“Truth always ends by victory; it is not unassailable, but invincible.” – Ignatius of Loyola
In 1540, Ignatius Loyola’s Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, was sanctioned by Pope Paul III in Rome. The Jesuits emerged when Europe was splintering into traditionalist Catholic and emergent Protestant factions. Reforms within the Catholic church begun decades earlier reached unstoppable momentum with the publishing of Martin Luther’s ninety-five theses attacking church corruption in 1517. Loyola’s Jesuits would be thrust to the forefront of the Pope’s counter-reformation, and the century of bloody wars to follow. The initial ‘Formula of the Institute’, in 1540, vowed ‘to strive especially for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine and for the propagation of the faith by the ministry of the word, by spiritual exercises and works of charity’.1
Yet, over two and a half centuries after the Orders founding Napoleon Bonaparte said: ‘The Jesuits are a military organization, not a religious order. Their chief is a general of an army, not the mere father abbot of a monastery. And the aim of this organization is power – power in its most despotic exercise – absolute power, universal power, power to control the world by the volition of a single man. Jesuitism is the most absolute of despotisms – and at the same time the greatest and most enormous of abuses’.2 The Jesuit Order has two faces; publicly, that of a missionary sect of the Catholic church; the other is hidden and reveals one of the most effective espionage and intelligence organisations in the world. I will examine the nature and actions of the man, Ignatius Loyola; the nature of his Order, the Jesuits; some of their counter-reformation activities in the sixteenth century, and, in conclusion, the significance of Loyola in sixteenth century European church reform.
Who was Ignatius Loyola?
Born in 1491 at the castle of Loyola, Spain, at fifteen Ignatius was a page in the court of the king of Spain, Ferdinand, and by seventeen a soldier with the Duke of Navarre. His ‘special delight was in the military life, and he seemed led by a strong and empty desire of gaining for himself a great name’.3 In his twenty-sixth year he was wounded at the French siege of Pampeluna when a cannonball shattered one of his legs. Understanding that he would never regain the full use of his leg, his aspirations of worldly fame were shattered. While recovering at the family castle in Loyola, he read, ‘“The Life of Christ”, by Rudolph, and the “Flowers of the Saints”. This reading led his mind to meditate on holy things, yet sometimes it wandered to thoughts which he had been accustomed to dwell upon before’.4
Ignatius underwent a spiritual conversion. The ‘wish to imitate saintly men came to his mind… He resolved to undertake a life of penance and self-denial’.5 In solitude Ignatius wrote his spiritual exercises, ‘a transformational spirituality in the Roman Catholic tradition in which action is a central motif’,6 which became a core Jesuit practice. After recovery Ignatius undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to visit sites related to events in the life of Jesus. He travelled alone, lived by begging, and began to neglect his physical appearance. Following Jerusalem, ‘he began to consider what he should do. The plan he approved and adopted was to enter upon a course of study in order to be better fitted to save souls’.7 Ignatius studied at Barcelona, and then theology and Latin at Alcala, where he ‘was repeatedly jailed for preaching without the authority or theological training deemed necessary to do so’,8 but was always released. So, Ignatius was definitely a man of action and, perhaps, a degree of reckless nonconformity.
Resolving to advance his studies at the College de Montaigu, Ignatius ‘left for Paris on foot and alone, and, according to his own reckoning, arrived there toward the beginning of February 1528’.9 Again, Loyola supported himself by begging. He continued to run afoul of authorities for illegal preaching and had run-ins with the Inquisition who suspected ‘Ignatius to be one of the Illuminati (Alumbrados), and “threatened him with capital punishment”’.10 At Paris Ignatius met six fellow students who were inspired by his teachings. In 1534, ‘The band of brothers, led by Ignatius, professed vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as well as a fourth vow of going wherever the Holy Father would send them for the salvation of souls’.11 These companions would become key Jesuits. Ignatius and his followers were ordained to the priesthood in 1537. ‘Pope Paul III was pleased with the fervour of Ignatius and his companions. He gave them official approval of the Order in 1540 with the Papal Bull ‘Regimini Militantis Ecclesiae’,12 Latin for, ‘the government of the church militant’. Consequently, how did Loyola’s life trajectory manifest in the brotherhood he founded?
Loyola’s Order
Loyola exercised a level of control over his ‘church militant’ unparalleled in history; ‘Every Jesuit is obliged to yield blind obedience to his Superior, so that, according to the expressions of their rule, a Jesuit ought to be in the hands of his Superior, that which the dead body is in the hands of the surgeon who dissects it’.13 Loyola’s own words betray grandiose ideals; ‘The power of the General shall be so unlimited that should he deem it necessary for the honour of God, he shall even be able to send back, or in other directions, those who have come direct from the Popes’.14
The Machiavellian document ‘The Secret Instructions of the Jesuits’, uncovered and reprinted for the first time in Paris in 1661, states; ‘The nobility and populace must, by all methods, be persuaded into a belief that the Society was instituted by the particular direction of divine providence’.15 Allegedly the instructions of the fifth Jesuit General Claudio Acquaviva, authenticity of the Secret Instructions has, of course, been contested. However; ‘In the religious wars of which Germany was the theatre, many Jesuit colleges were assaulted and robbed by the Reformers. We encounter in their archive’s exemplary manuscripts of the “Secret Monitor”; and we also find at one time in Paris two editions, one under the rubric of Praga and the other under that of Padua. This last is printed on parchment and in accordance with the Constitutions of the Company of Jesus. The three editions, although made from different manuscripts, are perfect in conforming with each other’.16
The secretive nature of the Order mirrors the solitary nature of the man, and further evidence of a two faceted entity is found in absolutist organisational practices; ‘… not only is all friendly communication forbidden to the Jesuit, but he is also placed under constant espionage. He is never permitted to walk about alone, but, whether in the house or out of doors, is always accompanied by two of his brethren… It is almost impossible to conceive the power, especially in former times, of a General having at his absolute disposal such an amount of intelligences, wills, and energies’.17 Less than two per cent are indoctrinated into the inner circles; ‘The Jesuit is not permitted to take his full and final vows (Extreme Oath or the Fourth Vow) until he has attained the age of forty-five. As a consequence there are few fully professed members of the Order . . . In the meantime he is simply the bond slave of the General, who may dismiss him at will, or retain him at pleasure…’.18
A portion of the Jesuits Extreme Oath (fourth vow) published independently in 1843, and 1900, reads: ‘I do furthermore promise and declare that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage relentless war, secretly or openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Liberals, as I am directed to do to extirpate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare neither age, sex or condition, and that I will hang, burn, waste, boil, flay, strangle, and bury alive these infamous heretics; rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women, and crush their infants’ heads against the walls, in order to annihilate their execrable race. That when the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly use the poison cup…’.19, 20 Are these the sentiments of a benevolent charitable organization? Clearly, this is the language of total, and, immoral war. G. B. Nicolini adds: ‘Examine well these instructions, and you will find that the true Jesuit must be crafty, insinuating, deceitful, and you will at once perceive the extent of the Jesuit immorality, and the artful way in which, in the name of the most sacred of all things—religion, they accomplish the most heinous offences’.21 Who else could have been a deadlier weapon to strike into the heart of the reformation, in the bloody war to bring Protestant nations back to the Pope?
Loyola’s response to the Reformation: education, missionary work, espionage
If anything, Loyola’s theatre of war was the hearts and minds of men, rather than the battlefield. ‘Within the next ten years, Ignatius had opened some 38 schools and universities. Within the next two centuries, there were over 800. The Jesuits were to become the schoolmasters of Europe and, beyond Europe, in places at the very edges of the known world’.22 ‘The methods of the new religious order were grounded in the one to one engagement of the Spiritual Exercises. Jesuits were speaking openly in the town squares as well as the churches… Ignatius sent his great friend Francis Xavier to India, Sri Lanka, Borneo, Japan and China with the words; “Go! Set the world ablaze with the love of God”. Peter Canisius was sent to defend the catholic faith against the reformers in Germany’.23 He sent Diego Laynez and Alfonso Salmeron, who were among his companions at the University of Paris, to the Council of Trent as expert theologians.
The council, the beginning of the methodical Catholic response to the Reformation, faced an enormous task. ‘Being the backbone of the Counter-Reformation, the Council of Trent was dominated by Diego Laynez, a Jew by race and destined to be the Second Jesuit General (1558-1565), during which the Biblical Doctrines of the Reformers having spread across Europe were absolutely condemned, including Freedom of Conscience, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press…’.24 The Netherlands began embracing the doctrines of grace taught by reformers, in particular John Calvin. In 1567, Phillip II of Spain and his Jesuits dispatched ten thousand troops led by the Duke of Alba. ‘But the Dutch Protestants would not be conquered. They had a great leader. His name was William I of Orange, surnamed “the Silent”’.25 In 1568, William of Orange began driving the Duke of Alba from Brussels. Here we can see the Jesuits acting as the Pope’s hidden hand: ‘Gregory XIII… ordered the Holy Alliance to assassinate William of Orange… For this operation, the Pope turned again to Father Crichton’,26 a Jesuit priest. ‘Crichton, more loyal to the Jesuit leader Claudio Acquaviva than Pope Gregory XIII…’.27 After several attempts to assassinate William, they finally succeeded in 1584. ‘Their tool was Balthazar Gerard, used to fulfill the death-inspiring Jesuit Oath. Shooting the Father of the Dutch Republic three times with a pistol, Gerard attempted to escape but was caught and later brutally executed’.28
Pope Pius V excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I with the Papal Bull, ‘Regnans in Excelsis’ on February 25, 1570. Elizabeth I, ‘permitted the reformed doctrines of the Bible to be openly preached. From her kingdom, she first banished the Jesuit Order in 1579’.29 Many assassination attempts followed. The Ridolfi Plot (1571),30 the Throgmarton Plot (1583)31 and the Babington Plot (1586)32 were instigated by the Jesuits enforcing the doctrine of the Council of Trent. ‘It is impossible to read Elizabethan history except in the context of an army of Jesuits, masters of deceit, treachery, treason, infiltration, subversion, assassination, insurrection, civil war and coercion, plotting for the good of the papacy, and the defeat of all the Pope’s foes anywhere in the world’.33 Undoubtedly, this brief analysis illuminates the subversive nature of the Order, in contrast to their public persona.
Overall, it can be argued that the nature of the Order Loyola created, mirrors in some respects, the nature of the man. Loyola seemed to undergo an authentic spiritual conversion, but, concurrently, may have used his conviction of righteousness to justify war against the Protestants by any means necessary. On the murderous nature of the oaths, such a doctrine would certainly not be at odds with Inquisitional practices of the middle ages, and, the Catholic church would no doubt go to any lengths to retain and regain their power. To what degree was the Order shaped by the morality of its founder, and how much by the necessities and pressures of the counter-reformation? Such questions do, of course, go beyond the events of history, and provoke a foray into the heart of human nature. The multifaceted nature of the Jesuits is expressed by Ian Paisley, Presbyterian Minister and member of the Irish house of commons, who wrote in 1968; ‘Every Jesuit is outwardly a monk, inwardly a devil, and altogether a serpent’.34 Regardless of their nature, in the sixteenth century the Jesuits gained the ears of Popes, monarchs, and became an important force during the counter-reformation.
REFERENCES
1 The Portal to Jesuit Studies, A Collaborative Resource for Research and Scholarship, ‘Formula of the Institute’, 1540. https://jesuitportal.bc.edu/research/documents/1540_Formula/
2 Charles Chiniquy, Fifty Years in the Church of Rome, Vol. II, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1968; originally published in 1886), 487, 488; quoting Memorial of the Captivity of Napoleon at St. Helena, General Montholon.
3 Saint Ignatius Loyola, “The Autobiography of St. Ignatius”, (Gutenberg ebook the Autobiography of St. Ignatius, 2008), 27.
4 Ibid, 31.
5 Ibid, 33.
6 David Coghlan, ‘Ignatian spirituality as transformational social science’, Research Article, (March 2005). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1476750305049967?casa_token=x6kJxZD1fyAAAAAA%3ACFZh7BZGyBjMXrTKr7GBbtLA9P7-eRqsit1e_ikTvie9ePNu8Afu1h5-hhXiA5v8-gYgwnV7eIau&
7 Saint Ignatius Loyola, 77.
8 Mathew Stijin, ‘Ignatius Loyola and the Counter Reformation’, (December 2017): 3.
9 Ibid, 104.
10 Robert E McNally, ‘The Council of Trent, The Spiritual Exercises and The Catholic Reform’, The Cambridge University Press, American Society of Church History, Volume 34, Issue 1, March 1965, 36-49.
11 Mathew Stijin, 3.
12 The Portal to Jesuit Studies, A Collaborative Resource for Research and Scholarship ‘Formula of the Institute’, 1540. https://jesuitportal.bc.edu/research/documents/1540_Formula/
13 Luigi Desanctis, Official Censor of the Inquisition, Popery, Puseyism and Jesuitism, (London, D. Catt, Strand, WC, 1852), 74.
14 The Society of Jesus, The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus, (Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies, Boston College, 1996).
15 Claudio Acquaviva, fifth Jesuit General, Secret Instructions of the Jesuits, The Secret Counsels of the Society of Jesus, ed. Robert J. Breckinridge, (Baltimore: Edward J. Coale and Co., 1835).
16 Edwin A. Sherman, American 33rd Degree Freemason, The Engineer Corps of Hell, (Originally published 1883 and sold by private subscription only/Ulan Press 2012).
17 G. B. Nicolini of Rome, History of the Jesuits: Their Origin, Progress, Doctrines and Designs, (London, Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden, 1854).
18 M. F. Cusack, The Black Pope, (London: Marshall, Russell and Co., Ltd, 1896).
19 Carlos Didier, Subterranean Rome, (Paulin, New York, 1843), (translated from French).
20 The Devil In Robes; Or, The Sin of Priests, (St. Louis: Continental Bible House, 1900), ed. J. Scott Carr, 19-23.
21 G. B. Nicolini of Rome, History of the Jesuits: Their Origin, Progress, Doctrines and Designs, (London, Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden, 1854), 67.
22 Mathew Stijin, 4.
23 Anonymous, “St. Ignatius of Loyola” (Online).
24 Eric Jon Phelps, Vatican Assassins, (Pennsylvania, Lowvehm Inc., 2007), 173.
25 Ibid, 182.
26 Eric Frattini, The Entity, (London, JR Books Limited, 2009), 45.
27 Ibid, pg 44.
28 Eric Jon Phelps, 183.
29 Ibid, 188.
30 Ibid, 28-32.
31 Ibid, 43-44.
32 Ibid, 48.
33 Jonas E. C. Shepherd, The Babington Plot, (Wittenburg, 1987).
34 Ian Paisley, 1968, Irish Presbyterian Preacher, Member, House of Commons, The Jesuits.
