SECT. 1.

CENT. XVII. propagate and maintain the religion of Rome in all parts and corners of the world. Its riches and possessions were so prodigiously augmented by the munificence of Urban VIII. and the liberality of an incredible number of donors, that its funds are, at this day, adequate to the most expensive and magnificent undertakings. And indeed the enterprises of this congregation are great and extensive. By it a vast number of missionaries are sent to the remotest parts of the world; books of various kinds published, to facilitate the study of foreign and barbarous languages; the sacred writings and other pious productions sent abroad to the most distant corners of the globe, and exhibited to each nation and country in their own language and characters; seminaries founded for the sustenance and education of a prodigious number of young men, set apart for the foreign missions; houses erected for the instruction and support of the pagan youths that are yearly sent from abroad to Rome, that they may return from thence into their respective countries, and become the instructors of their blinded brethren; not to mention the charitable establishments that are designed for the relief and support of those who have suffered banishment, or been involved in other calamities, on account of their steadfast attachment to the religion of Rome, and their zeal for promoting the glory of its pontiff. Such are the arduous and complicated schemes, with the execution of which this congregation is charged; but these, though the principal, are not the only objects of its attention; its views, in a word, are vast, and its exploits almost incredible. Its members hold their assemblies in a splendid and magnifi

is given by Aymon, in his Tableau de la Cour de Rome, part iii. chap. iii. p. 279, for he makes this congregation to consist of eighteen cardinals, one of the pope's secretaries, one apostolical prothonotary, one referendary, and one of the assessors, or secretaries of the inquisition.

cent palace, whose delightful situation adds a sin- CENT. XVII. gular lustre to its beauty and grandeur.

SECT. I.

pro propagan

ban VIII.

II. To this famous establishment, another less The college magnificent indeed, but highly useful, was added, da. &c. instiin the year 1627, by pope Urban VIII. under the tuted by Urdenomination of a college, or seminary for the propagation of the faith. This seminary is set apart for the instruction and education of those who are designed for the foreign missions; and they are here brought up, with the greatest care, in the knowledge of all the languages and sciences that are necessary to prepare them for propagating the gospel among the distant nations. This excellent foundation was due to the zeal and munificence of John Baptist Viles, a Spanish nobleman, who resided at the court of Rome, and who began by presenting to the pontiff all his ample possessions, together with his house, which was a noble, and beautiful structure, for this pious and generous purpose. His liberality excited a spirit of pious emulation, and is followed with zeal even to this day. The seminary was at first committed by Urban to the care and direction of three canons of the patriarchal churches; but this appointment was afterward changed, and ever since the year 1641, it is governed by the congregation founded by Gregory XV.

and colleges of

ture founded

III. The same zealous spirit reached France, and Congregations produced there several pious foundations of a like the same na nature. In the year 1663, the congregation of priests in France, of the foreign missions was instituted by royal au

The authors, who have given an account of this congregation, are mentioned by Fabricius, in his Lux Evangelii toti orbi exoriens, cap. xxxiii. p. 566. Add to these, Dorotheus Ascanius, De Montibus Pietatis Ecclesiæ Roman. p. 522, where there is a complete list of the books that have been published by this congregation, from its first institution until the year 1667.

.

Helyot, Histoire des

Ordres Monastiques, Religieux et Militaires, tom. viii. cap. xii. p. 78. Urb. Cerri Etat present de l'Eglise Romaine,

p. 293, where however the first founder of this college is called, by mistake, Vives.

CENT. XVII. thority, while an association of bishops and other SECT. I. ecclesiastics founded the parisian seminary for the

missions abroad, designed for the education of those who were set apart for the propagation of Christianity among the pagan nations. From hence, apostolical vicars are still sent to Siam, Tonquin, Cochin China, and Persia, bishops to Babylon, and missionaries to other Asiatic nations; and all these spiritual envoys are supported by the ample revenues and possessions of the congregation and seminary. These priests of the foreign missions, and the apostles they send into foreign countries, are almost perpetually involved in altercations and debates with the jesuits and their missionaries. The former are shocked at the methods that are ordinarily employed by the latter, in converting the Chinese and other Asiatics to the christian religion. And the jesuits, in their turn, absolutely refuse obedience to the orders of the apostolical vicars and bishops, who receive their commission from the congregation abovementioned; though this commission be issued out with the consent of the pope, or of the college de propaganda fide residing at Rome. There was also another religious establishment formed in France, during this century, under the title of the congregation of the holy sacrament, whose founder was Autherius, bishop of Bethlehem, and which, in the year 1644, received an order from Urban VIII. to have always a number of ecclesiastics ready to exercise their ministry among the pagan nations, whenever they should be called upon by the pope, or the congregation de propaganda, for that purpose. It would be endless to mention other associations of less note, that were

d See the Gallia Christiana Benedictinorum, tom. vii. p. 1024. Helyot, Histoire des Ordres Monastiques, tom. viii. chap. xii. p. 84.

These ecclesiastics are commonly called in France, Messieurs des Missions Etrangeres.

Helyot, loc. cit. cap. xiii. p. 87, 100.

SECT. I.

formed in several countries for promoting the cause CENT. XVIL of Christianity among the darkened nations; as also the care taken by the jesuits, and other religious communities, to have a number of missionaries always ready for that purpose.

mukiply,more

those of the

IV. These congregations and colleges sent forth Missionaries those legions of missionaries, who, in this century, especially covered, in a manner, the whole face of the globe, jesuits. and converted to the profession of Christianity at least, if not to its temper and spirit, multitudes of persons in the fiercest and most barbarous nations. The religious orders that make the greatest figure in these missions, are the jesuits, the dominicans, the franciscans, and the capuchins, who, though concerned in one common cause, agree nevertheless very ill among themselves, accusing each other publicly and reciprocally, and that with the most bitter reproaches and invectives, of want of zeal in the service of Christ, nay, of corrupting the purity of the christian doctrine to promote their ambitious purposes. But none are so universally accused of sinister views and unworthy practices, in this respect, as the jesuits, who are singularly odious in the eyes of all the other missionaries, and are looked upon as a very dangerous and pernicious set of apostles by a considerable part of the Romish church. Nor indeed can they be viewed in any other light, if the general report be true, that instead of instructing their proselytes in the genuine doctrines of Christianity, they teach them a corrupt system of religion and morality that sits easy upon their consciences, and is reconcileable with the indulgence of their appetites and passions; that they not only tolerate, but even countenance, in these new converts, several profane opinions and superstitious rites and customs; that, by commerce, carried on with the most rapacious avidity, and various other methods little consistent with probity and candour, they have already acquired an overgrown

SECT. I.

CENT.XVIL Opulence, which they augment from day to day; that they burn with the thirst of ambition, and are constantly gaping after worldly honours and prerog. atives; that they are perpetually employing the arts of adulation, and the seductions of bribery, to insinuate themselves into the friendship and protection of men in power; that they are deeply involv. ed in civil affairs, in the cabals of courts, and the intrigues of politicians; and finally, that they frequently excite intestine commotions and civil wars, in those states and kingdoms, where their views are obstructed or disappointed, and refuse obedience to the Roman pontiff, and to the vicars and bishops that bear his commission. These accusations are indeed grievous, but they are perfectly well attested, being confirmed by the most striking circumstantial evidence, as well as by a prodigious number of unexceptionable witnesses. Among these we may reckon many of the most illustrious and respectable members of the church of Rome, whose testimony cannot be imputed to the sugges. tions of envy, on the one hand, nor considered as the effect of temerity or ignorance on the other; such are the cardinals, the members of the congregation de propaganda fide, and even some of the popes themselves. These testimonies are supported and confirmed by glaring facts, even by the proceedings of the jesuits in China, Abyssinia, Japan, and India, where they have dishonoured the cause of Christianity, and hurt the interest of Rome, in the most sensible manner by their corrupt practices.& The jesuits ill v. The jesuits exhausted all the resources of looked upon their peculiar artifice and dexterity to impose silence upon their accusers, to confound their adversaries, and to give a specious colour to their own proceedings. But all their stratagems were ineffectual. The

The reader will find an ample relation of these facts, supported by a cloud of witnesses, in the preface to the Histoire de la Compagnie de Jesus, published at Utrecht in the year 1741.