Edmond Paris - The Secret History of the Jesuits

The thurifers of the Vatican must bow their heads in shame when an Italian member of parliament cries out: "The pope's hands are dripping with blood". (Speech by Laura Diaz, member of parliament for Livourne, delivered at Ortona on the 15th of April 1946), or when the students of Cardiff University College choose as the theme for a conference: "Should the pope be brought to trial as a war criminal?" ("La Croix", 2nd of April 1946).

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Here is how pope John XXIII expressed himself when referring to the Jesuits: "Persevere, dear sons, in the activities which have already brought you well-known merits.. In that way, you will gladden the Church and will grow with untiring ardour: the path of the just is as the light of dawn... "May that light grow and illuminate the moulding of the adolescents... In that way, you will help to carry out our spiritual wishes and concerns... "We give our Apostolic Blessing with all our heart to your Superior General, to you and your coadjutors, and to all the members of the Society of Jesus". And from pope Paul VI:(5).

"From the time of its restoration, this religious family enjoys the sweet help of God, and has enriched herself very quickly with great progress... the members of the Society have accomplished many important deeds, all to the glory of God and for the benefit of the Catholic religion... the church needs soldiers of Christ with valour, armed with a dauntless faith, ready to confront difficulties... that is why we have great hope in the help your activity will bring... may the new era find the Society on the same honorable path it trod in the past...

"Given in Rome, near St. Peter, on the 20th of August 1964, during his second year as pope".(6)

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On the 29th of October 1965, "l'Osservatore Romano" announced: "The Very Reverend Father Arrupe, General of the Jesuits, celebrated Holy Mass for the Ecumenical Council on the 16th of October 1965".

(4) Saul Friedlander: "Pie XII et le IIIe Reich", (Ed. du Seuil, Paris 1964) (5) L'Osservatore Romano, 20th of October 1961.

(6) L'Osservatore Romano, 18th of September 1964.

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THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE JESUITS

Here is the apotheosis of "Papal ethics": the simultaneous announcement of a project to beatify Pius XII and John XXIII. "To strengthen ourselves in our striving for a spiritual renewal, we have decided to start the canonical proceedings for the beatification of these two great and godly pontiffs who are so dear to us".(7)

Pope Paul VI * * ♦

May this book reveal to all those who read it the true nature of this Roman Master, whose words are as "mellifluous" as his secret actions are ferocious.

(7) L'Osservatore Romano, 26th of November 1965.

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Section I

The Founding of the Jesuit Order

Chapter 1

Ignatius of Loyola

The founder of the Society of Jesus, the Spanish Basque don Inigo Lopez de Recalde, was born at the castle of Loyola, in the province of Guipuzcoa, in 1491. He was one of the strangest types of monk-soldier ever engendered by the Catholic world; of all the founders of religious orders, he may be the one whose personality has left the strongest mark on the mind and behaviour of his disciples and successors. This may be the reason for that "familiar look" or "trade-mark", a fact which goes as far as physical resemblance. Mr.

Folliet disputes this fact (1), but many documents prove the permanence of a

"Jesuit" type through the ages. The most amusing of these testimonies is found at the Guimet museum; on the golden background of a 16th century screen, a Japanese artist portrayed, with all the humour of his race, the landing of the Portuguese, and of the sons of Loyola in particular, on the Nipponese islands. The amazement of this lover of nature and bright colours is obvious in the way he depicted those long, black shadows with their mournful faces on which is congealed all the arrogance of the fanatic ruler. The likeness between the work of the oriental artist of the 16th century and our Daumier of 1830 is there for all to see.

Like many other saints, Inigo—who later Romanised his name and became Ignatius—looked far from being the one predestined to enlighten his contemporaries (2). His stormy youth was filled with mistakes and even

"heinous crimes". A police report said he was "treacherous, brutal, vindictive". All his biographers admit that he yielded to none of his boon companions regarding the violence of the instincts, then a common thing.

"An unruly and conceited soldier", said one of his confidants—"he led a disorderly life as far as women, gambling and duels were concerned", (1) "La Croix", 31 st of July 1956.

(2) Like Saint Augustine, Saint Francis of Assisi and many others.

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added his secretary Polanco (3). All this is related to us by one of his spiritual sons, R.P. Rouquette, who tried somewhat to explain and excuse this hot temper which was eventually turned "ad majorem Dei gloriam". (To the greater glory of God).

As is the case for many heroes of the Roman Catholic Church, a violent physical blow was necessary to change his personality. He had been pageboy to the treasurer of Castille until his master's disgrace. Then he became a gentleman in the service of the Viceroy of Navarre; having lived the life of a courtier until then, the young man started the life of a soldier by defending Pampeluna against the French commanded by the Count de Foix. The wound which decided his future life was inflicted during that siege. A leg broken by a bullet, he was taken by the victorious French to his brother Martin Garcia, at the castle of Loyola. Now starts the martyrdom of surgery without anaesthesia, through which he had to go a second time as the work had not been done properly. His leg was broken again and reset. In spite of all this, Ignatius was left with a limp. One can understand that he only needed an experience such as this to cause him a nervous breakdown. The "gift of tears" which was then bestowed on him "in abundance"—and in which his pious biographers see a favour from on high—is maybe only the result of his highly emotional nature, henceforth to affect him more and more.

His sole entertainment, while lying wounded and in pain, was the reading of the "Life of Christ" and the "Life of the Saints", the only books found in the castle.

As he was practically uneducated and still affected by that terrible shock, the anguish of Christ's passion and the martyrdom of the saints had an indelible impact on him; this obsession led the crippled warrior on to the road of apostolate.

"He put the books to one side and day-dreamed. A clear case of the wakeful dream, this was a continuation into the adult years of the imaginary game of the child... if we let it invade the psychic realm, the result is neurosis and surrender of the will; that which is real takes second place!..."(4)

At first sight, this diagnosis seems hardly to apply to the founder of such an active order, nor to other "great mystics" and creators of religious societies, all of whom had apparently great capacities for organization. But we find that all of them are unable to resist their over-active imaginations and, for them, the impossible becomes possible.

Here is what the same author says on this subject: "I want to point out the (3) R.P. Jesuit Robert Rouquette, "Saint Ignace de Loyola" (Ed. Albin Michel, Paris 1944, p.6).

(4) R.P. Jesuit Robert Rouquette, op.cit., p.9.

IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

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obvious outcome of the practice of mysticism by someone possessing a brilliant intelligence. The weak mind indulging in mysticism is on dangerous ground, but the intelligent mystic presents a far greater danger, us his intellect works in a wider and deeper way... When the myth takes over from the reality in an active intelligence, it becomes mere fanaticism; an infection of the will which suffers from a partial enlargement or distortion".(5) Ignatius of Loyola was a first-class example of that "active mysticism" and