Edmond Paris - The Secret History of the Jesuits

The edict was not carried out fully and, in 1603, it was revoked by the king against the advice of Parliament. Aquaviva, the general of the Jesuits, had been clever in his manoeuvres and led king Henry IV to believe that the Order, reestablished in France, would loyally serve national interests. How could he, subtle as he was, believe that these fanatical Romans would indeed accept the Edict of Nantes (1498) which determined the rights of Protestants in France, and, even worse, they would back up his projects against Spain and the Emperor? The fact is, Henry IV chose as his confessor and tutor for the Dauphin one of the most distinguished members of the Company, Father Cotton (38a). On the 16th of May 1610, on the eve of his campaign against Austria, he was murdered by Ravaillac who confessed having been inspired by the writings of Fathers Mariana and Suarez. These two sanctioned the murders of heretic "tyrants" or those insufficiently devoted to the papacy's interests. The duke of Epernon, who made the king read a letter while the assassin was lying in wait, was a notorious friend of the Jesuits, and Michelet proved that they knew of this attempt. "In fact, Ravaillac had confessed to the Jesuit Father d'Aubigny just before and, when the judges interrogated the priest, he merely replied that God had given him the gift to forget immediately what he heard in the confessional".(38)

Parliament, persuaded that Ravaillac had only been a tool for the Company, ordered the executioner to burn Mariana's book.

"Fortunately, Aquaviva was still there. Once again, this great general schemed well; he condemned most severely the legitimacy of tyrannicide. The Company always had authors who, in the silence of their studies, exposed the doctrine in all its rectitude; she also possessed great politicians who, when necessary, would put the right masks on it".(39)

Thanks to Father Cotton who took the situation in hand, the Society of Jesus came out of the storm unscathed. Her wealth, the number of her establishments and adherents grew rapidly. But when Louis XIII came to the throne, and Richelieu took the affairs of State in hand, there was a clash of wills.

The Cardinal would not let anyone oppose his politics. The Jesuit (38a) His adversaries used to say that he had "cotton" in his ears! (38) Henri Fulop-Miller, op.cit., p. 113. (39) Pierre Dominique, op.cit., p.95.

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THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE JESUITS

Caussin, confessor of the king, was able to find that out when he was put in prison at Rennes, on Richelieu's order, as a State criminal. This act produced the best results. In order to stay in France, the Order went as far as collaborating with the redoubtable Minister.

H. Boehmer wrote this about it: "The lack of consideration for the Church always shown by the French government, since Philippe le Bel, in the conflicts between national and ecclesiastic interests had been, once again, the best politics".(40)

The accession of Louis XIV marked the start of the most prosperous time for the Order. The "laxism" of Jesuit confessors, this clever leniency they used to attract sinners not very anxious to make penance, was employed extensively amongst ordinary people as well as at Court, especially with the king who was more a ladies' man than devout.

His Majesty had no intention of renouncing his amorous affairs, and his confessor was careful to keep off the subject, in spite of it being plain adultery. So, all the royal family was soon provided with Jesuit confessors only, and their influence grew more and more amongst the high society. The priests of Paris attacked in their "Writings" the loose morals of the famous Company's casuists, but to no avail. Pascal himself intervened, in vain, in favour of the Jansenists, during the great theological quarrel of that time; in his

"Provincial letters", he exposed their too worldly opponents, the Jesuits, to eternal ridicule.

In spite of it, the secure place they held at Court assured them of victory, and those of Port-Royal succumbed. The Order was to win another great victory for Rome, whose consequences were against national interests. It goes without saying that they had only unwillingly accepted the religious peace assured through the Edict of Nantes, and had continued a secret war against the French Protestants. As Louis XIV was getting older, he turned more and more to bigotry under the influence of Madame de Maintenon and Father La Chaise, his confessor. In 1681, they persuaded him to restart the persecution against the Protestants. Finally, on the 17th of October 1685, he signed the

"Revocation of the Edict of Nantes", making those of his subjects who refused to embrace the Catholic religion outlaws. Soon after, to accelerate the conversions, those famous "dragonnade" started; that sinister name became part of all subsequent attempts to proselytize by fire and chains.

While the fanatics cheered, the Protestants fled from the kingdom en-masse.

According to Marshal Vauban, France lost in that way 400,000 inhabitants and 60 million francs. Manufacturers, merchants, shipowners, skilful artisans went to other countries and brought them the benefit of their abilities.

"17th of October 1685 was a day of victory for the Jesuits, the final (40) H. Boehmer, op.cit., p. 100.

FRANCE

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reward for a war which had gone on for one hundred and twenty-five years without respite. But the State paid the cost of the Jesuits' victory. "The depopulation, the reduction of national prosperity were the acute material consequences of their triumph, followed by a spiritual impoverishment which could not be cured, even by the best Jesuit school. This what France suffered and the Society of Jesus had to pay for very dearly later".(4l)

During the century following, the sons of Loyola saw, not only France, but all the european countries reject them from their midst—but, once again, it was only for a while; these fanatical janissaries of the papacy had not finished to accumulate ruins in the pursuit of their impossible dream.

(41) H. Boehmer, op.cit., p.103.

Section III

Foreign missions

Chapter 1

India, Japan, China

The conversion of "pagans" had been the first objective of the Society of Jesus' founder. Even though the necessity to combat Protestantism in Europe involved its disciples more and more, and this political as well as religious action, of which we just gave a short summary, became their main task, they still pursued the evangelisation of distant lands.

Their theocratic ideal: to bring the world under the Holy See's authority, required that they should go into all the regions of the globe, in the conquest of souls.

Francis Xavier, one of Ignatius' first companions who, like him, was canonised by the Church, was the great promoter of Asia's evangelisation. In 1542, he disembarked at Goa and found there a bishop, a cathedral and a convent of Franciscans who, together with some Portuguese priests, had already tried to spread around them the religion of Christ. He gave that first attempt such a strong impetus that he was surnamed the "Apostle of India". Actually, he was more a pioneer and "exciter" than one who really accomplished something lasting. Fiery, enthusiastic, always on the look-out for new fields of action, he showed the way more than he cleared the ground. In the kingdom of Travancore, at Malacca, on the islands of Banda, Macassar and Ceylon, his personal charm, and his eloquent speeches did wonders and, as a result, 70,000 "idolaters" were converted especially amongst the low caste. To obtain this, he did not despise the political and even military support of the Portuguese. These results, more showy than solid, were bound to rouse interest for the missions in Europe as well as throwing a brilliant lustre over the Society of Jesus.