Provincial letters : containing an exposure of the reasoning and morals of the Jesuits

Front matter

Pascal, Blaise, 1623-1662.

ProvanGiloads Teprers

CONTAINING

Letter V

The Design of the Jesuits in establishing a new Motality. Two Kinds of Casuists amongst them: the great Remissness of the one, and the equal Rigidity

XIV CONTENTS.

of the other. Reason of this Difference. Explana-_ tion of the Doctrine of Probability. A Crowd of modern and obscure Authors substituted for the Holy Fathers 20S Ot ECO ee ee

Letter VI

The different Artifices of the Jesuits to evade the Authority of the Gospel, the Councils, and the Popes. Consequences which follow from their Doctrine of Probabtlity. Their Abatements in favour of the Clergy, Monks, and Servants. History of John d’ Alba . . . 7

Letter VII

On the Method of directing the Attention. The Permission to kill in defence of Honour and of Property, which is extended to Priests and Friars. A curious Question proposed by Caramuel, namely, whe-

_ ther the Jesuits may kill the Jansenists? . . . 94

LETTER VIII. Corrupt Maxims of the Casuists respecting Judges

Usurers, the Contract Mohatra, Bankrupts, Restitutions , &c.—Various other extravagant Notions . 114

Letter IX

The false Worship of the Virgin Mary which the Jesutts have introduced. The various Facilities they have wvented to procure Salvation without any Trouble and amidst the Indulgences of Life. Their maxams respecting Ambition, Envy, Gluttony, Equivoca-

CONTENTS. XV éion, mental Reservations, the Liberty which young Females enjoy, the Habits of Women, Gaming, and the Manner of hearing Mass . . . «. «... 134

Letter X

Mitigating Expedients of the: Jesuists with regard to the Sacrament of Penitence. Their Maxims respecting Confession, Satisfaction, Absolution, Occasions of Sin, Contrition, and the Love of God . . . 153

Letter XI

Ridiculous Firrors may be refuted by Raillery. The

Precautions it is necessary to use, which the Author has observed, but which have not been regarded by the Jesuits. The impious Buffooneries of Fathers le Moine Fea h AT ASSAe (iS. sie eh» Bean's tt 14, AR a5 (‘i

Letter XII

Refutation of the Quirks and Turns of the Jesuits on the Subjects of Almsgiving and Simony . . . . 195

Refutation of the jee ‘3 the Jeswits to the last Berbers 8 US ROSNY. NUN! et? 15

Letter XIII

The Doctrine of Lessius respecting Murder the same with that of Victoria. The Ease with which we pass from _ Speculation to Practice. Reason why the Jesuits make _ use of this vain Distinction, and how unavailing it 1s emer destificationcs ). 0 8. DR eS5

Xvi CONTENTS.

Letter XIV

Jesuitical Maxims on the Subject of Homicide refuted by the holy Fathers. - Reply, in passing, to some of their Calumnies, and a Comparison of their Doctrine with the Form observed in pronouncing Judgment in Cri- Masri Cases s. lganheWAe tin uate i iat

By the unanimous Consent of all the Divines, and particularly of the Jesuits, the Authority of the Popes | and of Cicumenical Councils is not infallible in Ques- ELONS OP LACT OAS, at 928

Letter XVIII

_ Evidence still more incontestable adduced even from Father Annat’s Reply, that no Heresy exists in the Church. Every body condemns the Doctrine which the Jesuits ampute to Jansenius; and thus all Christians agree on the Subject of the Five Propositions. Difference respecting the Questions of Right and Fact pointed out. With regard to the latter, one ought to rely more upon our own Senses than upon any human Authority . 355

A VIEW

OF THE

HISTORY OF THE JESUITS.

A society which, at one period, extended its influence to the very ends of the earth, and proved the main pillar of the papal hierarchy, which not only wormed itself into almost absolute power, occupying the high places, and leading captive the ecclesiastical dictator of the world, must be an object of some curiosity to the inquisitive mind, especially as it has been recently restored by the present pope, from that ruin to which Clement XIV. had reduced it.

-Ienatius Loyoua, a native of Biscay, is well known to have been the founder of this, nominally, religious order. He was born in 1491, and became the first page to Ferdinand V. king of Spain, then an officer in his army. In 1521 he was wounded in both legs at the siege of Pampeluna, when having had leisure to study a ‘ Life of the Saints,’ he de-

b

XVill A VIEW OF THE voted himself to the service of the Virgin; and his military ardour becoming metamorphosed into superstitious zeal, he went on a pilgrimage into the Holy Land. Upon his return to Europe, he studied in the universities of Spain, whence he removed into France, and formed a plan for the institution of this new order, which he presented to the pope. But, notwithstanding the high pretensions of Loyola to inspiration, Paul III. refused his request, till his scruples were removed by an irresistible argument addressed to his self-interest: it was proposed that every member should make a vow of unconditional obedience to the pope, without requiring any support from the Holy See. The order was, therefore instituted in 1540, and Loyola appointed to be the first General.

The plan of the Society was completed by the two immediate, successors of the founder, Lainez and Aquaviva, both of whom excelled their master in ability and the science of government; and, in a few years, the Society established itself in every Catholic country, acquiring prodigious wealth, and exciting the apprehensions of all the enemies of the Romish faith.

To Lainez are.ascribed the Secreta Monita, or secret instructions of the order, which were first discovered, on Christian, duke of Brunswick, seizing the Jesuits’ college at Paderborn, in Westphalia, when he gave their books, and manuscripts to the. capuchins, who

HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. xix.

found these secret instructions among the archives of their rector. After this, another copy was detected at Prague in the college of the Jesuits.

The Jesuits are taught to consider themselves as formed for action, in opposition to the monastic orders, who retire from the concerns of the world; and engaging in all civil and commercial transactions, insinuating themselves into the friendship of persons of rank, studying the disposition of all classes, with a view of obtaining an influence over them, and undertaking missions to distant nations, it is an essential principle of their policy by every means to extend the Catholic faith. No labour is spared, no intrigue omitted that may prove conducive to this purpose.

The constitution of this Society is monarchical. A General is chosen for life by deputies from the several provinces, whose power is supreme and universal. Every member is at his entire disposal, who is required to submit his will and sentiments to his dictation, and to listen to his injunctions, as if uttered by Christ himself. The fortune, person, and conscience of the whole Society are at his disposal, and he can dispense his order not only from the vows of poverty, chastity, and monastic obedience, but even from submission to the pope whenever he pleases: He nominates and removes provincials, rectors, professors, and all officers of the order, superintends the universities, houses, and missions, decides contro-

b 2 xx , A VIEW OF THE versies, and forms or dissolves contracts. No member can have any opinion of his own; and the Society has its prisons, independent of the secular authority.

There are four classes of members,—the noviciates or probationers, the approved disciples, the coadjutors, and the professors of the four vows. ‘The education of youth was always considered by them as their peculiar province, aware of the influence which such a measure would infallibly secure over another generation: and before the conclusion of the sixteenth century, the Jesuits had obtained the chief direction of the youthful mind in every Catholic country in Europe. They had become the confessors of almost all its monarchs, and the spiritual cuides of nearly every person distinguished for rank or influence. At different periods they obtained the direction of the most considerable courts, and took part in every intrigue and revolution.

Notwithstanding their vow of poverty, they accumulated, upon various pretences, immense wealth. They claimed exemption from tithes under a bull of Gregory XIII. who was devoted to their interests ; and, by obtaining a special licence from the court of “Rome to trade with the nations whom they professed to convert, they carried on a lucrative commerce in the East and West Indies; formed settlements in different countries, and acquired possession

HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. XX1 of a large province in South America, where they reigned as sovereigns over some hundred thousand subjects.

Their policy is uniformly to inculcate attachment to the order, and by a pliant morality to soothe and gratify the passions of mankind, for the purpose of securing their patronage. They proclaim the duty of opposing princes who are inimical to the Catholic faith, and have employed every weapon, every artful and every intolerant measure, to resist the progress of Protestantism.

In Portugal, where the Jesuits were first received, they obtained the direction of the court, which for many years delivered to them the consciences of its princes and the education of the people. Portugal opened the door to their missions, and gave them establishments in Asia, Africa, and America. They usurped the sovereignty of Paraguay, and resisted the forces of Portugal and Spain, who claimed it The court of Lisbon, and even Rome herself, protested in vain against their excesses. The league in France was, in reality, a conspiracy of the Jesuits under the sanction of Sixtus V. to disturb the succession to the throne of France. The Jesuits’ college at Paris, was the grand focus of the seditions and treasons which then agitated the state, and the ruler of the Jesuits was president of the Council of

XX1U A VIEW OF THE

Sixteen, which gaye the impulse to the leagues formed there and throughout France. Matthieu, a Jesuit and confessor of Henry III. was called ‘ The Courier of the League,’ on account of his frequent journies to and from Rome at that disastrous period.

In Germany the Society appropriated the richest benefices, particularly those of the monasteries of St. Benedict and St.Bernard. Catharine of Austria confided in them, and was supplanted; and loud out- “cries were uttered against them by the sufferers in Vienna, in the states of Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and elsewhere. Their cruelties in Poland will never “be forgotten. They were expelled from Abyssinia, Japan, Malta, Cochin, Moscow, Venice, and other places, for their gross misconduct; and in America and Asia they carried devastation and blood wherever they went. The great object of the persecution of the Protestants in Savoy was the confiscation of their property, in order to endow the colleges of the Jesuits. They had, no doubt, a share in the atrocities of the duke of Alva in the Low Countries. They boasted of the friendship of Catherine de Medicis, who espoused their cause, and under whose influence the massacre of St. Bartholomew was executed. Louis XIV. had three Jesuit confessors, which may explain the revocation of the edict of Nantz.

HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. XxXill

The Jesuits Jake been notorious for attempting the lives of princes. The reign of queen Elizabeth presents a succession of plots. In her proclamation, dated Nov. 15, 1602, she says, that “ the Jesuits had fomented the plots against her person, excited her subjects to revolt, provoked foreign princes to com-— pass her death, engaged in all affairs of state, and by their language and writings, had undertaken to dispose of her crown.” |

Lucius enumerates five conspiracies of the Jesuits against James |. before he had reigned a year. They contrived the gunpowder plot. So late as the time of George I. both houses of parliament reported, that the evidence examined by them on the conspiracy of Plunket and Layer had satisfactorily shown that it had for its object the destruction of the king, the subversion of the laws, and the crowning of the popish Pretender; and they state, that “ Plunket was born at Dublin, and bred up at the Jesuits’ college at Vienna.” Henry III. of France was assassinated by Clement, a Jesuit, in 1589. The Jesuits murdered William prince of Orange, in 1584. They attempted the life of Louis XV. for imposing silence on the polemics of their order, besides innumerable other atrocities.

The pernicious spirit and constitution of this order, rendered it early detested by the principal powers of

Europe ; and while Pascal, by his ‘ Provincial Letters,’

XXiV A VIEW OF THE exposed the morality of the Society, and thus overthrew their influence over the multitude, different po- ‘tentates concurred, from time to time, to destroy or prevent its establishments. Charles V. opposed the order in his dominions: it was expelled in England by the proclamation of James I. in 1604: in Venice, in. 1606; in Portugal, in 1759; in France, in 1764; in Spain and Sicily, in 1767, and suppressed and abolished by pope Clement XIV.in 1775. Recently, however, the pope has dared to re-establish it, though Clement had acted on the entreaties of even Catholic sovereigns, who deemed it incompatible with the existence of civil society. It must be acknowledged, indeed, to be a fit instrument for ecclesiastical despotism, and may therefore be regarded with indifference by all who are unconcerned to secure the liberties of their fellow men; but those who feel as men and think like Christians, will read the following Buu for the revival of the order of the Jesuits, with no ordinary sensations.

HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. XXV

«© Pius, Bishop, Servant of the Servants of God.

_ “ Tue care of all the churches confided to our humility by the Divine will, notwithstanding the lowness of our deserts and abilities, makes it our duty to employ all the aids in our power, and which are furnished to us by the mercy of Divine Providence, in order that we may be able, as far as the changes of times and places will allow, to relieve the spiritual wants of the Catholic world, without any distinction of people and nations.

“ Wishing to fulfill this duty of our apostolic ministry, as soon as Francis Kareu (then living) and other secular priests, resident for many years in the vast empire of Russia, and who had been members of the company of Jesus suppressed by Clement XIV. of happy memory, had supplicated our permission to unite in a body, for the purpose of being able to apply themselves more easily, in conformity with their institution, to the instruction of youth in religion and good morals, to devote themselves to preaching, to confession, and the administration of the other sacraments, we felt it our duty the more willingly to comply with their prayer, inasmuch as the then reigning

XXVI A VIEW OF THE

Emperor Paul I. had recommended the said priests in his gracious dispatch, dated August 11, 1800, in which, after setting forth his special regard for them, he declared to us that it would be agreeable to him to see the company of Jesus established in his empire, under our authority: and we, on our side, considered attentively the great advantages which these vast regions might thence derive; considering how useful those ecclesiastics, whose morals and learning were equally tried, would be to the Catholic religion, thought fit to second the wish of so great and beneficent a prince.

“‘ In consequence, by our brief, dated March 7, 1801, we granted to the said Francis Kareu, and his colleagues residing in Russia, or who should repair thither from other countries, power to form themselves into a body or congregation of the company of Jesus; they are at liberty to unite in one or more houses, to be pointed out by their superior, provided these houses are situated within the Russian empire. We named ; _the said Francis Kareu, general of the said congregation ; we authorized them to resume and follow the rule of St.lgnatius of Loyola, approved and confirmed by the constitutions of Paul III. our predecessor, of happy memory, in order that the companions, ina religious union, might freely engage in the instruction of youth in religion and good letters, direct seminaries and colleges, and with the consent of the

HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. XXVii ordinary, confess, preach the word of God, and administer the sacraments. By the same brief we received the congregation of the company of Jesus under our immediate protection and dependence, reserving to ourselves and our successors the prescription of every thing that might appear to us proper to consolidate, to defend it, and to purge it from the abuses and corruption that might be therein introduced; and for this purpose we expressly abrogated such apostolical constitutions, statutes, privileges, and indulgences granted in contradiction to these concessions, especially the apostolic letters of Clement XIV. our predecessor, which begin with the words, Dominus ac Redemptor noster, only in so far as they are contrary to our brief, beginning Cathohce, and which was given only for the Russian empire.

“* A short time after we had ordained the restoration of the order of Jesuits in Russia, we thought it our duty to grant the same favour to the kingdom of Sicily, on the warm request of our dear son in Jesus Christ, King Ferdinand, who begged that the company of Jesus might be re-established in his dominions and states, as it was in Russia, from a conviction that, in these deplorable times, the Jesuits were instructors most capable of forming youth to Christian piety and the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, and to instruct them in science and letters.

The duty of our pastoral charge leading us to second

A

XXVIil A VIEW OF THE the pious wishes of these illustrious monarchs, and having only in view the glory of God and the salvation of souls, we by our brief, beginning Per alias, and dated the 30th July, 1804, extended to the kingdom of the Two Sicilies the same concessions which we had made for the Russian empire.

“ The Catholic world demands with unanimous voice the re-establishment of the company of Jesus. We daily receive to this effect the most pressing petitions from our venerable brethren, the archbishops and bishops, and the most distinguished persons, especially since the abundant fruits which this company has produced in the above countries have been generally known. ‘The dispersion even of the stones of the sanctuary in those recent calamities, (which it is better now to deplore than to repeat;) the annihilation of the discipline of the regular orders, (the glory and support of religion and the Catholic church, to the restoration of which, all our thoughts and cares are at present directed,) require that we should accede to a wish so just and general.

“We should deem ourselves guilty of a great crime towards God, if, amidst these dangers of the Christian republic, we neglected the aids which the special providence of God has put at our disposal; and if, placed in the bark of Peter, tossed and assailed by continual storms, we refused to employ the vigorous and experienced rowers who volunteer their services,

HISTORY OF THE JESUITS. XXIX in order to break the waves of a sea which threatens _ fe every moment shipwreck and death. Decided by motives so numerous and powerful, we have resolved to-do now what we could have wished to have done at the commencement of our pontificate. After having by fervent prayers implored the Divine assistance, after having taken the advice and counsel of a great number of our venerable brothers the cardinals of the holy Roman church, we have decreed, with full knowledge, in virtue of the plenitude of apostolic power, and with perpetual validity, that all the concessions and powers granted by us solely to the Russian empire and the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, shall henceforth extend to all our ecclesiastical states, and also to all other states. We therefore concede and grant to our well-beloved son, Taddeo Barzozowski, at this time general of the company of Jesus, and to the other members of that company, lawfully delegated by him, all suitable and necessary powers, in order that the said states may freely and lawfully receive all those who shall wish to be admitted into the regular order of the company of Jesus, who, under the authority of the General ad interim, shall be admitted and distributed, according to opportunity, in one or more houses, one or more colleges, and one or more provinces, where they shall conform their mode of life to the rules prescribed by St. Igna~ tius of Loyola, approved and confirmed by the con-

XXXii A VIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE JESUITS.

take upon him to attempt it, let him know that he will thereby incur the INDIGNATION or ALMIGHTY GOD, and of the HOLY APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL. )

“ Given at Rome, at Sancta Maria Major, on the 7th of August, in the year of our Lord, 1814, and the

15th of our pontificate.

(Signed) “ Cardinal PRODATAIRE.

* Cardinal Brascui.”

PROVINCIAL LETTERS.