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"Secret
Instructions Society
of Jesus" or
the JESUIT
PRIESTS Originally
circulated in Manuscript until 1612 when
it was published in Cracow, Poland. Taken
From the Edition Published
in 1882 in San Francisco, California. Reprinted
from the copy in the LIBRARY
OF CONGRESS Washington,
D.C. ****
**** PREFACE By
PERITUS
The Jesuits are different. Every Catholic Priest knows this.
The Jesuits have an uncanny manner financially. Operating behind
the scenes, they seem very inconspicuous, but when the wills of rich
Catholics, and very many non-Catholics, are filed for probate.
strangely some Jesuit institution is there for a sizable amount.
They are so different in their priestly deportment and social
conduct too, that other priests feel ill at ease and uncomfortable in
their presence. A priestly "blast" never really gets organized
until after the Jesuits have gone home. The prevailing atmosphere, when
they are present, is one of uneasy suspicion. Other priests feel as though
the "Jebbies" will immediately take off for the Bishop's mansion
to stool on all of them. This of course is ridiculous because most bishops
are just as leery of the Jesuits as are the working clergy.
Lay people also think that Jesuits are different. They speak of the
Society of Jesus as the "educated clergy,"-the "teaching
arm of the church". They have the "most schools"-which is
true. The quality of those
schools is another question. None of them, at least in the U.S. has ever
won an award for the volume of scientists or philosophers it produced.
Voltaire went to a Jesuit school. He said later that he learned Latin and
nonsense.
The Jesuits write the most books-which is also true. In fact it is
said that any Jesuit who can pen one word after another seems forced
"under obedience" to write a book. Judging by a perusal of them,
the subject matter or the treatment seems of very little consequence. BANK
of WISDOM Box
926, Louisville, KY 40201 1 Secret
Instructions of the Society of Jesus
The laity are told that the Jesuits are smarter than other priests
because they go to school longer. The laity do not realize that for some
years those Jesuits are in their schools not as students, but as
teachers-callow, young, inexperienced boys carrying on the "great
tradition" of Jesuit education.
The laity, Catholic and non-Catholic, are also told that the
Jesuits are much more selective in their choice of candidates than other
orders or diocesan seminaries. They pick only the smarter and more
promising youngsters and thus insure a continuing crop of great scholars,
teachers, philosophers, orators and, not mentioned, ecclesiastical
politicians.
The truth is, as clerical wags have put it, that the Jesuits have
just as large a percentage of lesser Esq.'s as any other church order but
they are smart enough to hide the numbskulls in their foreign missions to
primitive countries. In fact, it has also been said, that this is the
principal reason why the Jesuits have foreign missions.
However, in spite of these disparaging introductory qualifications,
there can be no gainsaying the fact that the Jesuits possess a hard core
of extremely intelligent, intensely loyal, politically shrewd, carefully
calculating individuals. This has been so since the days of their founder,
Ignatius of Loyola. A catalog of their names would include a large
percentage of the great minds of the Roman Catholic Church since the
sixteenth century.
Any honest student of church history must admit that behind the
scenes, they have been the governing genius of the Vatican- even though,
more often than not, an evil genius.
The Jesuit Order is an absolute monarchy. Their general, "the
Black Pope" rules for life. The pattern of their own Order has molded
their thinking about all other political structures, including, but not
confined to, the Vatican.
The Jesuits fought the democratic aspirations of the French when
they helped engineer the "Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve".
They were the force behind Pope Pius IX and were his principal
counselors. The Italian people knew that the Jesuits were the strongest
opponents of the Unification of Italy and hated them accordingly. The
Jesuits promoted the dogma of the Immaculate Conception and of the
Infallibility of the Pope. They wart, the experts behind the experts of
the First Vatican Council in 1870 just as they are of the Second Vatican
Council.
It is obvious that an organization so vast (the largest in the
Roman Church) covering the globe, and engaged in so many activities, some
open and honorable, and others secret, delicate and "Jesuitical"
would have to have a set of rules and regulations for its own internal
control much more detailed and stringent than the conventional
"rules" or "constitutions" of St. Benedict, St.
Francis or the other run-of-the-mill orders and congregations. BANK
of WISDOM Box
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Instructions of the Society of Jesus
Knowing also that the bulk of the Jesuits at the grass roots did
not possess the sagacity, shrewdness and ruthlessness of the
"boys" in the "back room" in Rome it was necessary
that many enterprises, such as "advising" rich widows, picking
of rich men's sons to be prospective Jesuits, or purging the Order of a
hapless Jesuit who began to think for himself, should be speeded out in
detail.
But above all things it was necessary that such regulations should
be kept secret. They were to be confided only to trusted superiors and if
accidentally found. they were to be denounced as base forgeries.
They are called the "MONIKA SECRETA SOCIETATIS JESU"-"The
Secret Instructions of the Society of Jesus."
The average "lower-case" Jesuit, not being in on the
know, will sincerely tell indignant devout inquirers that these
regulations are fictitious. The smart "upper-case" Jesuit knows
that he had better deny their existence. He might not live to regret his
indiscretion.
The existence of the "Secret Regulations of the Jesuits"
has been proven beyond all possibility of successful legal refutation.
Most unbiased historians of the Roman Catholic Church and of the
Jesuits acknowledge the existence of the "Monita".
The British historian, Andrew Steinmetz, in his monumental,
precisely documented, "History of the Jesuits", published in
London in 1848, devotes several pages to an analysis of the genuineness
and history of the "Monita". He outlines the book with the same
succession of chapters and content as reproduced in this present volume.
He concludes that "secret regulations" did exist, considering 1)
overt statements of Jesuit Generals, 2) missing chapters in early editions
of the official "Constitutions", and 3) the actual conduct of
the Jesuits, in so many countries and for so long. As proof of the latter
he cites the catering to the rich, the rapid acquisition of tremendous
power and wealth and the infiltration of the royal powers by the Jesuits
as court confessors, with their tolerance of licentiousness in order to
gain power. (Vol. III, p. 363, 364, 365, 366). Of the allegations
themselves he cites thousands of documented instances in the 1660 pages of
his volumes.
The following paragraphs are from the autobiography of a very
precise and erudite ex-Jesuit. His death places him and his words beyond
the customary effective reprisals of the Order.
"The MONITA SECRETA SOCIETATIS JESU ('Secret Instruction of
the Society of Jesus') first appeared in print in Cracow in 1612, after
they had already been circulated in manuscript form. The editor seems to
have been the ex-Jesuit Zahorowski. Almost
innumerable editions and reprints in all civilized tongues followed one
another. The latest edition was published at Bamberg in 1904." BANK
of WISDOM Box
926, Louisville, KY 40201 3 Secret
Instructions of the Society of Jesus
"The importance of the publication follows from the fact that,
directly after its appearance, the General of the Order, Mutius
Vitelleschi, twice (in 1616 and 1617) instructed the German Jesuit,
Gretser, a prominent theologian of the Order, to refute it, and that up to
most recent times Jesuit after Jesuit has come forward to repudiate
it."
"It is natural that the Jesuits themselves should deny the
genuineness in a flood of refutations. But such denials only merit the
belief or unbelief which the denial of every defendant deserves. Only
sound proof can turn the scale against the genuineness of the Monita. And
such proofs have not been produced up to now by the Jesuits. Nor has any
convincing invalidation of the facts advanced on behalf of its genuineness
been produced.
"The advocates of their genuineness rely essentially on the
fact that the manuscript copies of the Monita, upon which the printed
edition is based, were to be found in Jesuit colleges.
The discovery of such copies in the colleges of Prague, Paris,
Roermond (Holland), Munich, and Paderborn is beyond question.
The copy in the Jesuit house in Paderborn was found 'in a cupboard
in the Rector's room' (in scriniis rectoris). The manuscript copy at
Munich, belonging to the contents of the library of the Jesuit college of
this place, which was suppressed in 1773, was only found in 1870 in a
secret recess behind the altar of the old Jesuit Church of St. Michael at
Munich. It would be a decisive token of genuineness if it could be proved
positively that the Prague copy was already there in 1611 -- i.e. before
the first printed edition in 1612. J. Friedrich's statement makes this
seem probable, but not certain. What the Jesuit Duhr writes to the
contrary is of no value. It is certain, however, that the discovery in
Prague was so disagreeable to the Jesuits that the chief champion of the
spuriousness of the MONITA, the Jesuit Forer, considered it advisable to
pass it over in silence in his work of repudiation, Anatomia Anatomiae
Societatis Jesu. On the other hand, he zealously demonstrated-what no one
disputed- that the copy at Paderborn was only brought to light after the
first edition had been published. Forer's silence is the more remarkable,
as a manuscript note, intended for his book, treats the Prague discovery
as a fact. The saying that those who keep silence when they could and
should speak seem to give consent, comes to my mind in the case of this
ominous silence."
These quoted words were written by a German ex-Jesuit, Count Von
Hoensbroech, after he left the Jesuit priesthood in 1900*
"Fourteen Years a Jesuit" Paul Von Hoensbroech, Cassel & Co.
Ltd. London, New York 1911, Vol II p. 7-9
The chapter headings are almost verbatim identical with the chapter
headings of the text reproduced in this booklet.
And therein lies a story. BANK
of WISDOM Box
926, Louisville, KY 40201 4 Secret
Instructions of the Society of Jesus
The text of the "Secret Instructions of the Society of
Jesus" reproduced here was found beneath the pallet on an adobe bed
in a cottage in the Andes Mountains of Peru about a century ago.
Students of the Incas recall that prior to the expedition of the
National Geographic Magazine under Hiram Bingham, in 1911, archaeologists
from European countries probed the ruins of this people, one of the
greatest civilizations in history.
In 1870 a French archeologist slipped unobtrusively into the office
of the Secretary of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in San Francisco,
California.
He had been sent into the remote recesses of the Andes, where Pizarro and
his army had conquered the Incas more than three centuries before. He had
rented a room in a tiny village. This he used as a base of his operations.
To this spot he returned periodically to rest from the dangerously high
altitudes and to write his reports for shipment back to France.
While he was away, the family frequently rented the same room to
overnight guests. One of these happened to be a Jesuit official.
On his departure he forgot a little book which he had hidden under
the mattress. The French archeologist accidentally found it.
It was the "Secret Instructions of the Society of Jesus"-
the top classified manual of procedure for the trusted leaders of the
Jesuit Order. It
was in Latin and bore the seal, signature and attestation of the General
and Secretary of the Order in Rome.
For the next few days the Frenchman labored furiously translating
the work in stenographic notes into French. He then replaced the book and
left.
The Jesuit returned in a few days inquiring nervously about his
little black packet. He also wanted to know if anyone had occupied the
room since his departure. On learning of the archeologist he began a
search so relentless that the Frenchman had to leave Peru. He finally
reached San Francisco and entrusted his precious but dangerous burden to
Edwin A. Sherman 32 degree Mason, the Secretary of the Scottish Rite of
Freemasonry in California.
Mr. Sherman included the "Secret Instructions" in his
book "The Engineer Corps of Hell" published in 1882.
For several years Edwin Sherman was the Masonic Historian of California.
He was highly esteemed for his great accuracy and dependability. This can
be verified now by anyone who will inquire about him of the Grand
Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Freemasonry at the Grand Lodge office in
the Masonic Memorial Temple, 1111 California St., San Francisco, Calif. Another point that emphasizes the credibility of this work is the identity of this copy, found in the fantastically inaccessible heights of the Andes in Peru, with the copy quoted by Count Von BANK
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926, Louisville, KY 40201 5 Secret
Instructions of the Society of Jesus Hoensbroech
in Germany, Considering that Von Hoensbroech's rendition was translated
from the German and Sherman's from Latin to French and then into English
the similarity is still striking. Here are a few examples: Sherman:
Ch. XI -- "How We Must Conduct Ourselves Unitedly Against
Those Who Have Been Expelled From the
Society." Von
Hoensbroech: "What
Attitude Should Be Taken By Our Followers
In Regard to Those Dismissed From the Order?" Sherman:
Ch. VI -- "OF the Mode
of Attracting Rich Widows." Von
Hoensbroech: "How
May Rich Widows be Well Disposed Towards
the Society of Jesus?" Sherman:
Ch. IV -- "OF That Which
We Must Charge the Preachers and
Confessors of the Great of the Earth." Von
Hoensbroech: "What
Attitude Must be Taken up by
Court-Chaplains and Princely Confessors?"
The text that follows is one of the most effective documents ever
written. The tremendous wealth and power of the Jesuit Order is ample
proof of that contention.
Those who have observed the Jesuits from the vantage point of the
secular clergy or of another order have often wondered at their astounding
success in becoming the recipients of wealthy estates, of influencing
prominent citizens, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, into endorsing and
endowing their colleges and universities, of instilling their scholastics
and other students with a spirit of self-dedication and self immolation
that would make both the Pope and Hitler feel frustrated.
A careful study of the "Secret Instructions" will give
the answer. Here is a plan of financial, intellectual and military
strategy that should make the planners of West Point or Number 10 Downing
Street feel inferior. Check, for example the following: Ch.
II -- "THE MANNER WITH WHICH THE FATHERS OF THE SOCIETY MUST
CONDUCT THEMSELVES TO ACQUIRE AND PRESERVE THE
FAMILIARITY OF PRINCES, MAGNATES, AND POWERFUL AND RICH
PERSONS." (Think
then how well the Jesuits have done with the local State Bar, the Chamber
of Commerce, national corporations, wealthy foundations, in comparison
with the failure of the local corner parish clergy. Think how well
Georgetown, Fordham, Marquette, and Creighton have done in comparison with
the Dominicans, the Sulpicians or the Franciscans!) BANK
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926, Louisville, KY 40201 6 Secret
Instructions of the Society of Jesus
Ch. VI-"OF THE MODE OF ATTRACTING RICH WIDOWS." Just
read them and weep, brethren! Read especially this sentence p. 8
"Insist upon the advantages of widowhood, and the inconvenience of
marriage, in particular that of a repeated one, and the dangers to which
she will be exposed, relatively to her particular businesses into which we
are desirous of penetrating."
Ch. XI-"HOW WE MUST CONDUCT OURSELVES UNITEDLY AGAINST THOSE
WHO HAVE BEEN EXPELLED FROM THE SOCIETY."
This is a portrait of the pattern of persecution and annihilation
that every ex-Jesuit, and in truth, every past ex-priest knows, and every
future dissident can expect.
Ch. XV-"HOW THE COMPANY MUST BE CONDUCTED WITH THE MONKS AND
NUNS." (Meaning
other religious Orders-of course)
Ch. XVI-"HOW WE MUST MAKE PROFESSION OF DESPISING
RICHES." The gem of them all-really meaning "How we must pretend to despise riches."
What more vicious enemies could the bishops and diocesan clergy
have than those Jesuit Monitors who wrote: "We must inquire into and
note the defects of the other fathers and when we find them, we must
divulge them among our faithful friends as though condoling over
them." (Ch. V. p. 17)
Read the Jesuits' opinion of other religious orders "calling
attention to the indolence and stupidity of the Monks as if they were
cattle." (Ch. XVII P. 41)
The Jesuits themselves should be concerned with the fact that
history does repeat itself. In Mexico, in Peru, in France, in Italy, in
Germany, in Spain, in Portugal, in Paraguay, in Colombia, in Brazil, in
Argentina, in Chile, in Austria and in very many other countries the
Jesuits gained so much wealth, in land, in buildings and in money, that
others became jealous.
In every country the Jesuits were thrown out. Their property and
wealth was confiscated.
The Jesuits are now repeating their history in the United States of
America. Their landed wealth and holdings are fabulous.
What makes them think that history will not inexorably and
inevitably repeat itself again here in America?
**** **** BANK
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926, Louisville, KY 40201 7 Secret
Instructions of the Society of Jesus SECRET
INSTRUCTIONS OF
THE SOCIETY
OF JESUS PREFACE These
particular instructions must be guarded and kept with careful attention by
the superiors, communicated with prudent caution to a few of the
professors; in the meantime there does not exist any other thing so good
for the Society; but we are charged with the most profound silence, and to
make a false show, should they be written by any one though founded in the
experience we have had. As there are various professors who are in these
secrets, the Society has fixed the rule, that those who know these
reserved instructions that they cannot pass in any one religious Order,
whether it be of the Carthusians, to cause them to retire from that in
which they live, and the inviolable silence with which they are to be
guarded, all of which has been confirmed by the Holy See.
Much care must be taken that they do not get out; for these
counsels in the hands of strange persons to the Society, because they will
give a sinister interpretation invidious to our situation. If
(unless God does not permit) we reach success, we must openly deny that
the Society shelters such thoughts and to take care that it is so affirmed
by those of the Society that they are ignorant by not having been
communicated, which they can protest with truth, that they know nothing of
such instructions; and that there does not exist other than the general
printed or manuscripts, which they can present, to cause any doubt to
vanish. The superiors must with prudence and discretion, inquire if any of
the Society have shown these instructions to strangers; for neither for
himself, or for another, they must be copied by no one, without permission
of the General or of the Provincial; and when it is feared that anyone has
given notice of these instructions, we shall not be able to guard so
rigorous a secret; and we must assert to the contrary, all that is said in
them, it will be so given to be understood, that they only show to all, to
be proved, and afterwards they will be dismissed. CHAPTER
1. THE
MANNER OF PROCEDURE WITH WHICH THE SOCIETY MUST
BE CONDUCTED WHEN CONSIDERING THE COMMENCING OF
SOME FOUNDATION. 1.
To capture the will of the inhabitants of a country, it is very
important to manifest the intent of the Society, in the manner prescribed
in the regulations in which it is said, that the Society must labor with
such ardor and force for the salvation of their neighbor as for
themselves. For the better inducement of this idea, the most opportunely
that we practice the most humble offices, visiting the poor, the
afflicted, and the imprisoned. It is very convenient to confess with much
promptness, and to hear the confessions, showing indifference, without
teasing the penitents; for this, the most notable inhabitants will admire
our fathers and esteem them; for the great charity they have for all, and
the novelty of the subject. BANK
of WISDOM Box
926, Louisville, KY 40201 8 Secret
Instructions of the Society of Jesus 2.
To have in mind that it is necessary to ask with religious modesty,
the means for exercising the duties of the Society, and that it is needful
to procure and acquire benevolence, principally of the secular
ecclesiastics, and of persons of authority, that may be conceived
necessary. 3.
When called to go to the most distant places, where alms are to be
received, they are to be accepted, no matter how small they may be, after
having marked out the necessities of ourselves.
Notwithstanding, it will be very convenient at the moment to give
those alms to the poor, for the edification of those who do not have an
exact understanding of the Society; and, "but we must in advance be
more liberal with ourselves." 4.
All must labor as if we were inspired by the same spirit; and each
one must study to acquire the same styles, with the object of uniformity
among so great a number of persons, edifying the whole; those who do the
contrary must be expelled as pernicious. 5.
In a beginning it is not convenient to purchase property; but in
case they can be found, some good sites may be bought, saying that they
are to belong to other persons, using the names of some faithful friends,
who will guard the secret. The better to make our poverty apparent, the
property nearest our college must belong to colleges the most distant,
that we can prevent the princes and magistrates from ever knowing that the
income of the Society has a fixed point. 6.
We must not ourselves go out to reside to form colleges, except to
the rich cities; for in this we must imitate Christ, who remained in
Jerusalem; and as he alone, passed by the less considerable populations. 7.
We must obtain and acquire of the widows all the money that we can,
presenting ourselves at repeated times to their sight our extreme
necessity. 8.
The Superior over each province is the one to whom we must account
with certainty, the income of the same; but the amount to the treasurer at
Rome, it is, and must always be, an impenetrable mystery. 9.
It is for us to preach and say in all parts and in all
conversations, that we have come to teach the young and aid the people;
and this without interest in any single species and without exception of
persons, and that we are not so onerous to the people as other religious
orders. BANK
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926, Louisville, KY 40201 9 Secret
Instructions of the Society of Jesus CHAPTER
II. THE
MANNER WITH WHICH THE FATHERS OF THE ORDER MUST
CONDUCT THEMSELVES TO ACQUIRE AND PRESERVE THE
FAMILIARITY OF PRINCES, MAGNATES AND POWERFUL AND
RICH PERSONS. 1.
It is necessary to do all that is possible to gain completely the
attentions and affections of princes and persons of the most
consideration; for that, who, being on the outside, but in advance, all of
them will be constituted our defenders. 2.
As we have learned by experience that princes and potentates are
generally inclined to the favor of the ecclesiastics, when these
disseminate their odious actions, and when they give an interpretation
that they favor, as is to be noted among the married, contract with their
relations or allies; or in other similar things; assembling much with
them, to animate those who may be found in this case, saying to them that
we confide in the assurance of the exemptions, that by intervention of us
fathers, which the Pope will concede, if he is made to see the causes, and
will present other examples of similar things, exhibiting at the same time
the sentiments that we favor, under the pretext of the common good and THE
GREATER GLORY OF GOD that is the object of the Society. 3.
If at this same assembly the prince treats of doing something, that
will not be agreeable to all the great men, for which we are to stir up
and investigate, meanwhile, counseling others to conform with the prince,
without ever descending to treat of particulars, for fear there may not be
a successful issue of the matter, for which the Society will be imputed
blame; and for this, if this action shall be disapproved, there will be
advertences presented to the contrary that may be absolutely prohibited
and put in jeopardy, the authority of some of the fathers, of whom it can
be said with certainty, that they have not had notice of the Secret
Instructions; for that, it can be affirmed with an oath, that the calumny
to the Society, is not true in respect to that which is imputed to it. 4.
To gain the good will of Princes, it will be very convenient to
insinuate with skill; and for third persons, that we fathers, are a means
to discharge honorable and favorable duties in the courts of other kings
and princes, and more than any one else in that of the Pope. By this means
we can recommend ourselves and the Society; for the same, no one must be
charged with this commission but the most zealous persons and well versed
in our institute. 5.
Aiming especially to bring over the will of the favorites of
princes and of their servants, by means of presents and pious offices,
that they may give faithful notice to us fathers of the character and
inclinations of the princes and great men. Of this manner the Society can
gain with facility as much to one as to others. BANK
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926, Louisville, KY 40201 10 Secret
Instructions of the Society of Jesus 6.
The experience we have had, has made us acquainted with the many
advantages that have been taken by the Society of its intervention in the
marriages of the House of Austria, and of those which have been effected
in other kingdoms, France, Poland, and in various duchies. Forasmuch
assembling, proposing with prudence, selecting choice persons who may be
friends and families of the relatives, and of the friends of the Society. 7.
It will be easy to gain the princesses, making use of their valets;
by that, coming to feed and nourish with relations of friendship, by being
located at the entrance in all parts, and thus become acquainted with the
most intimate secrets of the familiars. 8.
In regard to the direction of the consciences of great men, we
confessors must follow the writers who concede the greater liberty of
conscience. The contrary of this is to appear too religious; for that they
will decide to leave others and submit entirely to our direction and
counsels. 9. It is necessary to make reference to all the merits of the Society; to the princes and prelates, and to as
many as can lend much aid to the Society, after having shown the
transcendence of its great privileges. 10.
Also, it will be useful to demonstrate, with prudence and skill,
such ample power which the Society has, to absolve, even in the reserved
cases, compared with that of other pastors and priests; also, that of
dispensing with the fasts, and of the rights which they must ask and pay,
in the impediments of marriage, by which means many persons will recur to
us, whom it will be our duty to make agreeable. 11.
It is not the less useful to invite them to our sermons,
assemblies, harangues, declamations, etc., composing odes in their honor,
dedicating literary works or conclusions; and if we can for the future,
give dinners and greetings of divers modes. 12.
It will be very convenient to take to our care the reconciliation
of the great, in the quarrels and enmities that divide them; then by this
method we can enter, little by little, into the acquaintance of their most
intimate friends and secrets; and we can serve ourselves to that party
which will be most in favor of that which we present. 13.
If there should be some one at the service of a monarch or prince,
and he were an enemy of our Society, it is necessary to procure well for
ourselves better than for others, making him a friend, employing promises,
favors, and advances, which shall be in proportion to the same monarch or
prince. 14.
No one shall recommend to a prince any one, nor make advances to
any who have gone out from us, being outside of our Society, and in
particular to those who voluntarily verified, for yet when they
dissimulate they will always maintain an inextinguishable hatred to the
Society. BANK
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Instructions of the Society of Jesus In
fine, each one must procure and search for methods to increase the
affection and favor of princes, of the powerful, and of the magistrates of
each population, that whenever occasion is offered to support, we can do
much with efficacy and good faith, in benefiting ourselves, though
contrary to their relations, allies and friends. CHAPTER
III. HOW
THE SOCIETY MUST BE CONDUCTED WITH THE GREAT AUTHORITIES
IN THE STATE, AND IN CASE THEY ARE NOT RICH
WE MUST LEND OURSELVES TO OTHERS. 1.
The care consigned to us, that we must do all that is possible, for
to conquer the great; but it is also necessary to gain their favor to
combat our enemies. 2.
It is very conducive to value their authority, prudence and
counsels, and induce them to despise wealth, at the same time that we
procure gain and employ those that can redeem the Society; tacitly valuing
their names, for acquisition of temporal goods if they inspire sufficient
confidence. 3.
It is also necessary to employ the ascendant of the powerful, to
temper the malevolence of the persons of a lower sphere and of the rabble
against our Society. 4.
It is necessary to utilize, whenever we can, the bishops, prelates
and other superior ecclesiastics, according to the diversity of reason,
and the inclination we manifest. 5.
In some points it will be sufficient to obtain of the prelates and
curates, that which it is possible to do, that their subjects respect the
society; and that obstructing the exercise of its functions among those
who have the greatest power, as in Germany, Poland, etc. It will be
necessary to exhibit the most distinguished attentions for that, mediating
its authority and that of the princes, monasteries, parishes, priorates,
patronates, the foundations of the churches and the pious places, can come
to our power. Because we can with more facility where the Catholics will
be found mixed with heretics. It is necessary to make such prelates see
the utility and merit that we have in all this, and that never will they
have so much valuation from the priests, friars, and for the future from
the faithful. If making these changes, it is necessary to publicly praise
their zeal, although written, and to perpetuate the memory of their
actions. 6.
For this it is necessary to labor, to the end, that the prelates
will place in the hands of us fathers, as confessors and counselors; and
if they aspire to more elevated positions in the Court of Rome, we must
unite in their favor and aid their pretensions with all our forces, and by
means of our influence. 7.
We must be watchful that when the bishops are instituting principal
colleges and parochial churches, that the faculties are taken from the
Society, and placed in both vicarious establishments, with the charge of
cures, and that the Superior of BANK
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Society to be, that all the government of these churches shall pertain to
us, and that the parishioners shall be our subjects, of the method that
all can be placed in them. 8.
Where there are those of the academies who have been driven out
from us, and are contrary; where the Catholics or the heretics obstruct
our installation, we will compound with the prelates, and make ourselves
the owners of the first cathedrals; for thus shall we make them to know
the necessities of the Society. 9.
Over all, we must be very certain to procure the protection and
affection of the prelates of the Church, for the cases of beatification or
canonization of ourselves; in whose subjects convened further, to obtain
letters from the powerful and of the princes, that the decisions may be
promptly attained in the Catholic Court. 10.
If it shall be accounted that the prelates or magnates should send
commissioned representatives, we must put forth all ardor, that no other
priests, who are in dispute with us, shall be sent; for the reason, that
they shall not communicate their animadversion, discrediting us in the
cities and provinces we inhabit; and that if they pass by other provinces
and cities, where there are colleges, they will be received with affection
and kindness, and be so splendidly treated as a religious modesty will
permit. CHAPTER
IV. OF
THAT WHICH WE MUST CHARGE THE PREACHERS AND
CONFESSORS OF THE GREAT OF THE EARTH. 1.
Those of us who may be directed to the princes and illustrious men,
of the manner in which we must appear before them, with inclination
unitedly "to the greater glory of God," obtaining-with its
austerity of conscience, that the same princes are persuaded of it; for
this direction we must not travel in a principle to the exterior or
political government, but gradually and imperceptibly. 2.
Forasmuch there will be opportunity and conducive notices at
repeated times, that the distribution of honors and dignities in the
Republic is an act of justice; and that in a great manner it will be
offending God, if the princes do not examine themselves and cease carrying
their passions, protesting to the same with frequency and severity, that
we do not desire to mix in the administration of the State; but when it
shall become necessary to so express ourselves thus, to have your weight
to fill the mission that is recommended. Directly that the sovereigns are
well convinced of this, it will be very convenient to give an idea of the
virtues that may be found to adorn those that are selected for the
dignities and principal public changes; procuring then and recommending
the true friends of the Society; notwithstanding, we must not make it
openly for ourselves, but by means of our friends who have intimacy with
the prince that it is not for us to talk him into the disposition of
making them. BANK
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For this watchfulness our friends must instruct the confessors and
preachers of the Society near the persons capable of discharging any duty,
that over all, they must be generous to the Society; they must also keep
their names, that they may insinuate with skill, and upon opportune
occasions to princes, well for themselves or by means of others. 4.
The preachers and confessors will always present themselves so that
they must comport with the princes, lovable and affectionate, without ever
shocking them in sermons, nor in particular conversations, presenting that
which rejects all fear, and exhorting them in particular to faith, hope
and justice. 5.
Never receive gifts made to any one in particular, but that for the
contrary; but picture the distress in which the Society or college may be
found, as all are alike; having to be satisfied with assigning each one a
room in the house, modestly furnished; and noticing that your garb is not
over nice; and assist with promptness to the aid and counsel of the most
miserable persons of the palace; but that you do not say it of them, but
only those who have agreed to serve the powerful. 6.
Whenever the death occurs of any one employed in the palace, we
must take care of speaking with anticipation, that they fail in the
nomination of a successor, in their affection for the Society; but giving
no appearance to cause suspicion that it was the intent of usurping the
government of the prince; for which, it must not be from us that it is
said; take a part direct; but assembling of faithful or influential
friends who may be found in a position of rousing the hate of one and
another until they become inflamed. CHAPTER
V. OF
THE MODE OF CONDUCTING THE SOCIETY WITH RESPECT TO OTHER ECCLESIASTICS WHO
HAVE THE SAME DUTIES AS OURSELVES IN THE CHURCH. 1.
It is necessary to help with valor these persons, and manifest in
their due time to the princes and lords that are always ours, and being
constituted in power, that our Society contains essentially the perfection
of all the other orders, with the exception of singing and manifesting an
exterior of austerity in the mode of life and in dress; and that if in
some points they excel the communities of the Society, this shines with
greater splendor in the Church of God. 2.
We must inquire into and note the defects of the other fathers
(non-Jesuit priests), and when we find them, we must divulge them among
our faithful friends, as condoling over them; we must show that such
fathers do not discharge with certainty, that we do ourselves the
functions, that some and others recommend. 3.
It is necessary that the fathers of our Society oppose with all
their power the other fathers who intend to found houses of education to
instruct the youths among the populations where ours are found teaching
with acceptation and approval; and it will be BANK
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convenient to indicate our projects to princes and magistrates, that such
people will excite disturbances and commotions if they are not prohibited
from teaching; and that in the last result, the damage will fall upon the
educated, by being instructed by a bad method, without any necessity;
posting them that the Society is sufficient to teach the youth. In case
the fathers bear letters of the Pontificate, or recommendations from the
Cardinals, we must work in opposition to them, making the princes and
great men to point out to the Pope the merits of the Society and its
intelligence for the pacific instruction of the youths, to which end, we
must have and obtain certifications of the authorities upon our good
conduct and sufficiency. 4.
Having notwithstanding to form duties, our fathers in displaying
singular proofs of our virtue and erudition, making them to exercise the
alumni (graduates) in their studies in methods of functions, scholars of
diversion, capable of drawing applause, making for supposition, these
representations in the presence of the great magistrates and concurrence
of other classes. CHAPTER
VI. OF
THE MODE OF ATTRACTING RICH WIDOWS. 1.
We must elect effective fathers already advanced in years, of
lively complexion and conversation, agreeable to visit these ladies, and
whence they can promptly note in them appreciation or affection for our
Society; making offerings of good works and the merits of the same; that,
if they accept them, and succeed in having them frequent our temples, we
must assign to them a confessor, who will be able of guiding them in the
ways that are proper, in the state of widowhood, making the enumeration
and praises of satisfaction that should accompany such a state; making
them believe and yet with certainty that they who serve as such, is a
merit for etemal life, being efficacious to relieve them from the pains of
purgatory. 2.
The same confessor will propose to them to make and adorn a little
chapel or oratory in their own house, to confirm their religious
exercises, because by this method we can shorten the communication, more
easily hindering those who visit others; although if they have a
particular chaplain, and will content to go to him to celebrate the mass,
making opportune advertencies to her who confesses, to the effect and
treating her as being left to be overpowered by said Chaplain. 3.
We must endeavor skillfully but gently to cause them to change
respectively to the Order and to the method of the House, and to conform
as the circumstances of the person will permit, to whom they are directed,
their propensities, their piety, and yet to the place and situation of the
edifice. 4.
We must not omit to have removed, little by little, the servants of
the house that are not of the same mind with ourselves, proposing that
they be replaced by those persons who are dependent on us, or who desire
to be of the Society; for by this method we can be placed in the channel
of communication of whatever passes in the family. BANK
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The constant watch of the confessor will have to be, that the widow
shall be disposed to depend on him totally, representing that her advances
in grace are necessarily bound to this submission. 6.
We are to induce her to the frequency of the sacraments, and
especially that of penitence, making her to give account of her deeper
thoughts and intentions; inviting her to listen to her confessor, when he
is to preach particular promising orations; recommending equally the
recitation each day of the litanies and the examination of conscience. 7.
It will be very necessary in the case of a general confession, to
enter extensively into all of her inclinations; for that it will be to
determine her, although she may be found in the hands of others. 8.
Insist upon the advantages of widowhood, and the inconvenience of
marriage; in particular that of a repeated one, and the dangers to which
she will be exposed, relatively to her particular businesses into which we
are desirous of penetrating. 9.
We must cause her to talk of men whom she dislikes, and to see if
she takes notice of anyone who is agreeable, and represent to her that he
is a man of bad life; procuring by these means disgust of one and another,
and repugnant to unite with anyone. 10.
When the confessor has become convinced that she has decided to
follow the life of widowhood, he must then proceed to counsel her to
dedicate herself to a spiritual life, but not to a monastic one, whose
lack of accommodations will show how they live; in a word, we must proceed
to speak of the spiritual life of Pauline and of Eustace, &c. The
confessor will conduct her at last, that having devoted the widow to
chastity, to not less than for two or three years, she will then be made
to renounce a second nuptial forever.
In this case she will be found to have discarded all sorts of
relations with men, and even the diversions between her relatives and
acquaintances, we must protest that she must unite more closely to God.
With regard to the ecclesiastics who visit her, or to whom she goes out to
visit, when we cannot keep her separate and apart from all others, we must
labor that those with whom she treats shall be recommended by ourselves or
by those who are devoted to us. 11.
In this state, we must inspire her to give alms, under the
direction, as she will suppose, or her spiritual father; then it is of
great importance that they shall be employed with utility; more, being
careful that there shall be discretion in counsel, causing her to see that
inconsiderate alms are the frequent causes of many sins, or serve to
torment at last, that they are not the fruit, nor the merit which produced
them. BANK
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VII. SYSTEM
WHICH MUST BE EMPLOYED WITH WIDOWS AND
METHODS OF DISPOSING OF THEIR PROPERTY. 1.
It will be necessary to inspire her to continue to persevere in her
devotion and the exercise of good works and of disposition, in not
permitting a week to pass, to give away some part of her over plus, in
honor of Jesus Christ, of the Holy Virgin and of the Saint she has chosen
for her patron; giving this to the poor of the Society or for the
ornamenting of its churches, until she has absolutely disposed of the
first fruits of her property as in other times did the Egyptians. 2.
When the widows, the more generally to practice their alms, must be
given to know with perseverance, their liberality in favor of the Society;
and they are to be assured that they are participants in all the merits of
the same, and of the particular indulgences of the Provincial; and if they
are persons of much consideration, of the General of the Order. 3.
The widows who having made vows of chastity, it will be necessary
for them to renew them twice per annum, conforming to the custom that we
have established; but permitting them notwithstanding, that day some
honest freedom from restraint by our fathers. 4.
They must be frequently visited, treating them agreeably; referring
them to spirited and diverting histories, conformable to the character and
inclination of each one. 5.
But that they may not abate, we must not use too much rigor with
them in the confessional; that it may not be, that they by having
empowered others of their benevolence, that we do not lose confidence of
recovering their adhesion, having to proceed in all cases with great skill
and caution, being aware of the inconstancy natural to woman. 6.
It is necessary to have them do away with the habit of frequenting
other churches, in particular those of convents; for which it is necessary
to often remind them, that in our Order there are possessed many
indulgences that are to be obtained only partially by all the other
religious corporations. 7.
To those who may be found in the case of the garb of mourning, they
will be counseled to dress a little more agreeable, that they may at the
same time, unite the aspect of mourning with that of adornment, to draw
them away from the idea of being found directed by a man who has become a
stranger to the world. Also with such, that they may not be very much
endangered, or particularly exposed to volubility, we can concede to them,
as if they maintained their consequence and liberality, for and with the
society, that which drives ensuality away from them, being with moderation
and without scandal. 8.
We must manage that in the houses of the widows there shall be
honorable young ladies, of rich and noble families; that little by little
they become accustomed to our direction and mode of life; BANK
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that they are given a director elected and established by the confessor of
the family, to be permanently and always subject to all the reprehensions
and habits of the Society; and if any do not wish to submit to all, they
must be sent to the houses of their fathers, or to those from which they
were brought, accusing them directly of extravagance and of glaring and
stained character. 9.
The care of the health of the widows, and to proportion some
amusement, it is not the least important that we should care for their
salvation; and so, if they complain of some indisposition, we must
prohibit the fast, the hair cloth girdle, and the discipline, without
permitting them to go to church; further continue the direction,
cautiously and secretly with such, that they may be examined in their
houses; if they are given admission into the garden, and edifice of the
college, with secrecy; and if they consent to converse and secretly
entertain with those that they prefer. 10.
To the end that we may obtain, that the widows employ their utmost
obsequiousness to the Society, it is the duty to represent to them the
perfection of the life of the holy, who have renounced the world,
estranged themselves from their relations, and despising their fortunes,
consecrating themselves to the service of the Supreme Being with entire
resignation and content. It will be necessary to produce the same effect,
that those who turn away to the Constitutions of the Society, and their
relative examination to the abandonment of all things. We must cite
examples of the widows who have reached holiness in a very short time;
giving hopes of their being canonized, if their perseverance does not
decay; and promising for their cases our influence with the Holy Father. 11.
We must impress in their souls the persuasion that, if they desire
to enjoy complete tranquility of conscience it will be necessary for them
to follow without repugnance, without murmuring, nor tiring, the direction
of the confessor, so in the spiritual, as in the eternal, that she may be
found destined to the same God, by their guidance. 12.
Also we must direct with opportunity, that the Lord does not desire
that they should give alms, nor yet to fathers of an exemplary life, known
and approved, without consulting beforehand with their confessor, and
regulating the dictation of the same. 13.
The confessors must take the greatest care, that the widows and
their daughters of the confessional, do not go to see other fathers (i.e.
non-Jesuit priests) under any pretext, nor with them. For this, we must
praise our Society as the Order most illustrious of them all; of greater
utility in the Church, and of greater authority with the Pope and with the
princes; perfection in itself; then dismiss the dream of them, and menace
them, that we can, and that we are no correspondents to them, we can say,
that we do not consent to froth and do as among other monks who count in
their convents many ignorant, stupid loungers who are indolent in regard
to the other life, and intriguers in that to disorder, &c. 14.
The confessors must propose and persuade the widows to assign
ordinary pensions and other annual quotas to the colleges and houses of
profession for their sustenance with especially to BANK
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professed house at Rome; and not forgetting to remind them of the
restoration of the ornaments of the temples and replenishing of the wax,
the wine, and other necessaries for the celebration of the mass. 15.
If they do not make relinquishment of their property to the
Society, it will be made manifest to them, on apparent occasion in
particular, when they are found to be sick, or in danger of death; that
there are many colleges to be founded; and that they may be excited with
sweetness and disinterestedness, to make some disbursements as merit for
God, and in that they can found his eternal glory. 16.
In the same manner, we must proceed with regard to princes and
other well doers, making them to see that such foundations will be made to
perpetuate their memory in this world, and gain eternal happiness, and if
some malevolent persons adduce the example of Jesus Christ, saying, that
then he had no place to recline his head, the Society bearing his name
should be poor in imitation of himself, we must make it known and imprint
it in the imagination of those, and of all the world, that the Church has
varied, and that in this day we have become a State; and we must show
authority and grand measures against its enemies that are very powerful,
or like that little stone prognosticated by the prophet, that, divided,
came to be a great mountain. Inculcate constantly to the widows who
dedicate their alms and ornaments to the temples, that the greater
perfection is in disposing of the affection and earthly things, ceding
their possession to Jesus Christ and his companions. 17.
Being very little, that which we must promise to the widows, who
dedicate and educate their children for the world, we must apply some
remedy to it. CHAPTER
VIII. METHODS
BY WHICH THE CHILDREN OF RICH WIDOWS MAY
BE CAUSED TO EMBRACE THE RELIGIOUS STATE, OR
OF DEVOTION. 1.
To secure our object, we must create the custom, that the mothers
treat them severely, and show to them, that we are in love with them.
Coming to induce the mothers to do away with their tastes, from the most
tender age, and regarding, restraining, &c., &c., the children
especially; prohibiting decorations and adornments when they enter upon
competent age; that they are inspired in the vocation for the cloister,
promising them an endowment of consideration, if they embrace a similar
state; representing to them the insipidity that is brought with matrimony,
and the disgust that has been experienced in it; signifying to them the
weight they would sit under, for not having maintained in the celibate.
Lastly, coming to direct in the conclusions arrived at by the daughters of
the widows, so fastidious of living with their mothers, that their feet
will be directed to enter into a convent. 2.
We must make ourselves intimate with the sons of the widows, and if
for them an object or the Society, and cause them to penetrate the intent
of our colleges, making them to see things that can call BANK
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attention by whatever mode, such as gardens, vineyards, country houses,
and the farm houses where the masters go to recreate; talk to them of the
voyages the Jesuits have made to different countries, of their treating
with princes, and of much that can capture the young; cause them to note
the cleanliness of the refectory, the commodiousness of the lodges, the
agreeable conversation we have among ourselves, the suavity of our rule,
and that we have all for the object of the greater glory of God; show to
them the preeminence of our Order over all the others, taking care that
the conversations we have shall be diverting to pass to that of piety. 3.
At proposing to them the religious state, have care of doing so, as
if by revelation; and in general, insinuating directly with sagacity, the
advantage and sweetness of our institute above all others; and in
conversation cause them to understand the great sin that will be committed
against the vocation of the Most High; in fine, induce them to make some
spiritual exercises that they may be enlightened to the choice of this
state. 4.
We must do all that is possible that the masters and professors of
the youth indicated shall be of the Society, to the end, of being always
vigilant over these, and counsel them; but if they cannot be reduced, we
must cause them to be deprived of some things, causing that their mothers
shall manifest their censure and authority of the house, that they may be
tired of that sort of life; and if, finally, we cannot obtain their will
to enter the Society, we must labor; because we can remand them to other
colleges of ours that are at a distance, that they may study, procuring
impediment, that their mothers show endearment and affection, at the same
time, continuing for our part, in drawing them to us by suavity of
methods. CHAPTER
IX. UPON
THE AUGMENTING OF REVENUE IN THE COLLEGES. 1.
We must do all that is possible, because we do not know if bound
with the last vow of him, who is the claimant of an inheritance, meanwhile
we do not know if it is confirmed, to not be had in the Society a younger
brother, or of some other reason of much entity. Before all, that which we
must procure, are the augmentations of the Society with rules to the ends
agreed upon by the superiors, which must be conformable: for that the
Church returns to its primitive splendor for the greater glory of God; of
fate that all the clergy shall be found animated by a united spirit. To
this end, we must publish by all methods, that the Society is composed in
part of professors so poor, that are wanting of the most indispensable, to
not be for the beneficence of the faithful; and that another part is of
fathers also poor, although living upon the product of some household
property; but not to be grievous to the public, in the midst of their
studies, their ministry, as are other ordinary mendicants. The spiritual
directors of princes, great men, accommodating widows, and of whom we have
abundant hope, that they will be disposed at last to make gifts to the
Society in exchange for spiritual and eternal things, that will be
proportioned, the lands and temporalities which they possess; for the
same, carrying always the idea, that we are not to lose the BANK
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of receiving always as much as may be offered. If promises and the
fulfillment of them is retarded, they are to be remembered with
precaution, dissimulating as much as we can the coveting of riches. When
some confessor of personages or other people, will not be apt, or wants
subtility, that in these subjects is indispensable, he will be retired
with opportunity, although others may be placed anticipated; and if it be
entirely necessary to the penitents, it will be made necessary to take out
the destitute to distant colleges, representing that the Society has need
for them there; because it being known that some young widows, having
unexpectedly failed, the Society not having the legacy of very precious
movables, having been careless by not accepting in due time. But to
receive these things, we could not attend at the time, and only at the
good will of the penitent. 2.
To attract the prelates, canonicals and other rich ecclesiastics,
it is necessary to employ certain arts, and in place procuring them to
practice in our houses spiritual exercises, and gradually and
energetically of the affection that we profess to divine things; so that
they will be affectionate towards the Society and that they will soon
offer pledges of their adhesion. 3.
The confessors must not forget to ask with the greatest caution and
on adequate occasions of those who confess, what are their names,
families, relatives, friends, and properties, informing their successors
who follow them, the state, intention in which they will be found, and the
resolution which they have taken; that which they have not yet determined
obtaining, having to form a plan for the future to the Society. When it is
founded, whence directly there are hopes of utility; for it will not be
convenient to ask all at once; they will be counseled to make their
confession each week, to disembarrass the conscience much before, or to
the title of penitence. They will be caused to inform the confessor with
repetition, of that which at one time they have not given sufficient
light; and if they have been successful by this means, she will come,
being a woman, to make confession with frequency, and visit our church;
and being a man, he will be invited to our houses and we are to make him
familiar with ourselves. 4.
That which is said in regard to widows, must have equal application
to the merchants and neighbors of all classes, as being rich and married,
but without children, of that plan by which the Society can arrive to be
their heirs, if we put in play the measures that we may indicate; but over
all, it will be well to have present, as said, near the rich devotees that
treat with us, and of whom the vulgar can murmur, when more, if they are
of a class not very elevated. 5.
Procuring for the rectors of the colleges entrance for all the ways
of the houses, parks, groves, forests, lawns, arable lands, vineyards,
olive orchards, hunting grounds, and whatever species of inheritances
which they meet with in the end of their rectory; if their owners pertain
to the nobility, to the clergy, or are negotiators, particulars, or
religious communities, inquiring the revenues of each one, their loads and
what they pay for them. All these dates or notices they are to seek for
with great skill and to a fixed point, energetically yet from the
confessional, then BANK
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the relations of friendship; or of the accidental conversations; and the
confessor meets with a penitent of possible, he will be placed in
knowledge of the rector, obtaining by all methods the one conserved. 6.
The essential point to build upon, is the following: that we must
so manage, that in the ends we gain the will and affections of our
penitents, and other persons with whom we treat, accommodating ourselves
to their inclinations if they are conducive. The Provincials will take
care to direct some of us to points, in which reside the nobility and the
powerful; and if the Provincials do not act with opportunity, the rectors
must notice with anticipation, the crops (the field of operations) that
are there, which we go to examine. 7.
When we receive the sons of strong houses in the Society, they must
show whether they will be easy to acquire the contracts and titles of
possession; and if so they were to enter of themselves, of which they may
be caused to cede some of their property to the college, or the usufruct
(profit) or for rent, or in other form, or if they can come for a time
into the Society, the gain of which may be very much of an object, to give
a special understanding to the great and powerful, the narrowness in which
we live, and the debts that are pressing us. 8.
When the widows, or our married devoted women, do not have more
than daughters, we must persuade them to the same life of devotion, or to
that of the cloister; but that except the endowment that they may give,
they can enter their property in the Society gently; but when they have
husbands, those that would object to the Society, they will be catechized;
and others who desire to enter as religiousness in other Orders, with the
promise of some reduced amount. When there may be an only son, he must be
attracted at all cost, inculcating the vocation as made by Jesus Christ;
causing him to be entirely disembarrassed from the fear of its fathers,
and persuading him to make a sacrifice very acceptable to the Almighty,
that he must withdraw to His authority, abandon the paternal house and
enter in the Society; the which, if he so succeeds, after having given
part to the General, he will be sent to a distant novitiate; but if they
have daughters, they will primarily dispose the daughters for a religious
life; and they will be caused to enter into some monastery, and afterwards
be received as daughters in the Society, with the succession of its
properties. 9.
The Superiors will place in the channel of the circumstances, the
confessors of these widows and married people, that they on all future
occasions may act for the benefit of the Society; and when by means of
one, they cannot take our part he will be replaced with another; and if it
is made necessary, he will be sent to great distances, of a manner that he
cannot follow understandingly with these families. 10.
If we succeed in convincing the widows and devoted persons, who
aspire with fervor to a perfect life, and that the better means to obtain
it is by ceding all their properties to the Society, supporting by their
revenues, that they will be religiously administered until their death,
conforming to the BANK
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of necessity in which they may be found, and the just reason that may be
employed for their persuasion is, that by this mode, they can be
exclusively dedicated to God; without attentions and molestations, which
would perplex them, and that it is the only road to reach the highest
degree of perfection. 11.
The Superiors craving the confidence of the rich, who are attached
to the Society, delivering receipts of its proper hand writing whose
payment afterwards will differ; not forgetting to often visit those who
loan, to exhort them above all in their infirmities of consideration, as
to whom will devolve the papers of the debt; because it is not so to be
found mention of the Society in their testament; and by this course we
must acquire properties, without giving cause for us to be hated by the
heirs. 12.
We must also in a grand manner ask for a loan, with payment of
annual interest, and employ the same capital in other speculation to
produce greater revenues to the Society; for at such a time, succeeding to
move them with compassion to that which they will lend to us, we will not
lose the interest in the testament of donation, when they see that they
found colleges and churches. 13.
The Society can report the utilities of commerce, and value the
name of the merchant of credit, whose friendship we may possess. 14.
Among the peoples where our fathers reside, we must have physicians
faithful to the Society, whom we can especially recommend to the sick, and
to paint under an aspect very superior to that of other religious orders,
and secure direction that we shall be called to assist the powerful,
particularly in the hour of death. 15.
That the confessors shall visit with assiduity the sick,
particularly those who are in danger, and to honestly eliminate the other
fathers, which the superiors will procure, when the confessor sees that he
is obliged to remove the other from the suffering, to replace and maintain
the sick in his good intentions. Meanwhile we must inculcate as much as we
can with prudence, the fear of hell, &c., &c., or when, the lesser
ones of purgatory; demonstrating that as water will put out fire, so will
the same alms blot out the sin; and that we cannot employ the alms better,
than in the maintaining and subsidizing of the persons, who, by their
vocation, have made profession of caring for the salvation of their
neighbor; that in this manner the sick can be made to participate in their
merits, and find satisfaction for their own sins; placing before them that
charity covereth a multitude of sins; and that also, we can describe that
charity, is as a nuptial vestment, without which, no one can be admitted
to the heavenly table. in fine it will be necessary to move them to the
citations of the scriptures, and of the holy fathers, that according to
the capacity of the sick, we can judge what is most efficacious to move
them. 16.
We must teach the women, that they must complain of the vices of
their husbands, and the disturbances which they occasion, that they can
rob them in secret of some amounts of money, to offer to God, in expiation
of the sins of their husbands, and to obtain their pardon. BANK
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X. OF
THE PARTICULAR RIGOR OF DISCIPLINE IN
THE SOCIETY. 1.
If there shall be anyone dismissed under any protest, as an enemy
of the Society, whatever may be his condition, or age; all those who have
been moved to become the devotees of our churches; or of visiting
ourselves; or who having been made to take the alms on the way to other
churches; or who having been found to give to other fathers; or who having
dissuaded any rich man, and well intentioned towards our Society, or
giving anything; or in the time in which he can dispose of his properties,
having shown great affection for his relations with this Society; because
it is a great proof of a mortified disposition; and we conclude that the
professions are entirely mortified; or also, that he having scattered all
the alms of the penitents, or of the friends of the Society, in favor of
his poor relations. Furthermore, that he may not complain afterwards of
the cause of his expulsion, it will be necessary to thrust him from us
directly; but we can prohibit him from hearing confessions, which will
mortify him, and vex him by imposing upon him most vile offices, obliging
him each day to do things that are the most repugnant; he will be removed
from the highest studies and honorable employments; he will be reprimanded
in the chapters by public censures; he will be excluded from the
recreations and prohibited from all conversation with strangers; he will
be deprived of his vestments and the uses of other things when they are
not indispensable, until he begins to murmur and becomes impatient; then
he can be expelled as a shameful person, to give a bad example to others;
and if it is necessary to give account to his relatives, or to the
prelates of the Church, of the reason for which he has been thrust out, it
will be sufficient to say that he does not possess the spirit of the
Society. 2.
Furthermore, having also expelled all those who may have scrupled
to acquire properties for the Society, we must direct, that they are too
much addicted to their own judgment. If we desire to give reason of their
conduct to the Provincials, it is necessary not to give them a hearing;
but call for the rule, that they are obligated to a blind obedience. 3.
It will be necessary to note, whence the beginning and whence their
youth, those who have great affection for the Society; and those which we
recognize their affection until the furthest orders, or until their
relatives, or until the poor shall be necessarily disposed, little by
little, as carefully said, to go out; then they are useless. CHAPTER
XI. HOW
WE MUST CONDUCT OURSELVES UNITEDLY
AGAINST THOSE WHO
HAVE BEEN EXPELLED FROM THE SOCIETY. 1.
As those whom we have expelled, when knowing little or something of
the secrets, the most times are noxious to the Society for the same, it
shall be necessary to obviate their efforts by the following method,
before thrusting them out; it will be necessary BANK
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obligate them to promise, by writing, and under oath, that they will never
by writing or speaking, do anything which may be prejudicial to the
Society; and it will be good that the Superiors guard a point of their
evil inclinations, of their defects and of their vices; that they are the
same, having to manifest in the discharge of their duties, following the
custom of the Society, for that, if it should be necessary, this point can
serve near the great, and the prelates to hinder their advancement. 2.
Constant notice must be given to an the colleges of their having
been expelled; and we must exaggerate the general motives of their
expulsion; as the little mortification of their spirit; their
disobedience; their little love for spiritual exercises; their self love,
&c., &c. Afterwards, we must admonish them, that they must not
have any correspondence with them; and they must speak of them as
strangers; that the language of all shall be uniform, and that it may be
told everywhere, that the Society never expels any one without very grave
causes, and that as the sea casts up dead bodies, &c., &c. We must
insinuate with caution, similar reasons to these, causing them to be
abhorred by the people, that for their expulsion it may appear plausible. 3.
In the domestic exhortations, it will be necessary to persuade
people that they have been turned out as unquiet persons; that they
continue to beg each moment to enter anew into the Society; and it will be
good to exaggerate the misfortunes of those who have perished miserably,
after having separated from the Society. 4.
It will also be opportune to send forth the accusations, that they
have gone out from the Society, which we can formulate by means of grave
persons, who will everywhere repeat that the Society never expels any one
but for grave causes; and that they never part with their healthy members;
the which they can confirm by their zeal, and show in general for the
salvation of the souls of them that do not pertain to them; and how much
greater will it not be for the salvation of their own. 5.
Afterwards, the Society must prepare and attract by all classes of
benefits, the magnates, or prelates, with whom those who have been
expelled begin to enjoy some authority and credit. It will be necessary to
show that the common good of an Order so celebrated as useful in the
Church, must be of more consideration, than that if a particular one who
has been cast out. If an this affliction preserves some affection for
those expelled, it will be good to indicate the reasons which have caused
their expulsion; and yet exaggerate the causes the more that they were not
very true; with such they can draw their conclusions as to the probable
consequences. 6.
Of all modes, it will be necessary that they particularly have
abandoned the Society by their own free will; not being promoted to a
single employment or dignity in the Church; that they would not submit
themselves and much that pertains to the Society; and that all the world
should withdraw from them that desire to depend on them. BANK
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Procuring soon, that they are removed from the exercise of the
functions celebrated in the Church, such as the sermons, confessions,
publication of books, &c., &c., so that they do not win the love
and applause of the people. For this, we must come to inquire diligently
upon their life and their habits; upon their occupations, &c.,
&c., penetrate into their intentions, for the which, we must have
particular correspondence with some of the family in whose house they
live, of those who have been expelled.
In surprising something reprehensible in them or worthy of censure,
which is to be divulged by people of medium quality; giving in following
the steps conducive to reach the hearing of the great, and the prelates,
who favor then, that they may be caused to fear that the infamy will
relapse upon themselves. If they do nothing that merits reprehension, and
conduct themselves well, we must curtail them by subtle propositions and
captious phrases, their virtues and meritorious actions, causing that the
idea that has been formed of them, and the faith that is had in them, may
little by little be made to disappear; this is of great interest for the
Society, that those whom we repel, and more principally those who by their
own will abandon us, shall be sunk in obscurity and oblivion. 8.
We must divulge without ceasing the disgraces and sinister
accidents that they bring upon them, notwithstanding the faithful, who
entreat for them in their prayers, that they may not believe that we work
from impulses of passion. In our houses we must exaggerate by every method
these calamities, that they may serve to hinder others. CHAPTER
XII. WHO
MAY COME THAT THEY MAY BE SUSTAINED AND
PRESERVED IN THE SOCIETY. 1.
The first place in the Society pertains to the good operators; that
is to say, those who cannot procure less for the temporal than for the
spiritual good of the Society; such as the confessors of princes, of the
powerful, of the widows, of the rich pious women, the preachers and the
professors who know all these secrets. 2.
Those who have already failed in strength or advanced in years;
conforming to the use they have made of their talents in and for the
temporal good of the Society; of the manner which has attended them in
days that are passed; and further, are yet convenient instruments to give
part to the Superiors of the ordinary defects which are to be noted in
ourselves, for they are always in the house. 3.
We must never expel but in case of extreme necessity, for fear of
the Society acquiring a bad reputation. 4.
Furthermore, it will be necessary to favor those who excel by their
talent, their nobleness and their fortune; particularly if they have
powerful friends attached to the Society; and if they themselves have for
it a sincere appreciation, as we have already said before. They must be
sent to Rome, or to the universities of BANK
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reputation to study there; or in case of having studied in some province,
it will be very convenient that the professors attend to them with special
care and affection. Meanwhile, they not having conveyed their property to
the Society, we must not refuse them anything; for after confirming the
cession, they will be disappointed as the others, notwithstanding guarding
some consideration for the past. 5.
Having also especial consideration on the part of the Superiors,
for those that have brought to the Society, a young notable, placed so
that they are given to know the affection made to it; but if they have not
professed, it is necessary to take care of not having too much indulgence
with them, for fear that they may return at another time, to carry away
those whom they have brought to the Society. CHAPTER
XIII. OF
THE YOUTH WHO MAY BE ELECTED TO BE ADMITTED INTO
THE SOCIETY, AND
OF THE MODE OF RETAINING THEM. 1.
It is necessary that much prudence shall be exercised, respecting
the election of the Youth; having to be sprightly, noble, well liked, or
at the least excellent in some of these qualities. 2.
To attract them with greater facility to our institute, it is
necessary in the meanwhile, to study that the rectors and professors of
colleges shall exhibit an especial affection; and outside the time of the
classes, to make them comprehend how great is God, and that some one
should consecrate to his service all that he possesses; and particularly
if he is in the Society of his Son. 3.
Whenever the opportunity may arrive, conducive in the college and
in the garden, and yet at times to the country houses, that in the company
of ourselves, during the recreations, that we may familiarize with them,
little by little, being careful, notwithstanding, that the familiarity
does not engender disgust. 4.
We cannot consent that we shall punish them, nor oblige them to
assemble at their tasks among those who are the most educated. 5.
We must congratulate them with gifts and privileges conforming to
their age and encouraging above all others with moral discourses. 6.
We must inculcate them, that it is for one divine disposition, that
they are favorites among so many who frequent the same college. 7.
On other occasions, especially in the exhortations, we must aim to
terrify them with menaces of the eternal condemnation, if they refuse the
divine vocation. BANK
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Meanwhile frequently expressing the anxiety to enter the Society,
we must always defer their admission, that they may remain constant; but
if for these, they are undecided, then we must encourage them incessantly
by other methods. 9.
If we admonish effectively, that none of their friends, nor yet the
fathers, nor the mothers discover their vocation before being admitted;
because then, if then, they come to the temptation of withdrawing; so many
as the Society desires to give full liberty of doing that which may be the
most convenient; and in case of succeeding to conquer the temptation, we
must never lose occasions to make them recover spirit; remembering that
which we have said, always that this will succeed during the time of the
novitiate, or after having made their simple vows. 10.
With respect to the sons of the great, nobles, and senators, as it
is supremely difficult to attract them, meanwhile living with their
fathers, who are having them educated to the end, that they may succeed in
their destinies, we must persuade, vigorously, of the better influences of
friends that are persons of the same Society; that they are ordered to
other provinces, or to distant universities in which there are our
teachers; careful to remit to the respective professors the necessary
instructions, appropriate to their quality and condition, that they may
gain their friendship for the Society with greater facility and certainty. 11.
When having arrived at a more advanced age, they will be induced to
practice some spiritual exercises, that they may have so good an exit in
Germany and Poland. 12.
We must console them in their sadness and afflictions, according to
the quality and dispositions of each one, making use of private reprimands
and exhortations appropriate to the bad use of riches; inculcating upon
them that they should depreciate the felicity of a vocation, menacing them
with the pains of hell for the things they do. 13.
It will be necessary to make patent to the fathers and the mothers,
that they may condescend more easily to the desire of their sons of
entering the Society, the excellence of its institute in comparison with
those of other orders; the sanctity and the science of our fathers; its
reputation in all the world; the honor and distinctions of the different
great and small. We must make enumeration of the princes and the magnates,
that, with great content, have lived until their death, and yet living in
the Society. We must show how agreeable it is to God, that the youth
consecrate themselves to Him, particularly in the Society of his Son: and
what thing is there so sublime as that of a man carrying the yoke of the
Lord from his youth. That if they oppose any objections because of their
extreme youth, then we must present the facility of our institute, the
which not having anything to molest, with the exception of the three vows,
and that which is most notable, that we do not have any obligatory rule,
nor yet under penalty of venial sin. BANK
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XIV. UPON
RESERVED CASES AND MOTIVES THAT NECESSITATE EXPULSION
FROM THE SOCIETY. 1.
To most of the cases expressed in the Constitutions, and of which
only the Superior or the ordinary confessor, with permission of this, can
absolve them, where there is sodomy, unnatural crime, formication,
adultery, of the unchaste touch of a man, or of a woman; also if under the
pretext of Zeal, or whatever motive, they have done some grave thing
against the Society; against its honors and its gains; these will be just
causes for reason of the expulsion of the guilty. 2.
If anyone confesses in the confessional of having committed some
similar act, he will not be promised absolution, until he has promised to
reveal to the Superior, outside of the confessional, the same or by his
confessor. The Superior will operate the better for it, in the general
interests of the Society; further, if there is founded hope of the careful
hiding of the crime, it will be necessary to impose upon the guilty a
convenient punishment; if otherwise he can be expelled much before. With
all the care that is possible, the confessor will give the penitent to
understand that he runs the danger of being expelled. 3.
If any one of our confessors, having heard a strange person say,
that he had committed a shameful thing with one of the Society, he will
not absolve such a person, without his having said, outside of his
confession, the name of the one with whom he has sinned; and if he so
says, he will be made to swear that he will not divulge the same, without
the consent of the Society. 4.
If two of ourselves have sinned carnally, he who first avows it
will be retained in the Society; and the other will be expelled; but he
who remains permanent, will be after such mortification and bad treatment,
of sorrow, and by his impatience, and if we have occasion for his
expulsion, it will be necessary for the future of it that it be done
directly. 5.
The Society being a noble corporation and preeminent in the Church,
it can dismiss those that will not be apt for the execution of our object,
although giving satisfaction in the beginning; and the opportunity does
not delay in presenting itself; if it procures continuous maltreatment;
and if he is obliged to do contrary to his inclination; if they are
gathered under the orders of gloomy Superiors; if he is separated from his
studies and from the honorable functions, &c., &c., until be gets
to murmuring. 6.
In no manner must we retain in the Society, those that openly
reveal against their Superiors, or that will complain publicly, or
reservedly, of their companions, or particularly if they make them to
strangers; nor to those who are among ourselves, or among persons who are
on the outside, censure the conduct of the Society in regard to the
acquisition or administration of temporal properties, or whatever acts of
the same; for example, of crushing or oppressing many of those whom we do
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same having been expelled, &c., &c. Nor yet those, that in
conversation, who tolerate, or defend the Venetians, the French and
others, that have driven the Society away from the territories, or that
have occasioned great prejudices. 7.
Before the expulsion of any we must vex and harass them in the
extreme; depriving them of the functions that they have been accustomed to
discharge, dedicating them to others. Although they may do well, it will
be necessary to censure them, and with this pretext, apply them to another
thing. Imposing by a trifling fault that they have committed the most
severe penalties, that they blush in public, until they have lost all
patience; and at last will be expelled as pernicious to all, for which a
future opportunity will present itself when they will think less. 8.
When some one of the Society has a certain hope of obtaining a
bishopric, or whatever other ecclesiastical dignity, to most of the
ordinary vows of the Society he will be obliged to take another; and that
is, that he will always preserve good sentiments towards the Society; that
he will always speak favorably of it; that he will not have a confessor
that will not be to its bosom; that he will do nothing of entity without
having heard the justice of the same. Because in consequence of not having
observed this, the Cardinal Tolet the Society had obtained of the Holy
See, that no swinish descendants of Jews or Mahometans were admitted, that
he did not desire to take such vows; and that for celebrity that is out,
he was expelled as a firm enemy of the Society. CHAPTER
XV. HOW
THE SOCIETY MUST BE CONDUCTED WITH
THE MONKS AND NUNS. 1.
The confessors and preachers must guard well against offending the
nuns and occasioning temptations contrary to their vocation; but on the
contrary, having conciliated the love of the Lady Superiors, that we
obtain to hear, when less, their extraordinary confessions, and that it is
predicted that we may hope soon to receive some gratitude from them;
because the abbesses, principally the rich and noble, can be of much
utility to the Society, by themselves, and by their relatives and friends;
of the manner with which we treat with them and influence of the principal
monasteries, the Society will little by little arrive to obtain the
knowledge of all the corporation and increase its friendship. 2.
It will be necessary, notwithstanding, to prohibit our nuns from
frequenting the monasteries of women, for fear that their mode of life may
be more agreeable, and that the Society will see itself frustrated in the
hopes of possessing all their properties. We must induce them to take the
vow of chastity and obedience, at the hands of their confessors; and to
show them that this mode of life will conform with the uses of the
Primitive Church, placed as a light to shine in the house, and that it
cannot be hidden under a measure, without the edification of their
neighbor, and without fruit for the souls; furthermore, that in imitation
of the widows of the Gospel, doing well by giving themselves to Jesus
Christ and to his BANK
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If they were to know how evil it can possibly be, of the life of the
cloisters; but these instructions must be given under the seal of
inviolable secrecy that they do not come to the ears of the monks. CHAPTER
XVI. HOW
WE MUST MAKE PROFESSION OF DESPISING RICHES. ["How
we must pretend to despise wealth."] 1.
With the end of preventing the seculars from directing attention to
our itching for riches, it will be useful to repel at times alms of little
amount, by which we can allow them to do services for our Society; though
we must accept the smallest amounts from people attached to us, for fear
that we may be accused of avarice, if we only receive those that are most
numerous. 2.
We must refuse sepulture to persons of the lowest class in our
churches, though they may have been very attached to our Society; for we
do not believe that we must seek riches by the number of interments, and
we must hold firmly the gains that we have made with the dead. 3.
In regard to the widows and other persons who have left their
properties to the Society, we must labor with resolution and greater vigor
than with the others; things being equal, and not to be made apparent,
that we favor some more than others, in consideration of their temporal
properties. The same must be observed with those that pertain to the
Society, after that they have made cession of their property; and if it be
necessary to expel them from the Society, it must be done with discretion,
to the end that they leave to the Society a part for the less of that
which they have given, or that which they have bequeathed at the time of
their death. CHAPTER
XVII. METHODS
TO EXALT THE COMPANY. 1.
Treating principally all, though in things of little consequence,
we must have the same opinion, or at least exterior dignity; for by this
manner we may augment and strengthen the Society more and more; to
overthrow the barrier we have overcome in the business of the world. 2.
Thus strengthening all, it will shine by its wisdom and good
example, that we shall excel all the other fathers, and particularly the
pastors, &c., &c., until the people desire us to all. Publicly
divulging that the pastors do not need to possess so much knowledge; with
such they can discharge well their duties, stating that they can assist
them with the counsels of the Society; that for this motive they can
dedicate themselves to all classes of studies. BANK
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We must inculcate this doctrine with kings and princes, THAT THE
CATHOLIC FAITH CANNOT SUBSIST IN THE PRESENT STATE, WITHOUT POLITICS; but
that in this, it is necessary to proceed with much certainty. Of this
mode, we must share the affection of the great, and BE ADMITTED TO THE
MOST SECRET COUNSELS. 4.
We must entertain their good will, by writing from all parts
interesting facts and notices. 5.
It will be no little advantage that will result, by secretly and
prudently fomenting dissensions between the great, ruining or augmenting
their power. But if we perceive some appearance of reconciliation between
them, then we of the Society will treat and act as pacificators; that it
shall not be that any others shall anticipate to obtain it. 6.
As much to the magnates as to the people, we must persuade them by
all possible means, that the Society has not been, but by especial Divine
Providence, conforming to the prophecies of the Abbot Joachim, for to
return and raise up the Church, humbled by the heretics. 7.
Having acquired the favor of the great and of the bishops, it will
be an entire necessity, of empowering the curates and prebendaries to more
exactly reform the clergy, that in other times lived under certain rule
with the bishops, and tending to perfection; also it will be necessary to
inspire the abbeys and prefaces; the which it will not be difficult to
obtain; calling attention to the indolence and stupidity of the monks as
if they were cattle; because it will be very advantageous for the Church,
if all the bishoprics were occupied by members of the Society; and yet, as
if it was the same apostolic chair, particularly if the Pope should return
as temporal prince of all the properties; for as much as it is very
necessary to extend little by little, with much secrecy and skill, the
temporalities of the Society; and not having any doubt that the world will
enter the golden age, to enjoy a perfect universal peace, for following
the divine benediction that will descend upon the Church. 8.
But if we do not hope that we can obtain this, supposing that it is
necessary that scandals shall come in the world, WE MUST BE CAREFUL TO
CHANGE OUR POLITICS, CONFORMING TO THE TIMES, AND EXCITE THE PRINCES,
FRIENDS OF OURS TO mutually make terrible wars THAT EVERYWHERE THE
MEDIATION OF THE SOCIETY WILL BE IMPLORED; that we may be employed in the
public reconciliation, for it will be the cause of the common good; and we
shall be recompensed by the PRINCIPAL ECCLESIASTICAL DIGNITIES; and the
BETTER BENEFICIARIES. 9.
In fine, that the Society afterwards can yet count upon the favor
and authority of the princes, procuring THAT THOSE WHO DO NOT LOVE US
SHALL FEAR US.
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