tempestuous. Complaints and quarrels were multiplied on every side. In some places, dangerous seditions arose— tumults, discords, dissensions, scandals, weakening or entirely breaking the bonds of Christian charity, excited the faithful to all the rage of party feuds and calamities. Desolation and danger grew to such a height, that the very Sovereigns whose piety and liberality towards the Company were regarded as hereditary-We mean our dearly-beloved sons in Christ, the Kings of France, Spain, Portugal and Sicily-found themselves reduced to the necessity of expelling from their States, Kingdoms and Provinces, these very Companions of Jesus— persuaded there remained no other remedy for such evils, and that this very step was indispensable to prevent Christians from rising against each other, and massacring each other in the very bosom of our common Mother, the Holy Church." "Actuated by such important considerations, after mature deliberation, We, out of our certain knowledge and the fulness of our Apostolic power, do extinguish and abolish the said Company-we deprive it of all activity-of its Houses, Schools, Colleges, Hospitals, Lands, in short, of every place belonging to it, in whatever province they be situated. We abrogate and annul its statutes, rules, customs, decrees and constitutions, even though confirmed by oath, and approved by the Holy See. We declare all and every kind of authority, pertaining to the General, the Provincial, the Visitor and other Superiors of the said Society, to be annulled and abolished for ever, as well in things spiritual, as temporal," &c. The Brief concludes, with charging the Bishops to carry its provisions into the most vigorous effect, by forbidding the Jesuits to preach or confess in their dioceses, and urges this duty on their consciences, by all the terrors of that day, when they will give account of their actions before the Universal Judge. It is dated, Rome, July 21, 1773. CHAPTER XI. A.D. 1814-1845. STATE OF EUROPE AT THEIR RESTORATION-BUONAPARTE RESTORES BELGIUM-ITS THE restoration of the Jesuit Order took place at a very critical period of European politics and of the Romish Church. A long and bloody war had devastated the Continent. The Austrians, after amazing efforts, were giving way in Italy. Revolution had spread through Belgium, Holland, and the Rhenish provinces in Germany. Pius VI. had himself been made a captive and died in exile, A.D. 1799. His successor, Pius VII., as we have already stated, received a dispatch from the field of Marengo to inform him, that the victor was ready to enter into negotiations for the reestablishment of the Catholic Church. Buonaparte demanded rather hard terms. He insisted on the alienation of all ecclesiastical estates-a demand of 400,000,000 francs in landed property. He secularised the Ecclesiastical States of Germany. The same Concordat took place in Italy. The Pope was forced to sanction the sale of Church property, and abandon all nominations to temporal offices. After these painful sacrifices, he consented to cross the Alps and administer the holy oil at the coronation of the Emperor. But Napoleon felt no gratitude for his Pontifical services. He threatened him with captivity, but permitted his return to Rome. He was treated with the utmost indignity. The dictator assumed, that the Pope was his vassal - that he held his temporal authority as a gift of Charlemagne, and he acted accordingly. He invested Ancona and Urbino— marched his troops on Rome-dragged His Holiness to Savona and thence to Fontainbleau. The Concordat of Fontainbleau, dated January 25, 1813, was framed on the express condition, that he should not return to Rome.* But the tyranny and cruelty of Napoleon were drawing to a close. When Prussia arose, Pius VII. took courage to revoke the Concordat. After the battle of Leipsic, he refused the proposal of receiving back part of his states. On May 21, 1814, when the Allies had enclosed Paris, he re-entered Rome. -Scarce had he arrived, ere he decreed the return of the Jesuits. They were recalled at the moment when their talents were required. Everything was to be re-adjusted and re-estab * Ranke, vol. iii. book 8. lished. The whole of the temporal and spiritual power of the Pope was to be re-constructed. No wonder, as the Bull expresses it, that "St. Peter's bark must be confided to these vigorous and experienced rowers." Henceforth, the Jesuits became the virtual ministers and masters of the Pope -the Executive of the Roman Church. Again we affirm, that antient Romanism has expired, and that Jesuitism has succeeded, both in things temporal, and things spiritual. Henceforth, Rome is no longer the nominal Head of Christendom, but the real Head of Ecclesiastical despotism and Spiritual domination. Popery, absorbed in Jesuitism, has ceased to be what our Reformers charitably considered it—a real, though a corrupt, Church. By taking back the Jesuits and submitting to their sway, the Court of Rome has resigned all pretension to adhere to the doctrine of the Council of Trent on the subjects of Grace, FreeWill, and Justification. That doctrine was Augustinian. It was adverse to the Pelagian sentiments of Lainez and Salmeron. She has sacrificed her historical traditions. The Jesuits were accounted heretics in Theology, rebels in Church discipline, and monsters in morality, till they were absolved by the Bull of Pius VII.-[Solicitudo Omnium Ecclesiarum.] -This is a consideration of much importance. We shall review it in the following Chapter. On their return, the Order was placed under Father Thaddeus Bzrozowski, who had hitherto acted as Vicar-General in Russia.* At Rome, the Collegium Romanum and various other Houses and Colleges were restored to them. In 1817, they became so numerous, that the Collegium Germanicum was placed at their disposal. Jesuit Colleges and Seminaries now started up in every part of Europe. They undertook the tuition of youth in every town of Italy. At Genoa, * Crétineau-Joly, tom. vi. chap. 6. Modena, Parma, and Ferrara, they established large schools. In Naples, they obtained two Colleges one for the Citizens, another for the Nobles. In 1823, they again raised their standard in Piedmont and Sardinia.* In Spain, such was the magic of the name of Loyola, that Ferdinand VII. appointed him “The Invisible Captain-General of the Spanish Forces!" Yet this Invisible Captain-General could not prevent his troops from being driven out of Spain in 1820, or the Order from being banished in 1835. Though England had long been duped into an intercourse with the Jesuits, by permitting the erection of their College, Stoneyhurst, in Staffordshire, yet their dangerous intrigues could not escape the sagacity of the Northern Czar. In 1820, they were dismissed from Russia, branded with this memorable character by the Emperor Alexander in the Ukase, dated 13th of March: "They plant a stern intolerance in the minds of their votaries-striving to subvert that attachment to the faith of our forefathers, which is the best public safeguard. They destroy social happiness, by dividing families. Their efforts are directed solely to their own interests and promotion, and their statutes furnish their consciences with a justification of every refractory and illegal action." Banished from Russia, they fly to Austria and solicit the patronage of Francis I. The indignant monarch rejected their suit, and commanded them to quit Vienna. The Jesuits then assumed another habit, they became Liguorians or Redemptionists. Under this disguise, obtaining permission to reside in Austria, they forthwith occupy the Church of St. Mary, and establish a monastery in the Capital. In 1833 they succeeded in obtaining possession of the Theresium, at Inspruck. They commenced also Institutions at Venice * "Duller's Jesuits," p. 179 (from the German,). London, 1845. |