Jesuit Order. Creation
MOSCOW STATE INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (UNIVERSITY) OF THE MFA OF RUSSIA
Department of World and National History
The World History
Topic: "The Order of the Jesuits and its Creator"
Full name: Ershova D.S.
1st year FPEK students gr. 5
Moscow 2014
Introduction
Ignatius Loyolo: the path of spiritual quest
The role of the Jesuit order in education
Development of the Order
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
The Jesuit order is a peculiar phenomenon in history. Since 1534, the date of its founding, it has acquired indescribable power, and the acting general has had enough power to influence the course of history. This order (or in other words, the "Society of Jesus") is interesting not only because it took part in military campaigns, in the development of science, education, in extensive missionary activities, but also because it is in its own way, beneficial to the order way, he interpreted all the rules of morality, bypassing some church prohibitions on the way to his goal.
The legendary Ignatius Loyola, during his lifetime, achieved sufficient influence of the order in religious circles. At the time of death, the number of members of the society was approximately 1000, provinces - 12, residences - 72. But most importantly, the "Society of Jesus" played a significant role in the struggle against the Reformation.
The work is based on the book by G. Boehmer "History of the Jesuit Order" M.: Lomonosov, 2012. 210 p. He conducted a thorough analysis, demonstrating how society was created, developed, gained influence in the world.
1. Ignatius Loyola: the spiritual path of development
It is known that in order to become a leader, you need to have a hardened character, willpower and the ability to lead people. That's what Ignatius was like. He achieved power through his unshakable faith in God, and with his ideas about how exactly he should be served.
But he wasn't always like that. Many are converted only after experiencing difficult life trials, and Ignatius is an example of this. He was a simple knight, until in 1521 French troops besieged the fortress in which Ignatius was as part of his battalion. He received terrible wounds in both legs, and subsequently, due to a further malfusion, one leg was shorter than the other. For many months he was on the verge of life and death and was forced to stay in bed. His only amusement turned out to be two books: Ludolph of Saxony's Life of Christ and a collection of legends about the lives of the saints. It was these books that changed his whole attitude towards God and faith.
For several years, Ignatius spent all his time in prayer and caring for the sick, and alms were his only livelihood. He then doubted the power of confession, and its ability to atone for all the sins of a person. These mental anguish brought him to a state close to suicide, only the fear of the Lord stopped him. It is surprising how in this aspect the thinking of Ignatius Loyola (who would later play a large role in the Counter-Reformation) is similar to the thoughts of the initiator, the leader of the Reformation - Martin Luther. Both of them doubt that their sins have been forgiven, with the only difference that Luther strongly criticizes indulgences, and Ignatius believes in the ability of the church to remove sins. He returns to confession over and over again, asking for forgiveness for the same actions of his, thus coming to the conclusion that all his doubts come from the devil.
Sometimes the future general of the Order was visited by visions in which God seemed to give instructions to him. Perhaps they arose from his constant hunger. There were periods when he did not eat for several days, or was content with roots and stale bread.
Be that as it may, through these visions, Ignatius comprehended the secrets of Catholic dogmas and inspired him with confidence that he must defend his faith, and with it the Church and the Pope. He even writes the book "Spiritual Exercises", in which he describes what needs to be done to educate and enrich his soul. Following his recommendations, a person must learn to subordinate his behavior to the arguments of reason.
The phenomenal popularity of Ignatius Loyola at that time can be explained by a number of reasons. Firstly, the prevailing mood in society - the growth of religious enthusiasm among the knights, Catholic piety, and the fact that Ignatius lived precisely in the era of the ideas of Martin Luther. Otherwise, no one would have opposed their worldviews. And, secondly, in addition to the very environment of that time, one cannot fail to pay tribute to the general himself. He was a strong personality, a capable orator, a recognized leader.
The goals of the creation of the Order of the Jesuits
At the beginning of the XVI
The result of all this was the decline of the Church. The Reformation became a very popular movement for the renewal of the church. It lasted quite a long time, from 1517 to 1648. Its starting point is the event of October 31, 1517, when Martin Luther nailed “95 theses” to the doors of the Wittenberg Castle Church. In them, he criticizes the fact that the church is abusing its power. It ended with the signing of the Peace of Westphalia, according to which the church ceased to take an active part in European politics.
The church carried out a series of responses, called the Counter-Reformation. The main task of the church was to restore its status, maintain its role in the political life of the country and influence on the population. Measures mean: 1) the fight against heresy, i.e. with the Reformation (the introduction of the strictest censorship, attracting the monarchy to its side, the establishment in 1542 of the central inquisitorial court in Rome) 2) updating the very internal structure of the church, eradicating obvious shortcomings (centralization of power in the hands of the pope, the abolition of the inquisitions, a change in the composition of the clergy)
So, against the backdrop of the need to return the influence of the church, the creation of an Order that is completely subordinate to the pope and defends the interests of the church becomes necessary for the Counter-Reformation movement.
Ignatius Loyola himself initially planned to go to the Holy Land with his fellow students in order to carry out missionary work among Muslims. But the students did not receive the pope's consent to this because of the impending crusade against the Turks. Then, resigned to the fact that their sermons would not be heard in Jerusalem, it was decided to create the Order.
Its goal was to realize an internal mission to save the church and act under the leadership of the Pope himself. In other words, the Order was supposed to serve to bring people infected with the ideas of the Reformation back under the influence of the Catholic Church.
Methods of influence of the "Society of Jesus" on the masses
Ignatius himself stated: "The Jesuit, like the apostle, must become everything for everyone in order to win the hearts of everyone." The Order launched an extensive activity to win the hearts and respect of the masses.
For example, children are an indicator of what the world will have in the future. That is why, first of all, the Order was engaged in the religious education of children. There were schools where the Jesuits taught, and then entire universities.
Confessions and sermons helped to influence the adult generation, because the power of the word should not be underestimated. Agitation was the basis for influencing people, so the general constantly moved, with his speeches inciting more and more people to the ideas of the order. But Ignatius did not stop there. He fed hundreds of the poor, created shelters and charitable institutions for orphans. The Jesuits were becoming more and more trusted by the population.
It should also not be forgotten that the Jesuits had a great influence in politics. The Jesuits held various positions, both inside and outside the church. Members of the order were confessors and advisers to monarchs, they had a special influence on the female representatives, as well as diplomatic and political agents, scientists and writers, teachers and missionaries scattered throughout the world.
4. The role of the Jesuit order in education
Education was one of the most important political weapons of the order. They have created a huge number of schools that give a brilliant education. Even the Protestants recognized the superiority of the Jesuit schools over their own, and they often sent their own children there. Teachers taught to read, write, count, taught the basics of history, philosophy, theology. Schools gave extensive knowledge, but, ultimately, it was excellent training, education of unquestioning obedience, denunciations and slander were encouraged.
Development of the Order
By 1554, the Order had already become the personal instrument of the pope. The Jesuits have a new slogan. "Perinde ac cadaver" - "a corpse in the hands of the owner", the owner means dad. General of the Order, i.e. Ignatius was in charge of all affairs within the order. In pursuit of the goal of eradicating Protestantism, the Jesuits had to act in exactly the opposite way. Protestants valued personal freedom, so the Jesuits regarded it as evil. Members of the order were kept under strict control, forced to give up their will, to become a puppet of the Society of Jesus. Entering the Order, the Jesuits had nothing left of their past: family, friends, only the Order and the goal - to serve it. This is the main difference between the Jesuit Order and any other religious organizations, for them the end justifies the means.
According to their philosophy, deceit, crime, theft, political murder - all this can be justified if it serves a higher purpose. There is also a theory that it was the Jesuits who were responsible for the deaths of Henry III and Henry IV. The Florentine thinker discusses the methods of seizing and retaining power, while he admits the need to commit meanness and crime in the name of this goal.
Another feature is the fact that by suppressing the freedom of thought of their members, they did not suppress the freedom of their human vices, so long as they did not harm the cause of the Order.
The Church, which agreed to the creation of the "Society of Jesus" as a means of protection, did not even suspect what a strong, and possibly dangerous ally it could become. It is known that the church never encouraged science, while the Jesuits took on the development of new knowledge with particular zeal. They spread their knowledge, occupied high positions in the secular world, traded, enriched themselves, and over time gained such influence that it was already impossible to ignore them. The Papal Curia also forced the Order to participate in the Holy War, the Jesuits became a full-fledged army. They were a powerful army in the hands of Catholicism.
After the death of Ignatius, the order grew, both in numbers, there and in the number of countries in which there were divisions of the "Society of Jesus". In 1773, Pope Clement XIV was forced to destroy the order at the urging of strong opposition in the form of the courts of European monarchs.
In 1814, the Order was restored and exists to this day.
Conclusion
The Jesuit Order is the largest and most powerful organization. Members of the order, on the one hand, they achieved the persecution of Protestants, the strengthening of the church, the suppression of individual freedom, the creation of flexible moral values that justify any act for the good of the Catholic Church. But on the other hand, they conducted mass educational activities, taught children, their colleges were considered the best in the world, developed sciences, organized shelters, and helped the poor. It is impossible to be categorical when talking about the Jesuits, but one thing is certain, if it were not for Ignatius Loyola and his order, the Counter-Reformation would have failed.
order jesuit counter-reformation religious
Sources
1) Boehmer G. "History of the Jesuit Order" M .: Lomonosov, 2012. 210 p.
2) Solovyov S. Counter-Reformation, Jesuits // Course of New History. AST, 2003, chapter 4-2.
)Kareev N.I. History of Western Europe in Modern Times. Volume 2." St. Petersburg: printing house M.M. Stasyulevich, 1904. - 624 p.
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The Jesuit Order (officially the Society of Jesus) was founded in 1536 in Paris by the Spanish fanatic Ignatius Loyola, who, according to Diderot, devoted his youth to military craft and love pleasures. In 1540, the order was legalized by Pope Paul III.
The order was created on a military model. Its members considered themselves soldiers, Christ's army, and their organization - an army. Iron discipline and absolute obedience to superiors were considered the highest virtue of the Jesuits. The end justifies the means was the principle followed by the members of the Society of Jesus. Unlike other monastic orders, the Jesuit was not bound by rigid monastic rules. The sons of Loyola lived in the world, among the populace.
The Society of Jesus is the order most closely associated with the papal throne, whose activities are directly controlled and directed by the pope. Formally, all other monastic orders also depend on the papal throne. However, in the past, they gravitated more to the local hierarchy and local rulers than to the distant head of the Catholic Church. Another thing is the Jesuits, who swear allegiance to the Pope, his own soldiers, directly and unquestioningly carrying out his orders.
The Jesuits were exempted from burdensome church services, the obligatory wearing of monastic attire. In addition, unlike members of other monastic orders, they did not apply for the highest church positions. Only in exceptional cases were they appointed by cardinals, bishops, and the path to the papal tiara was generally ordered to them. The general of the Jesuit order could not expect to turn from a black butt to a white one. Thus, the Jesuits were allowed everything, except for the direct management of the church. They could only rule through others, they could only be a secret spring, a secret power behind the throne.
The largest possession of the Jesuits in Spanish America was the reductions in Paraguay. The Jesuits came to Paraguay at the beginning of the 17th century. There were no precious stones in this area, there were no developed Indian societies, therefore, during the period of the conquest, it did not attract much attention from the Spaniards. But the favorable climate, fertile land, allowing for two crops a year, large masses of the Indian population, mainly peace-loving Guarani tribes, made this area very promising for the development of agriculture, especially cattle breeding. The Jesuits were also attracted by the fact that there were few Spanish settlers here and the area was away from large colonial centers. The nearest of them - Asuncion and Buenos Aires, were at the beginning of the 17th century only outposts guarding the approaches to the wealth of Peru from the Atlantic Ocean. To the east of the line Asuncion - Buenos Aires lay no man's land with unknown riches, stretching all the way to the Portuguese possessions, or rather to Sao Paulo. In this huge triangle - Asuncion - Buenos Aires - São Paulo, which could accommodate Spain, Portugal and France taken together, the Jesuit possessions, the Jesuit republic or state, as they are often called in literature, stretched out.
These possessions were under the jurisdiction of the Jesuit Paraguayan province (the Jesuit order was divided into provinces, which included, as a rule, several countries). In addition to Paraguay, the Jesuits also had Mexican and Peruvian provinces in colonial America, with a center in Asuncion, whose influence extended to present-day Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and the adjacent border zones of Highland Peru (Bolivia) and southern Brazil.
The Jesuits created their first reduction settlements in the area of the city of Guaira on the left bank of the river. Paraguay, but after the successful raids of the Brazilian bandeirantes - slave hunters from Sao Paulo (they were also called Mamelukes) - they were forced to leave Guaira and move south with their wards Indians. In the 18th century, the Paraguayan missions of the Jesuits had 30 reductions in the upper and middle reaches of the Parana and Paraguay rivers, between the 25th and 32nd southern meridians, at the junction of the current republics of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. 8 reductions were in present-day Paraguay, 15 - in Argentina, 7 - in Brazil, in the territory of the current state of Rio Grande do Sul. The largest reduction - Yapeu - had about 8 thousand inhabitants, the smallest - 250, and on average about 3 thousand people lived in the reduction. Currently, these areas are called in Paraguay: the district of Misiones, in Argentina - the national territory of Misiones, in Brazil - the Mission District (Comarca de missoes).
In October 1611, the Jesuits received from the Spanish crown the monopoly right to establish missions in Paraguay, and the Indians converted by them to Christianity were exempted from paying taxes to the crown for 10 years. The Spanish authorities took this step for various reasons: firstly, the area was difficult to access and poor in valuable minerals; secondly, it was inhabited by freedom-loving tribes, the conquest of which would require large funds and efforts on the part of the colonial authorities; thirdly, the territory on which the Jesuits settled adjoined Brazil, which at that time was (thanks to the accession of Portugal to Spain in 1580) as if in the orbit of Spanish influence, so the Portuguese did not resist the advance of the Jesuits towards their territory - Brazil.
The Jesuits adapted the Catholic religion to the Indian beliefs, acting through tamed Indians who acted as their agitators and propagandists, enlisted the support of the Indian cacique leaders, through whom they controlled the reductions. Kasiki received their share from the exploitation of Indian workers who were in the position of serfs. The product of their labor in God's field (that was the name of the land that belonged to the church) and in the workshops was appropriated by the Jesuits, who acted as landowners and entrepreneurs. Their wards did not enjoy freedom of movement, could not change jobs, choose a wife for themselves without the prior consent of the Jesuit mentor. For disobedience, the reduction Indians were subjected to corporal punishment.
The reductions in the description of some Jesuits look either like a kindergarten or an almshouse. The Jesuits, it turns out, were only engaged in multiplying the spiritual and physical benefits of their wards: they taught them to read and write, music, crafts, military art, took care of their health, rest, and soul. However, upon closer examination of the system established by the Jesuits in the reductions, the solar picture of the life of the Guarani fades, black spots appear very clearly on it. All authors, including the Jesuits, agree that the life of the Indians in reductions was regulated to the limit, including marital relations, which took place at the sound of a bell at 11 o'clock in the evening; the Indians worked from dawn to dusk, the products of their labor appropriated by the Jesuits. Guarani lived in poverty, unsanitary conditions, ate poorly, walked barefoot, died from various epidemics. The Jesuits carried out judgment and reprisals on them, punishing them with whips for the slightest violation of the established order. The Jesuits lived in fine buildings; the churches built by the Indians glittered with ornaments of gold, silver and precious stones. The labor of the Indians brought great benefits to the order. The Jesuits supplied the international market with large quantities of yerba-mate (Paraguayan tea), cotton, leather, tanning extract, wax, tobacco, grain and other products obtained as a result of the labor of the Indians.
Access to the reduction depended on the will of the Jesuit authorities, who could forbid entry to everyone, with the exception of the highest clergy and representatives of the colonial administration. Finally, a significant difference between the Jesuit possessions in Paraguay and other missions was the presence of Guarani Indians in the reductions of the troops. These troops were created and armed with the permission of the Spanish crown after the separation of Portugal from Spain in 1640. Their task was to protect the eastern border from Brazilian raids. Formally, they were at the disposal of the colonial authorities, but in fact they were commanded by the Jesuit fathers.
In 1740, the Jesuits were preparing to celebrate their anniversary - the 200th anniversary of the existence of the order. In this regard, the general of the order Retz sent a circular to all the provincials with instructions not to make a fuss about the anniversary and to celebrate it strictly in the family circle, given the seriousness of the situation. The general was right: clouds were gathering everywhere over the order, he was accused of a variety of intrigues, intrigues, and crimes. Now the members of the Society of Jesus were vilified not only in Protestant countries, but also in the most orthodox Catholic countries - Spain, Portugal and France, where real anti-Jesuit parties were formed, advocating the strengthening of royal power, for enlightened governance. Opponents of the Jesuit order demanded, first of all, to limit its political and economic influence, to prohibit it from interfering in state affairs, to expel its representatives from court circles, to deprive the Jesuits of their monopoly on the influential position of royal confessor.
The affairs of the Jesuits also did not go well in Brazil, which was mastered by the Portuguese much later than the Spanish possessions. The first Jesuits arrived in Brazil in 1549. They immediately began to strife with the Portuguese settlers over control of the Indians. The Jesuits demanded custody of the Indians, while the settlers sought to convert the Indians into slavery. An Indian slave was much cheaper than an African.
On this basis, there were constant clashes between both sides, which repeatedly ended in the expulsion of the Jesuits. In 1640 they were expelled from the São Paulo region, and in 1669 from the northern provinces (Marañon and Parana). The Jesuits in Brazil, as, indeed, in other countries, not only did not object to the slavery of blacks and the slave trade, but they themselves actively participated in it. Their moaning and protests against the attempts of the settlers to enslave the Indians are explained not by moral reasons, but by the desire to benefit from the monopoly control over the natives themselves.
But over time, clouds began to gather over the order. In 1764, France banned the Jesuit order. This decision was preceded by the scandalous case of the Jesuit abbot Lavallet, who robbed his partners in trade with Martinique. Parliament and a special royal commission that examined the activities of the order came to the conclusion that the subordination of the French Jesuits to a foreign general living in Rome was contrary to the laws of the kingdom and the duties of its subjects. The king, not wanting to take extreme measures, proposed to the papal throne to appoint a vicar from the French Jesuits - the local head of the order, responsible to French laws. The papacy rejected this proposal. Then, on August 6, 1762, the Parliament of Paris, the country's highest court, decided to ban the Jesuit order and expel its members from the country, simultaneously accusing them, in accordance with the best traditions of the Inquisition, of sympathy for Arianism, Nestorianism, Lutheranism, Calvinism and many other heresies, spreading heretical filth.
This decree was legalized by the king two years later, in 1764. The Pope at a secret consistory rejected the decision of the French king as illegal, but did not dare to publicly declare this. The disgrace of the Jesuits did not end there. Their headquarters in Paris - the palace on the Rue Pau de Fort - were taken over by the Freemasons, who in 1778 accepted into their ranks in this former holy of holies of the Society of Jesus - Voltaire, in the past a disciple of the Jesuit fathers, and then their most merciless opponent.
The prohibition of the Jesuit order in France strengthened the position of its opponents in Spain. They began to bide their time to follow the example of Paris and Lisbon.
The king of Spain, Charles III, at first favored the Jesuits, but soon his attitude towards the order changed. Former King of Naples, Charles III was a great admirer of the Bishop of Palafox, who once predicted that he would take the Spanish throne. When this prediction came true, Charles III, wanting to thank the prophetic bishop posthumously, asked the Pope to elevate him to the rank of blessed. The Pope categorically refused. Palafox, being Bishop of Puebla in Mexico, was reputed to be an implacable enemy of the Jesuits. Naturally, the Jesuits, whose influence at the papal court was still significant, could not allow their opponent to be blessed.
The intrigues of the Jesuits and the refusal of the pope to grant his request displeased the king. It turned into anger when Charles III was informed that the Jesuits intended to overthrow him and put brother Luis on the throne, that they were spreading rumors that the king's father was supposedly Cardinal Alberoni, who served as an adviser to the Neapolitan court.
On March 23, 1766, a rebellion broke out in Madrid against the Neapolitan Minister of Finance Leopoldo de Gregorio, Marquis of Squillaci, who forbade the Spaniards from wearing wide-brimmed hats and long raincoats. The Jesuits took part in the riots. The procurator of the order, Isidoro Lopez, and the patron of the order, the former minister of Ensenada, called for the overthrow of the king. This overflowed the patience of Charles III, and he agreed to the prohibition of the order. An Extraordinary Royal Council was convened, which considered the report of the ministers Rod and Campomanes on the activities of the Jesuits in the Spanish Empire.
The report was compiled on the basis of exposing documents of the former Jesuit Bernardo Ibáñez de Echavarri. Ibanez, being in Buenos Aires in the 50s, during the stay of the Valdelirios mission there, sided with the latter, for which he was expelled from the order. Returning to Spain, Ibáñez wrote a series of notes, including The Jesuit Kingdom in Paraguay, exposing the subversive activities of the Jesuits in this province. Ibáñez's materials, after his death in 1762, were handed over to the government.
On April 2, 1767, the royal council issued a decree - Pragmatics, the full name of the document is His Majesty's Pragmatic Order for the expulsion, according to the law, from these kingdoms, members of the Society, confiscation of their property, prohibition of restoration ever in the future and listing other measures.
The King, it was said in the Pragmatics, decided to ban the Order of Loyola, to expel all its members from the Spanish possessions and to confiscate their property, prompted by the most serious reasons related to my duties to ensure the obedience, tranquility and justice of my peoples, and for other urgent, just necessary and obligatory reasons known only to my royal conscience.
Jesuits of all ranks and degrees were expelled, including novices. All property of the order, whether movable or immovable property, was confiscated in favor of the royal treasury. The Council for the Management of the Former Jesuit Property (Junta de Temporaridades) was established, the proceeds of which were to go to the needs of education and to pay pensions to exiled members of the order.
Exiled Jesuits who wished to leave the order and return to a secular state could ask the king to allow them to come to Spain, swearing an oath to the chairman of the Royal Council to stop all communication with members of the order or its general and not speak in their defense. Violation of the oath was equated with high treason. Former Jesuits were banned from church and teaching activities. The inhabitants of Spain and its possessions, under pain of severe punishment, were not allowed to correspond with members of the order.
Both in Spain and in overseas possessions, with the exception of Mexico, the operation to arrest the Jesuits and expel them went without much hindrance. Resorting to tricks and tricks, the local authorities managed to concentrate the Jesuits lured from the missions in the designated places and arrest them.
This gave rise to the legend that the ship that brought the royal Pragmatics to the colonies allegedly brought a secret notification from the Jesuit general to his wards about their impending expulsion.
Anticipating that the Jesuits could mobilize fanatical supporters from the local population in their defense, the Viceroy of Mexico, Marquis de Croix, in an address to the inhabitants, demanded unquestioning obedience to royal Pragmatics and strictly forbade any discussion of it.
This formidable appeal had no effect on the supporters of the Jesuits who revolted in the cities of San Luis Potosi, Guanajuato and Valladolid (now the city of Morelia). To extract the Jesuits from there, it took an army of 5 thousand soldiers. It took four months to put down the rebellions. The Spanish authorities dealt ruthlessly with the supporters of the Jesuits: 85 people were hanged, 664 were sentenced to hard labor, 110 were deported.
In the area of La Plata, the order to expel the Jesuits could only be carried out a year after it was received. Only on August 22, 1768, the authorities were able to concentrate all (there were about 100) Paraguayan Jesuits in Buenos Aires, from where they sailed to Spain on December 8 of the same year, arriving in Cadiz on April 7, 1769. In total, 2260 Jesuits were expelled from the American colonies, 2154 arrived in the port of Santa Maria, the rest died on the way. 562 Jesuits were expelled from Mexico, 437 from Paraguay, 413 from Peru, 315 from Chile, 226 from Quito, 201 from New Granada. Most of those expelled were Spaniards, but there were also several hundred Creoles; 239 Jesuits were natives of Italy, Germany, Austria and some other European countries. Thus ended the history of the once one of the most powerful Catholic orders in Europe.
For a long time the word "Jesuit" in the Russian language has acquired distinctly negative connotations. Many factors contributed to this. However, it is worthwhile to figure out who the Jesuits really are.
Unlike Orthodoxy, in Catholicism there is a whole scattering of monastic orders. Such a tradition comes from the Middle Ages and does not at all imply the imperfection of the monastic organization in the West. Each of the orders is to some extent "responsible" for a separate area of church activity.
Of the modern orders, the Franciscans, Dominicans and Jesuits have the greatest authority. While the first two orders devote their cares mainly to charity and theological research, respectively, the Jesuit colleges are still perhaps the best educational centers in the world.
The founder of the Society of Jesus (this is how the Jesuit order is formally called), Saint Ignatius Loyola, firmly resolved to devote his life to God and the Church after he was seriously wounded and almost died in 1521, defending the fortress of Pamplona from French troops. The doctors, who fought for Loyola's life for a long time, soon recognized the futility of further treatment and urged him to confess before his death.
After confession and unction, Layola suddenly felt better, and he asked to bring him chivalric novels, which, however, were not in the family castle, but only the “Life of Jesus Christ” by one Catholic monk and one of the volumes of “Lives” were found in the family library. After that, Loyola's fate was sealed.
After some time, the young man decided to start studying the sciences. To do this, he arrived in one of the centers of European education - Paris. There he gradually mastered the classical languages, philosophy, natural sciences and, finally, theology. During the 6 years spent in Paris, Ignatius Loyola became close to six young men: Peter Lefebvre, Francis Xavier, Yakov Linez, Alfonso Salmeron, Nikolai Bobadilla and Simon Rodriguez.
August 15, 1534 during a mass in the church of St. Dionysius, they solemnly took vows of chastity, non-possession and missionary work in the Holy Land. From that day on, the Society of Jesus began. In 1537 all seven founders of the order were ordained priests. In view of the outbreak of the war between Venice and Turkey, they could not go to the Holy Land and went to Rome.
There the priests were given the opportunity to teach theology at the University of Rome. In 1538 Loyola had the great honor of celebrating Mass at Christmas in one of the main Roman churches, Santa Maria Maggiore. However, the young people wanted to be more involved in missionary work, and then they decided to officially create a new monastic order.
September 27, 1540 Pope Paul III formalized the creation of the order with a special bull "Regimni militantis ecclesiae".
The Society of Jesus came into being at an extremely difficult time for the Catholic Church. After Luther spoke out against the abuses of the Catholic clergy, the power of the Church was shaken. First, the "Lutheran heresy" penetrated into the German lands, and then into other European states. Given the ever-growing authority of the new dogmatic teaching, Rome needed support, both within Italy and abroad. It was precisely such a support at such a difficult moment that the new order could and eventually became.
The Jesuit charter assumed four vows instead of the usual three for other orders: poverty, obedience, chastity, and obedience to the pope in “mission matters,” that is, missionary work. Loyola and his associates created a clear structure in which the junior in position unquestioningly obey the elders. At the head of the entire order was a general for life, nicknamed the "black pope", who reported only directly to the head of the Church.
The main goal of the order was proclaimed the preservation and strengthening of Catholicism. For its implementation, the Jesuits chose two paths: they immediately took one of the leading places in the education system in Europe; on the other hand, they were active in missionary activity.
For the effectiveness of the work of the order, its members were even allowed to live in the world, hiding their belonging to the monks, and thus preach the truths of Catholicism among ordinary people. And as the religious struggle between the followers of Luther and the Catholics became more and more heated, the Jesuits created their own system of moral imperatives, according to which certain facts were allowed to be interpreted taking into account the prevailing circumstances. Hence, in our minds, a strong connection arose between the "Jesuit" and "casuistry."
Indeed, the Jesuits were distinguished by an amazing resourcefulness of mind and the desire not so much to show the whole in the issue under study, but to break it into particulars, thereby avoiding unfavorable interpretations for themselves and somewhat confusing their opponent. However, the reasons for such a policy are understandable: in the conditions of a real war for the souls of believers, such an approach made it possible to maintain the strong position of the Papal Throne. And the Jesuit colleges, which exist in our time, still remain a model of the highest quality of spiritual upbringing and education. At the same time, their graduates were by no means only prominent church figures, but also secular persons, among whom it is enough to name Descartes or James Joyce.
And although an inquisitive mind will discover shortcomings in the activities of the Jesuits, such as excessive and unconditional devotion to the general of the order and the pope (although this is the basis of all Western monasticism), cunning and intolerance towards the ever-increasing number of heresies to combat which the order was created, to deny the contribution of the Society of Jesus into the treasury of European history and culture would be at least imprudent. After all, one way or another, for the religious consciousness there is nothing more important than the preservation of the originality and truth of one's teaching.
Hovhannes Hakobyan,
historian, postgraduate student of Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov
Jesuits(Order of the Jesuits) - the unofficial name of the "Society of Jesus" (lat. Societas Iesu listen)) is a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, whose members take a vow of direct unconditional obedience to the Pope. This monastic order was founded in 1534 in Paris by the Spanish nobleman Ignatius Loyola and approved by Paul III. Members of the order known as "Jesuits" have been called "foot soldiers of the Pope" since the Protestant Reformation, in part because the order's founder, Ignatius Loyola, was a soldier before becoming a monk, and eventually a priest. The Jesuits were actively engaged in science, education, the upbringing of youth, and widely developed missionary activity. The order's motto is " Ad majorem Dei gloriam", which is translated from Latin as "To the greater glory of God."
Today, the number of Jesuits is 19,216 (2007 data), of which 13,491 are priests. There are about 4 thousand Jesuits in Asia, 3 - in the USA, and in total the Jesuits work in 112 countries of the world, they serve in 1,536 parishes. The Order allows many Jesuits to lead a secular lifestyle.
Geographically, the Order is divided into “provinces” (in some countries where there are many Jesuits, there are several provinces; and vice versa, some provinces unite several countries), “regions” dependent on a particular province, and “independent regions”. Jesuits living on the territory of the former USSR, with the exception of the Baltic countries, belong to the Independent Russian Region.
Currently, the head (general) of the order is the Spaniard Adolfo Nicholas, who replaced Peter Hans Kolvenbak. The main curia of the order is located in Rome, in a historically significant building complex, and includes the famous Church of the Most Holy Name of Jesus.
History of the Order
Opposition to the Society of the Courts of the Great Catholic Monarchs of Europe (Spain, Portugal, France) forced Pope Clement XIV to abolish the order in 1773. The last general of the order was imprisoned in a Roman prison, where he died two years later.
Society in the 19th and 20th centuries
The abolition of the order lasted for forty years. Colleges, missions were closed, various undertakings were stopped. The Jesuits were attached to the parish clergy. However, for various reasons, the Society continued to exist in some countries: in China and India, where several missions were preserved, in Prussia and, above all, in Russia, where Catherine II refused to publish the decree of the pope.
The Society was re-established in 1814. Collegiums are experiencing a new flourishing. In the conditions of the “industrial revolution”, intensified work is being carried out in the field of technical education. When laity movements appear at the end of the 19th century, the Jesuits take part in leading them.
Intellectual activity continues, among other things, new periodicals are created. It is necessary, in particular, to note the French magazine "Etudes", founded in Fr. Ivan Xavier Gagarin. Public research centers are being created to study new social phenomena and influence them. The organization Action Populaire was formed in the city to promote the change of social and international structures and to help the working and peasant masses in their collective development. Many Jesuits are also engaged in fundamental research in the natural sciences, which are experiencing their rise in the 20th century. Of these scientists, the most famous paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
The Jesuits also work in the world of mass communication. They have been working for the Vatican Radio since its foundation to the present day (in particular, in the Russian section).
The Second World War became for the Society, as well as for the whole world, a period of transition. In the post-war period, new beginnings emerge. The Jesuits are involved in creating a "working mission": priests work in the factory to share the conditions in which the workers live and to make the Church present where it was not.
Theological research develops. The French Jesuits study the theology of the Church Fathers and undertake the first scientific edition of the Greek and Latin patristic writings, which replaces the old edition of Father Ming: this is a collection of "Christian sources". Work on it continues today. Other theologians become famous in connection with the Second Vatican Council: Fr. Karl Rahner in Germany, Fr. Bernard Lonergan, who taught in Toronto and Rome.
The ban on the activities of the Jesuits was in effect until the fall of the monarchy in March 1917.
The Soviet government and its ideology treated the Jesuits extremely negatively, presenting them as some kind of immoral spy agency of the Catholic Church. In particular, they were credited with the principle “The end justifies the means” (in fact, the saying belongs to Niccolò Machiavelli).
Notable Jesuits
- St. Ignatius de Loyola (1491-1556) - founder of the order.
- St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552) - missionary and preacher, preached in Asia - from Goa and Ceylon to Japan.
- Baltasar Gracian y Morales (1600-1658) - famous Spanish writer and thinker.
- Antonio Possevino (1534-1611) - papal legate, visited Russia.
- José de Acosta (1539-1600) - explorer of South America, first proposed the theory of the colonization of the American continent by immigrants from Asia.
- St. Martyr John de Brebeuf (Jean de Brebeuf) - researcher Sev. America, tortured by the Indians.
- Francisco Suarez (1548-1617) Spanish theologian and philosopher.
- Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) - founder of the Jesuit mission in Beijing.
- Mansiu Ito (-) - head of the first Japanese embassy to Europe.
- Adam Kochansky (-) - scientist, mathematician.
- Jean François Gerbillon (-) - French Jesuit scholar and missionary in China.
- Giovanni Saccheri (1667-1733) - scientist, mathematician.
- Lorenzo Ricci (1703-1775) - general of the Jesuit order; after the destruction of the order by Pope Clement XIV, he was imprisoned in the fortress of St. Angela, where he died. Known for responding to a proposal to reform the order: "Sint ut sunt aut non sint".
- Michel Corrett (1707-1795) French composer and organist.
- Martin Pochobut-Odlyanytsky (1728-1810) - Belarusian and Lithuanian educator, astronomer, mathematician, rector of the Main Vilna School (1780-1803).
- Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) English poet.
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) - French theologian, philosopher, paleontologist.
Descartes, Corneille, Moliere, Lope de Vega, J. Joyce and many other prominent writers and scientists received education in Jesuit schools.
Jesuits in world literature
- Beranger - "Holy Fathers"
- Blasco Ibanez - "Jesuit Fathers"
- Stendhal "Red and Black" - paints a picture of the Jesuit school
- Dumas, Alexandre (father) - "The Vicomte de Bragelonne, or Ten Years After"
- father d "Orgeval - the novel "Angelica" from 13 volumes by Anne and Serge Golon
- James Joyce - the protagonist of the novel "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man", Stephen Dedalus, studies at a Jesuit school
- Eugene Xu - "Agasfer"
Jesuit antisemitism
According to the research of the philosopher and historian Hannah Arendt, it was the Jesuit influence that was responsible for the spread of anti-Semitism in Europe. Thus, for example, the Jesuit journal Civiltà Cattolica, which was one of the most influential Catholic journals, at the same time "was highly anti-Semitic."
see also
Bibliography
- Marek Inglot SJ Society of Jesus in the Russian Empire (1772-1820) and its role in the worldwide restoration of the Order throughout the world - Moscow: Institute of Philosophy, Theology and History.
- Michel Leroy The myth of the Jesuits: From Beranger to Michelet - Moscow: Languages of Slavic Culture, 2001.
- Heinrich Behmer History of the Jesuit Order - Collection Publishing house AST, 2007
- Gabriel Mono On the History of the Society of Jesus - Collection Jesuit Order Truth and Fiction Publishing house AST, 2007
It was a product of the era of the counter-reformation. In fact, it was created for the rehabilitation of the Catholic Church. At the same time, historians are far from unambiguously characterizing his activities. Why? Let's look at some interesting facts.
Fact number 1. First, let's talk about who the founder of the Jesuit order was. Ignatius Loyola was a Spanish aristocrat who devoted his youth to the war. Some consider Ignatius Loyola a saint, while others consider him an ordinary religious fanatic. He himself admitted that he was "daring in wooing women, he cheaply valued both his own and other people's lives." But having been seriously wounded during the defense of Pamplona in 1521, Iñigo de Loyola decided to drastically change his life. After and then in France, he became a priest. Even during his studies, Ignatius, together with 6 like-minded people, took vows of chastity, non-possession and missionary work. The officially indicated order was approved in 1540. It is quite possible that it was Loyola who contributed to the fact that the order was organized almost along military lines.
Fact number 2. The Jesuit Order is in many ways a missionary organization. True, the preaching methods used by the Jesuits are far from the biblical examples. After all, they always tried to achieve success in the named case as soon as possible. For example, while preaching in China, the Jesuits primarily studied the customs of the locals. They presented Christianity as a kind of Chinese religion. So, the Jesuits behaved like admirers of Confucius. In particular, members of the order, according to a pagan rite, made sacrifices to Confucius and their ancestors, the sayings of the mentioned philosopher substantiated Christianity, hung out plaques in temples with the inscription “Worship the sky!”. The Jesuit order acted in the same way in India. While preaching to the Indians, they were mindful of the existence of castes. For example, the Jesuits rejected any close association with pariahs (“untouchables”). The latter even received communion at the end of a long stick. What the Jesuits preached was a bizarre mixture of Christian and pagan beliefs.
Fact number 3. "The end justifies the means" is the famous motto followed by the Jesuit order. Indeed, in order to achieve their goals, the Jesuits used any means: deceit, bribery, forgery, slander, espionage, and even murder. When it came to the interests of the order, there could be no moral barriers for the Jesuit. So, many historians are sure that it was the Jesuits who staged the assassination of the French king Henry of Navarre. Members of the order openly justified the murder of a tyrant ruler. The Jesuits are also credited with organizing the so-called Gunpowder Plot, which took place in England in 1605. The Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus called the members of this order the perpetrators of the disasters throughout Germany. Because of their active work, the Jesuits were expelled from Portugal, Spain, France and Naples. Therefore, it is not surprising that now hypocrites, as well as cunning and crafty people, are often called Jesuits.