Old Times in the Colonies & The Story of Liberty. Charles Carleton Coffin
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Ignatius Loyola eagerly engages in the war, to forget, in the excitement of the camp, the fair lady who has rejected his suit. He is wounded and taken prisoner. Through the weary days he lies upon his cot. The time is long. His spirits chafe. He offers vows to the Virgin Mary that if she will cure him he will make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. His wound heals, and he keeps his vow, for he has learned faithfulness in the court of Ferdinand. He has wonderful visions; the Virgin appears to him, surrounded with supernal glory, to reward him for his fidelity.
Loyola returns to Spain, and has so much to say about his vision that the men who ask questions thrust him into prison as a heretic; but he makes his escape, and flees to France. He is deeply religious, fasting and praying all night. He consecrates himself to the service of the Virgin — to go wherever she may send him, to do what he can in converting the world.
In Paris he makes the acquaintance of Peter Faber, Francis Xavier, and four other young men, whom he fires with his own lofty enthusiasm for the conversion of the world. They fast and pray, and form them-selves into a society, with Loyola as their general, who shall tell them what to do, and they will do it; where to go, and they will go, without asking any questions. They take four solemn oaths:
1. To obey their general, no matter what he may command them to do.
2. Never, as individuals, to own any property, but to obtain all they can for the Church.
3. Never to marry.
4. To do whatever the Pope commands.
They are animated by one lofty idea — to put forth all their energies to convert the world. For this they will suffer hardship, hunger, poverty, privation, sickness, and death. Nothing shall deter them, no obstacle turn them back.
In April, 1538, these seven brethren kneel before Pope Alexander Farnese, in Rome, and ask him to accept their services. They will go or come, and will do all that he shall order. The Pope sees that he can use such men to good advantage. He accepts their services, and recognizes the Society of Jesus as an agency of the Church. He issues a bull exempting the brothers from all control except his own. They are not answerable to cardinals, archbishops, or anybody else — not even to kings or emperors, neither to any civil or ecclesiastical law. They never shall be called upon to pay any tithes or taxes.
Loyola draws up a set of actions for the society — not based on the Ten Commandments, nor on Christ's Sermon on the Mount, but on the idea that if an object to be attained is good, they may use any means to obtain it, even though the means may not be good.
"A good motive makes any action right."
That is what Loyola believes. It is right to tell a lie, to take a fake oath, to defraud, and commit even murder, if the act is done for the good of the Church. So if the members of the society judge that the Church will be benefited by having a king or queen, or anybody else, put out of the way, it will be right for them to take any means to accomplish it.
"No action wicked in itself is really wicked unless the intention is evil.
"In taking oaths, the members of the society may make mental reservations to break them, if they can benefit the Church by so doing.
"If called upon to Justify any of their actions, they may give a false motive instead of the real one. They may equivocate may justify fraud and deceit, without any scruples of conscience."
The Pope promises to grant them absolution for whatever they may do that in itself would be wrong, but which he will make right, because it is for the good of the Church.
"No member of the society shall submit himself to be examined before any court of justice without the permission of his superior."
This makes the society superior to the State — to kings and emperors — superior to all law.
"If the members are cast into prison for refusing to testify, they are to account it all honor to suffer for the good of the Church."
With the Pope's blessing resting upon them, the members of the society go forth, in their enthusiasm, to establish the Church in every land — threading the jungles of India; traversing the deserts of Africa; sailing along the rivers of China; making their way amidst the mountains of Japan ; crossing the Atlantic; penetrating the wilds of America; planting the cross on the plains of Brazil and the peaks of the Andes; establishing missions amidst the fertile vales of Mexico; making themselves at home in the wigwams of the Indians of the New World; sailing their canoes on the great lakes; threading the wilderness beyond the Mississippi; establishing missions everywhere; bringing myriads of the human race under the dominion of the Church; persuading men where persuasion will accomplish what they desire, and employing force where force is possible, regardless of natural rights and liberties.
We shall see, by-and-by, what will come from such an organization, established on a code of morals which sets up vice for virtue, falsehood for truth, deceit for honesty; which claims to be superior to king, emperor, Parliament, or Congress; which makes itself a despotism over the hearts and consciences of men; which places its spies in every household, taking note of the actions and beliefs of every individual; trampling on all law; setting aside all authority; acknowledging only one whom they are bound to obey — the Pope of Rome!
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