Edmond Paris - The Secret History of the Jesuits

"distortion of the will". Nevertheless, the transformation of the gentlemen-warrior into the "general" of the most militant order in the Roman Church was very slow; there were many faltering steps before he found his true vocation. It is not our intention to follow him through all those different stages. Let us recall the main points: in the spring of 1522, he left the ancestral castle, with his mind made up to become a saint similar to those whose edifying exploits he had been reading about in that big "gothic" volume.

Besides, did not the Madona herself appear to him one night, holding in her arms the child Jesus? After a thorough confession at the monastry of Montserrat, he was planning to go to Jerusalem. The plague was rife in Barcelona and, as all maritime traffic had stopped, he had to stay at Manresa for nearly a year. There, he spent his time in prayers, orisons, long fasts, flagellating himself, practicing all the forms of maceration, and never failing to appear before the "tribunal for penance", even though his confession at Montserrat had apparently lasted three whole days; such a thorough confession would have been sufficient to a less scrupulous sinner. All this depicts quite clearly the mental and nervous state of the man. At last delivered from that obsession of sin by deciding it was only a trick of Satan, he devoted himself entirely to the varied and plentiful visions which were haunting his feverish mind.

"It is because of a vision", says H. Boehmer, "that he started eating meat again; it is a whole series of visions that revealed to him the mysteries of the Catholic dogma and helped him to truly live it: in that way, he meditates upon the Trinity under the shape of a musical instrument with three cords; the mystery of the creation of the world through "something" hazy and light coming out of a ray of sunshine; the miraculous descent of Christ into the Eucharist as flashes of light entering the consecrated water, when the priest held it up while praying; the human nature of Christ and the holy Virgin under the form of a dazzling white body; and finally Satan as a serpentine and shimmering shape similar to a multitude of sparkling and mysterious eyes (6)." Is not this the start of the well-known Jesuitic image-making?

(5) Dr Legrain, "Le Mysticisme et la folie" (Ed. de l'ldee Libre, Herblay (S.-et-O.) 1931, pp.

14-16).

18

THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE JESUITS

Mr. Boehmer adds that the deep meaning of the dogmas was revealed to him, as a special favour from on-high, through transcendental intuitions.

"Many mysteries of Faith and science became suddenly clear to him and later he pretended to have learned more in those short moments than during the whole of his studies; however, he was never able to explain what these mysteries were which suddenly became clear to him. There was only a hazy recollection left, a feeling of something miraculous as if, at that moment, he had become "another man with another intelligence".(7) All this may be the result of a nervious disorder and can be identified with what happens to smokers of opium and eaters of hashish: that enlargement or extension of the ego, that illusion of soaring up beyond what is real, a flashing sensation leaving only a dazed recollection.

Blissful visions and illuminations were constant companions of this mystic throughout his life.

"He never doubted the reality of these revelations. He chased Satan with a stick as he would have done a mad dog; he talked to the Holy Spirit as one does to another person actually; he asked for the approval of God, the Trinity and the Madonna on all his projects and would burst into tears of joy when they appeared to him. On those occasions, he had a foretaste of celestial bliss; the heavens were open to him, and the Godhead was visible and perceptible to him.(8)

Is not this the perfect case of an hallucinated person? It will be this same perceptible and visible Godhead that the spiritual sons of Loyola will constantly offer to the world—not only for political reasons, leaning on and flattering the deep-rooted inclination in the heart of man for idolatry— but also by conviction, having been well and truly indoctrinated. From the start, mediaeval mysticism has prevailed in the Society of Jesus; it is still the great animator, in spite of its readily assumed worldly, intellectual and learned aspects. Its basic axiom is: "All things to all men". The arts, literature, science and even philosophy have been mere means or nets to catch souls, like the easy indulgences granted by its casuists and for which laxity they were so often reproved. To this Order, there is not a realm where human weakness cannot be worked upon, to incite the spirit and will to surrender and go back to a more childish and restful devotion. So they work for the bringing about of the "kingdom of God" according to their own ideal: a great flock under the Holy Father's crozier. That learned men could have such an anachronic ideal seems very strange, yet it is undeniably so and the confirmation of an oft-disregarded fact: the pre-eminence of the emotions in the life of the spirit. Besides, Kant said that every philosophy is (6) and (7) H. Boehmer, professor at the University of Bonn, "Les Jesuites" (Armand Colin, Paris 1910, pp. 12-13).

(8) H. Boehmer, op.cit., p. 14.

IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

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but the expression of the philosopher's temperament or character.

Apart from individual methods, the Jesuitic "temperament" seems more or less uniform amongst them. "A mixture of piety and diplomacy, asceticism and worldly wisdom, mysticism and cold calculation; as was Loyola's character, so is the trade-mark of this Order".(9).

In the first place, every Jesuit chose this particular Order because of his natural dispositions; but he really becomes a "son" of Loyola after rigorous tests and systematic training lasting no less than fourteen years.

In that way, the paradox of this Order has continued for four hundred years: an Order which endeavours to be "intellectual" but, simultaneously, has always been, within the Roman Church and society, the champion of the strictest disposition.

(9) J. Huber, professor of catholic theology in Munich, "Les Jesuites" (Sandoz et Fischbacher, Paris 1875, p. 127).

20 Section I

Chapter 2

The Spiritual Exercises

When the time came at last for Ignatius to leave Monresa, he couldn't foresee his destiny, but the anxiety concerning his own salvation was not his main concern any more; it is as a missionary, and not as a mere pilgrim, that he left for the Holy Land in March 1523. He arrived in Jerusalem on the 1st of September, after many adventures, only to leave again soon after, on the orders of the Franciscan's provincial who was not desirious to see the precarious peace between Christians and Turks endangered by an untimely proselytism.

The disappointed missionary passed through Venice, Genoa, and Barcelona on his way to the University of Alcala where he started theological studies; it is there also that his "cure of souls" amongst voluntary listeners began.

"In these conventicles, the most common manifestations of piety amongst the fair sex were fainting fits; by that, we realise how hard he applied his religious methods, and how such a fervent propaganda would soon arouse the curiosity and then the suspicion of the inquisitors... "In April 1527, the Inquisition put Ignatius in prison to try him on the grounds of heresy. The inquiry examined those peculiar incidents amongst his devotees, the strange assertions of the accused concerning the wonderful power his chastity conferred on him, and his bizarre theories on the difference between mortal and venial sins; these theories had striking affinities with those of Jesuit casuists of the subsequent epoch.(lO) Released but forbidden to hold meetings, Ignatius left for Salamanque and soon started the same activities. Similar suspicions amongst the inquisitors led to imprisonment again. Release was only on condition of desisting from such conduct. Thus it was, he journeyed to Paris to continue his studies at the college of Montaigu. His efforts to endoctrinate his (10) H. Boehmer, op.cit. pp.20-21, 25.