the figure rises to ten, and it is somewhat remarkable that in 1789 and 1790, the first years of the French Revolution, seventeen writers appear. The stream then dribbles along until 1814, the year of the Restoration, when we find only one book with the letters S. J. after the name of its author. The next year there is none.

The Jesuit who illumines the darkness of that period is Thaddeus Nogarola, whom Hurter describes as "a member of the most noble family of Verona." He was born on 24 December, 1729. Consequently he was eighty-five years of age at the time of the Restoration. He wrote on sanctifying grace; and in 1800 he and another Jesuit had a fierce theological battle on the subject of attrition, in which he defended his position with excessive vehemence. In 1806 he had issued his great treatise against Gallicanism. His doughty antagonist re-entered the Society in 1816. He had expressed himself very vigorously on the subject of the Napoleonic oath in France and his books were prohibited in the Cisalpine Republic.

In 1816 four books were published; but the number continues small and 1823 is credited with none. In 1824, there were two publications, one of them by Arévalo, the eminent patrologist, who composed the hymns and lessons of the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians. It is a very sad list from 1826 to 1862, with its succession of ones and zeros. Only three names of any note appear: Kohlmann in 1836, Loriquet in 1845, and de Ravignan in 1858. That period of almost forty years had seen the revolutions of 1830 and 1848, and there was no stability for any Jesuit establishment. Finally, however, in 1862 came Pianciani, Taparelli and Bresciani; and in 1865 and 1866 Tongiorgi and Gury, respectively. It was only then that the Society was able to begin its theological work after its redintegration. The space is not great between 1862 and the present time, but since then there have been Perrone and the great Bollandist and theologian, Victor de Buck, who appeared in 1876; Edmund O'Reilly in 1878; Ballerini and Patrizi in 1881; Kleutgen in 1883; and in 1886 Cardinals Franzelin and Mazzella.

During that period there was no end of confiscations and expulsions, even of those who were not engaged in educational work. Thus the German Jesuits acquired the old Benedictine Monastery of Maria-Laach in 1863 on the southwest bank of a fine lake near Andernach in the Rhineland. There they organized a course of studies for the scholastics as well as a college of writers. Among them were the learned Schneeman, Riess and others who began the great work of the church Councils and the "Philosophia Lacensis," besides publishing the Jesuit "Stimmen." How long were they there? Only ten years. The Kulturkampf banished them from their native land and they had to continue their labors in exile. This has been the story of the Society in almost every European country and in the Spanish Republics of South America and Mexico. In spite of all this, however, Hurter's chart shows that from 1773 to 1894 there have been no less than four hundred Jesuit theologians who published works in defense of the doctrines of the Church, and some of them have achieved prominence.

In philosophy, for instance, there was Taparelli who died in 1863. He was the first rector of the Roman College, when it was given back to the Society by Leo XII. He taught philosophy for fifteen years at Palermo, and in 1840 issued his great work which he called "A Theoretical Essay on Natural Rights from an historical standpoint." It reached the seventh edition in 1883 and was translated into French and German. Next in importance is his "Esame critico degli ordini rappresentativi nella società moderna." Besides his striking monographs on "Nationality," "Sovereignty of the People," "The Grounds of War," he wrote a great number of articles in the "Civiltà" on matters of political economy and social rights. His first great work was in a way the beginning of modern sociology. Palmieri issued his "Institutiones Philosophiæ" in 1874, and at the very outset won the reputation of a great thinker, even from those who were at variance with his conclusions and mode of thought.

In the same branch Liberatore was for a long time preëminent, and his "Institutiones" and "Composito humano" went through eleven editions. Cornoldi's "Filosofia scolastica specolativa" was also a notable production. Lehmen's "Lehrbuch" reached the third edition before his death in 1910. Boedder is well-known to English speaking people because of his many works written during his professorship at St. Beuno's in Wales. Cathrein's "Socialism" has been translated into nine different languages, and his "Moral Philosophy" has enjoyed great popularity. Pesch's position is established; his last work, "Christliche Lebens-philosophie," reached its fourth edition within four years. Kleutgen who is perhaps the best known of these German Jesuits, was called by Leo XIII "the prince of philosophers" and is regarded as the restorer of Catholic philosophy throughout Germany. In Spain, Father Cuevas has written a "Cursus completus philosophiæ" and a "History of Philosophy." Mendive's "Text-book of Philosophy" in Spanish is used in several universities, but the writer who dominated all the rest in that country is admittedly Urráburu, who died prematurely in 1904. His "Cursus philosophiæ scholasticæ," brings up the memory of the famous old philosophers of earlier ages.

It is not only edifying but inspiring to hear that the Venerable Father de Clorivière occupied himself while in prison in the Temple at Paris during the Revolution in writing commentaries on the Sacred Scriptures. He was over seventy years of age and was expecting to be summoned to the guillotine at any moment, but he had plenty of time to write, for his imprisonment lasted five years. Sommervogel credits him with commentaries on "The Canticle of Canticles," "The Epistles of St. Peter," "The Discourse at the Last Supper," "The Animals of Ezechiel," "The Two Seraphim of Isaias," besides Constitutions for the religious orders he had founded, lives of the saints, novenas, and religious poems. He also translated "Paradise Lost" into French. Evidently the commentary written in a prison cell cannot have measured up to the scientific exegesis of the present day, but perhaps for that reason it reached the soul more readily. In any case, the Scriptural students of the modern Society made an excellent start with a saint and a virtual martyr.

Francis Xavier Patrizi distinguished himself as an exegete. He was one of the first to enter the Society after the Restoration, and was so esteemed for his virtue and ability that he came very near being elected General of the Society. His first publication on "The Interpretation of the Holy Scriptures" appeared in 1844. He translated the Psalms word for word from the Hebrew. His works are packed with erudition, of scrupulous accuracy in their citations, and of most sedulous care in defending the Sacred Text against the Protestants of the early days of the nineteenth century. The "Cursus Scripturæ" of the Fathers of Maria-Laach: Cornely, Knabenbauer, Hummelauer, and others, is a monument of erudition and labor and is without doubt the most splendid triumph of exegesis in the present century.

In 1901, the Sovereign Pontiff appointed and approved a Biblical Commission for the proper interpretation and defense of Holy Scripture. It consists of five cardinals and forty-three consultors. Among the distinguished men chosen for this work we find Fathers Cornely, Delattre, Gismondi, von Hummelauer, Méchineau, and Prat. One of the duties with which the commission was charged was the establishment of a special institute for the prosecution of higher Biblical Studies. In 1910 Father Fonck, its first rector, began the series of public conferences which was one of the assigned works of the Institute. It publishes the "Biblical Annals." The French Fathers in Syria are very valuable adjuncts to this institute, because of their knowledge of Oriental languages. One of them, Father Lammens, was for years the editor of "Bachir," an Arabic periodical.

When Father John Carroll went to England to be consecrated Bishop of Baltimore, he probably met at Lulworth Castle, where the ceremony took place, a French Jesuit of the old Society who had found shelter with the Weld family during the Revolution and was acting as their chaplain. He was Father Grou, a man of saintly life. It was while he was in England that he wrote "La Science de crucifix" the "Caractère de la vraie dévotion," "Maximes spirituelles," "Méditation sur l'amour de Dieu," "L'intérieur de Jésus et de Marie," "Manuel des âmes intérieures," "Le livre du jeune homme." These works were frequently reprinted and translated.

It is very interesting to find that, before the expulsion from France, Father Grou had been an ardent student of Plato and had even published eight books about the great philosopher. He also wrote an answer to La Chalotais' attack on the Society. Sommervogel mentions another book written by him in conjunction with Father du Rocher. It is entitled "Temps Fabuleux," an historical and dogmatic treatise on the true religion.

Among the other noted ascetical writers were Vigitello, author of "La Sapienza del cristiano," Mislei, who wrote "Grandezze di Gesù Cristo" and "Gesù Cristo e il Cristiano," Hillegeer, Dufau, Verbeke, Vercruysse, de Doss, Petit, Meschler, Schneider and Chaignon, whose "Nouveau cours de méditations sacerdotales" has gone through numberless editions; Watrigant has made extensive studies on the "Exercises;" Ramière's "Apostolat de la Prière" made the circuit of the world and gave the first impulse to the League of the Sacred Heart. Coleridge's "Life of Our Lord," consisting of thirty volumes, is a mine of thought and especially valuable for directors of religious communities.

In 1874 Father Camillo Tarquini was raised to the cardinalate for his ability as a canonist. His dissertation on the Regium placet exequatur made him an international celebrity. With him high in the ranks of canonists are Father General Wernz, Laurentius, Hilgers, Beringer, Oswald, Sanguinetti, Ojetti, Vermeersch, and the present Assistant General Father Fine.

Stephen Anthony Morcelli, who is eminent as a historian and is regarded as the founder of epigraphy, was born in Trent, in the year 1737. He made his studies in the Roman College, and there founded an academy of archæology. At the Suppression he became the librarian of Cardinal Albani. He re-entered the restored Society. He was then eighty-four years of age. He had no superior as a Latin stylist. His "Calendar of the Church of Constantinople," covering a thousand years, his "Readings of the Four Gospels" according to various codices, and his notes on "Africa Christiana" are of great value.