The Black Pope_A History of the Jesuits Read online

  The Black Pope

  A History of the Jesuits

  Mary Francis Cusack

  London:

  MARSHALL, RUSSEL & Co., Ltd

  6, Panyer Alley, Paternoster Row, E.C.

  Brighton:

  D. B. FRIEND & Co.,

  77, Westers Road; And 56, Church Road, Hove.

  [1896]

  Ignatius Loyola

  Contents

  Preface

  Introduction

  Chapter I — The Foundation of the Order

  Chapter II — Luther—and some of the Causes of the German Reformation—Which the Jesuits Were Founded to Combat

  Chapter III — The Foundation of the Order—The Fourth vow the real object—The idea of founding a universal monarchy with the Pope, nominally, the General of the Jesuits Practically, at the Head

  Chapter IV — The Making of the Jesuit

  Chapter V — The Jesuit as an Educator

  Chapter VI — An English Jesuit College

  Chapter VII — Life in a French Jesuit College

  Chapter VIII — Can the Jesuit Be a Loyal Subject?—The Jesuits in Canada

  Chapter IX — The Disloyal Teaching in Jesuit Colleges

  Chapter X — The Spanish Armada and the Jesuits.

  Chapter XI — The Gunpowder Plot and the Massacre of St. Bartholomew

  Chapter XII — The Suppression of the Jesuits by Clement XIV

  Chapter XIII — The Jesuit in the Confessional—The Flogging Mania of the Middle Ages

  Chapter XIV — Conclusion

  Appendix I

  Appendix II — Cardinal Newman’s Letter

  Appendix III — From Hutton’s “Life of Manning”

  Authorities Consulted

  Preface

  THE TITLE of this work may require some explanation. In Roman Catholic circles it is well known that the Black Pope is the term used for the General of the Jesuits. As the Pope is always robed in white, and the General in black, the contrast is obvious. But those Romanists who do not greatly love the Jesuits, and their number is not limited, use the term as indicating that the Black Pope rules the White Pope. The expression will be found in the recently published life of Cardinal Manning. As the writer had some difficulty in finding a title which would not conflict with many others used in works treating on the same subject, this one was chosen for distinction, and for its special appropriateness.

  M. F. Cusack.

  Brighton,

  March 26th, 1896.

  Introduction

  Introduction.—Remarks on the rapid change of religious opinion since the commencement of the present century.—Advance in power and social influence of R.C.s.—They now attack Protestant dignitaries publicly without fear; formerly they were only tolerated because they were silent.—Importance of this change to the future of English speaking countries.—The influence of the Jesuit has been fatal to every country, Catholic or Protestant, where they have been allowed to exist.—They are condemned by Pope Clement XIV as “far from being any comfort to the Holy See, or any advantage to the Christian world;” remarkable letter of Père la Chaise to Father Peter, S. J.—The Jesuits the great promoters of the changes which have been made in the creed of the Church of Rome during the last two centuries.—The predisposing causes of the Reformation.

  THE marked and comparatively rapid changes of religious opinion which have characterised the 19th century will be a subject of profound interest to the historian of the future. Nor are the character of these changes less noteworthy. The Roman Catholics were a feeble folk when the century began, now they hold their own in court, and camp, on the judicial bench, and in the senate. But it was not merely that they were numerically feeble, they were the subjects of contumely and abhorrence. They were mistrusted and hated. Whence then this change? Today, a Roman cardinal can denounce the actions of an Anglican archbishop; can question his motives, and scorn his priestly orders with scarce a note of censure. Again; whence the change?

  The Jesuits, dreaded as being more papal than the Pope, and more Catholic than the College of Cardinals, were fain to remain in obscurity, at the risk of their lives, if they emerged from it. Today the Jesuit is to all intents and purposes master of the situation. His favourite pupils decide Protestant causes, and with calm effrontery honour the head of their Church as a temporal prince before the Queen, and place him in the position which he claims to be his by divine right, as king of kings and lord of lords.

  A faint breath of public disapprobation may be heard: it is but as the echo of a ringdove’s note, in comparison with the shout of indignant protest which such an act would have called forth in the twenties or thirties of the present century.

  If the Roman Catholic Church has advanced in England by leaps and bounds, it has been because the heads of that Church have known how to prepare the way for the leaps, by steps which were very slow, but very sure, and by ceaseless perseverance in securing advantages.

  And so it has been with what, for want of a better name, we must call Ritualism. In the early days of the century the services in St. Paul’s Cathedral were performed behind the heavy organ screen, where the singers could scarcely be heard, and the few worshippers could scarcely be seen. How changed all this is now need scarcely be told.

  But the influence of the Jesuit is by no means limited to that which he secures through the opportunities which he possesses of forming the character of those who are destined to be our future statesmen. With keen insight into the needs of the times, the heads of the Order make a speciality of training young men for the Press. It behoves us then to inquire whether these future editors and writers are embued with high principles of patriotism and honour, and whether they are afforded even opportunity of intellectual culture and advancement. Are they encouraged to think out the weighty problems of the age? Is the past history of their Jesuit masters, as educators, such that we can leave the future in their hands and believe that the honour of England is safe in their keeping? These are serious questions. The man who cares so little for his country as to pass them by lightly, can only blame himself if his neglect proves the ruin of his immediate posterity.

  Since the fact that the Jesuit has been banished again and again from every country where he has had power cannot be denied, it is surely most important to know what are the charges made against him, and how it is that he continues to exist despite such persistent repression. What are his principles, and how far do they differ from those of his co-religionists? How is it that he has been denounced in such terms of scathing reprobation by one pope, and re-instated in all his ancient privileges by another? What shall we say of a church which so vacillates between praise and blame? What shall we say of a religious order which prides itself on being called by the name of the Saviour of mankind, and yet has made the practice of untruth a fine art, and reduced the practice of lying to a science? It may be objected that these are strong expressions. The question is, not whether the words which we use are strong or feeble, but whether they are true or false. Is it not of the gravest importance to know why a body of men, who are educating the English speaking men of the future, were denounced by the head of their own infallible Church as a Society which was “far from bringing any comfort to the Holy See, or any advantage to the Christian world?” As we shall go fully into the question of the suppression of the Jesuits by the supreme authority of the Church which they have been founded to uphold, we shall not now enter into this subject more fully. It may, however, be noted in passing that the chief points of complaint against the Society have been the same at all times, and in all countries. They have been accused of scanda
lous political intrigues which they have carried on for the advancement of the Order; they have been accused of teaching a lax morality, to put the accusation in its mildest form; they have been accused of quarrels amongst themselves; they have been accused of gross insubordination to ecclesiastical authority; and they have been accused of sanctioning idolatry, if they did not encourage it, amongst the heathen whom they were supposed to convert to the Christian religion. All these accusations are made in the infallible Bull of Pope Clement XIV, and in this Bull he expressly declares that he has examined all these charges, which were no new matter, as they had been brought before other popes, and that, he was fully assured that they were substantiated.

  The history of the Jesuits should also be studied in connection with the extraordinary influence which the Order has had in adding to the dogmas of the Church.

  The dogma of the immaculate conception was admittedly their work, the new doctrine of the infallibility of the Pope, which has been the cause of so much secret revolt in the Church of Rome, is credited to them, assisted no doubt by the spiritual ambition of Pius IX.

  That still further changes in the creed of the Roman Church are imminent, there can be no question, and this is another reason why the history of the Jesuits demands special attention at the present day. Rome always feels her way for some years before the announcement of a new dogma. Efforts are made to obtain favourable opinions on the subject, so as to prepare the faithful, and to avoid the appearance of a sudden decision. Little books are issued recommending the subject, and making it appear as if the new doctrine about to be defined had always been believed in the Church; though, perhaps, if mentioned at all by theologians, it had either been reprobated, or warmly disputed. Naturally those who are anxious for preferment or ecclesiastical approval, would lend themselves to a work which would secure what they desired.

  The new dogma at present incubating in the Church of Rome is the divine right of the Pope to temporal power. Statesmen who are wise enough to foresee the stupendous and far reaching effect which this dogma must have, will deserve well of their country. Some long prepared for, but apparently sudden, call will be made on the loyalty (to the Pope) of the Roman Catholic body, and then the definition will come.

  In the decades which preceded the birth of Luther and Loyola, predisposing causes were at work which were destined to throw a flood of

  intellectual light on European nations. The conquest of Constantinople, in 1453, had scattered learned Greek professors all over the continent of Europe. The old habits of thought still existed, but new subjects of research were opened up. Such learning as there had been was confined, until now, to the priesthood, and naturally their studies were limited to a few classical authors, and to a very large field of metaphysical theology, which made that science rather an intellectual pastime than a religious study. The Humanistic movement, which revived the study of classical authors, had begun, and was not without its effect in inducing larger views of life and literature. Learning, or that which was its substitute in mediaeval ages, was no longer confined to monasteries. Johannes Reuchlin and Desiderius Erasmus were the leaders of the new Humanism and the new Renaissance. New thoughts were in the air, and if all were not thinkers, all, or nearly all, were in touch with those who were. Astrological conjecture was giving place to astronomical research, and if the latter had its victims, they were the precursors in the paths of science, always watered with the tears, if not stained with the blood, of the pioneers. But it was in religion, that deepest faculty of the human soul, that the change was most keenly felt. Men were prepared for a revolt against the demand for money, in return for exemption from the penalty of sin. They could read now for themselves in the Book which records the words of Him who spoke as never man spoke, and they saw for themselves with amazed eyes, and felt with joyful hearts that the kingdom of God was within them.

  The power of the Church was also seriously shaken by important social changes. Land was no longer the sole source of capital, and, therefore, was no longer, as it had been practically for the greater part, in the hands of the clergy. The dying baron who desired to assoilise his soul could give money to the Church in lieu of the broad acres which he could not take with him to the bourne whither he was reluctantly going. Justice between man and man is the offspring of knowledge, and it began to be dimly seen that justice was not all on the side of the Church. When the acquisition of land ceased to be a paramount object to the Church the acquisition of money took its place, hence the system of Jesuit theology framed to facilitate the obtaining of what was now so desirable. Hence, also, the downfall of the Society in more than one continental country, as the result of sharp practice in this matter.

  Coming into active life amongst all these conflicting elements and changes, Loyola formed an association in which he preserved all the worst features of a decaying condition of society, and stereotyped all the worst evils of the past; Luther, looking to the dawn of the coming day, shouted with joy as the son of the morning, and if some trails of the darkness of the passing night from which he emerged shaded the full radiance of his glorious career, he at least cried “Excelsior!” and pressed onwards and upwards towards the noontide and the light.

  Martin Luther

  Chapter I

  —

  The Foundation of the Order

  Contrast Between Luther and Loyola.—The birth and early surroundings of Luther and Loyola.—The one uplifts the banner of light and spiritual freedom; the other forges new chains for the enslaving of the human race—spiritually and intellectually—and transmits the worst evils of the dark ages to posterity.—The military career of Loyola.—His indifference to pain when his personal vanity was concerned. His severe wound leads to his retirement from active military service.—He reads the lives of the saints and the Virgin Mary.—He desires to become famous as a saint, as he can no longer hope to become famous as a soldier.—Contrast with Luther who reads the Bible and desires to bring all to Christ.—Loyola consecrates himself to the service of the Virgin Mary, and puts on her livery.—Luther puts on the whole armour of God.—Loyola fasts, flogs himself, and sees visions, but does not find peace; the more he flogs himself and fasts, the more visions he sees.—Luther cries aloud “the just shall live by faith,” superstitions which Luther combats and Loyola supports; how miracles are made; the ghost of the ironmonger.—Loyola cast into the inquisition, accused of heresy.—Spain the cradle of religious mysticism at this period.—Loyola gets into trouble by interfering with ladies of great wealth.—He goes to Paris in 1528.—He makes disciples, Peter Faber, and Francis Xavier.—He determines to devote his Order to the service of the Pope, takes vows with his disciples in Paris, 15th August, 1528.—Corrupt state of the Church at this period; one cause of his success the Pope eager to find any one who would restore the confidence of the people in the religious orders.—He wins the people by a show of love for poverty, and the rich by accommodating himself to their vices.—Opens a home in Rome for the mistresses of the nobles and the ecclesiastics, who had been a public scandal.—Wins the ecclesiastical authorities by the enforcement of a cruel edict against the Jews.—Obtains a Bull sanctioning his Order, 27th Feb., 1540.—How the Jesuits obtained complete control of the noble families in Rome, and knew all by their secrets.

  THE CLOSE of the fifteenth century witnessed the birth of two children who were destined to make history. Luther was born in 1483. Eight years afterwards Don Innigo Lopez de Ricalde was born. How strange the mystery of human life. Who shall answer the cry of the yearning heart to know the unknowable? The one was destined to be the precursor, who proclaimed Gospel liberty to the enslaved; the other was destined to forge new chains for the souls of men, and to bind them with cords of steel. And yet, while in the dawn of life, who could have ventured to predict the future of liberator or Jesuit. For Luther, born of a humble family, an unnoticed career would have been anticipated; he might, indeed, have aspired to the cloister, for it was then the resort of the poorest and the le
ast educated of the community. But for Loyola, the descendant of Spanish grandees, a brilliant career in court and tented field would have seemed little short of a certainty. But when the pages of life came to be unfolded for these two men, how different was the result to the anticipation.

  The fame of the lowly-born Luther has echoed down the stream of time, as the champion of religious liberty, and if he was somewhat rude in his mode of denouncing error, his rudeness was as much the outcome of his earnestness and sincerity, as of the habits of the times in which he lived. As for Ignatius Loyola, he also has had his fame and his applause; but his fame has not been the fame of an enlightener of mankind, or of one who has advanced civil or religious liberty. His applauders have not been those who have loved truth and hated dissimulation. Sad indeed that the once chivalrous and knightly Loyola should have become the founder of an institution which has reduced the practice of deceit to a fine art, and taught its members how to conceal and practise evil under a semblance of virtue.

  A European war was imminent (as indeed when is it not?) just at the moment when Loyola was of age to desire distinction in the field, and to uphold the war-like traditions of his family. He ambitioned the rank of general, he was a youth of impetuous desires, and naturally his aspirations lay along the line which the age had glorified. To build cathedrals and to conquer new provinces were the ambitions of the century, until the invention of the printer’s noble art had opened the doors of knowledge. Cathedral building was left at that period a good deal to the colder blooded north. As for the southern, he has always been more ready for the sword than the pen or the chisel.

  But the military career of Loyola had scarcely begun ere it had ended. In the year 1521 the town of Pampeluna was besieged by the French, led by André de Foix, Lord of Esparre. Loyola commanded the fort and determined to allow the extermination of his little band sooner than yield to the hated French. But Providence decreed that he should fail, and the shattering of his leg by a cannon ball put him hors de combat at once and finally. The French general treated the Spanish captain with the usual chivalry of the age and the nation. He sent his own surgeon to attend his wounded enemy, he gave him his liberty without ransom, and eventually sent him with honour to his father’s castle. And here the work of the “Society of Jesus” practically commenced. The character of the founder of the Order manifested itself even in his hours of pain. He showed a grim determination to submit to any. suffering which might attain the end he had in view. His leg had contracted during his illness; it must be made the right length, no matter what agony the doing of it occasioned. A projecting bone came in the way of wearing the fashionable attire of the day, and the bone must go. The bone was removed, and the most terrible instruments were applied to the leg to obtain the desired restoration to its normal condition; but the barbarous surgery of the day could do little save add pain to pain. Loyola endured all his sufferings without obtaining his desire. One thing, however, was certain—his days of chivalry were ended, his work in camp and court was done. The long illness, which he had endured with Spartan hardness, left its traces on his countenance. He could no longer play the gallant in court, or in the castles of his knightly friends. He could no longer do battle for his country. His occupation was gone. His active mind gave him no rest. Though admittedly an uneducated man, it would appear that he could read, and probably his temperament had led him to love the perusal of the romances which were the light literature of his day. He asked for books to pass the time of a long enforced convalescence, and none could be found save some legends of the saints, and a legendary life of the Virgin Mary.