4. The Spirit of the Order

“Let us not forget, writes the Jesuit Rouquette, that, historically, “ultramontanism” has been the practical affirmation of “universalism”… This necessary universalism would be an empty word if it did not result in a practical cohesion or obedience of Christianity: this is why Ignatius wanted this team to be at the disposition of the pope… and be the champion of Catholic unity, unity which can be assured only through an effective submission to Christ’s vicar”.(13a)

The Jesuits wanted to impose this monarchical absolutism on the Roman Church and they maintained it in civil society as they had to look upon the sovereigns as temporal representatives of the Holy Father, true head of Christianity; as long as those monarchs were entirely docile to their common lord, the Jesuits were their most faithful supporters. On the other hand, if these princes rebelled, they found in the Jesuits their worst enemies.

In Europe, wherever Rome’s interests required the people to rise against their king, or if these temporal princes had taken decisions embarrassing for the Church, the Curia knew she would not find more able, cunning, or daring outside the Society of Jesus when it came to intrigue, propaganda or even open rebellion”.(14)

(l3a) R.P. Jesuit Rouquette, op.cit. p.44.
( 1 4 ) Rene Fulop-Muler: “Les Jesuites et le secret de leur puissance” (Librairie Plon, Paris 1933. p.61).

We have seen, through the spirit of the “Exercises”, how the founder of this Company was behind his time in his simplistic mysticism, ecclesiastic discipline and, generally speaking, his conception of subordination. The “Constitutions” and “Exercises”, fundamentals to this system, leave us without any doubts on that subject. No matter what his disciples may say— especially today as modern ideas on this subject are totally different— obedience has a very special place, in fact incontestably the first, in the summary of the Order’s rules. Mr. Folliet may pretend to see in it nothing more than “religious obedience”, necessary to any congregation; R.P. Rouquette writes boldly: “Far from being a diminution of man, this intelligent and willing obedience is the height of freedom… a liberation from oneself s bondage…”; one only has to read those texts to perceive the extreme, if not monstrous character of this submission of soul and spirit imposed to the Jesuits, making them always docile instruments in their superiors’ hands, and even more from their very beginning the natural ennemies of any kind of liberty.

The famous “perinde ac cadaver” (as a corpse in the undertaker’s hands), can be found in all “spiritual literature”, according to Mr. Folliet, and even in the East, in the Haschichins’ Constitution; the Jesuits are to be in the hands of their superiors “as a staff obeying every impulse; as a ball of wax which can be shaped and stretched in any direction; as a small crucifix being lifted and moved at will”; these pleasant formulas are none the less very enlightening. Remarks and explanations from the creator of this Order leave us without any doubt as to their true meaning. Besides, amongst the Jesuits, not only the will, but also reasoning and even moral scruple, must be sacrificed to the primordial virtue of obedience which is, according to Borgia, “the strongest rampart of Society”.

“Let us be convinced that all is well and right when the superior commands it”, wrote Loyola. And again: “Even if God gave you an animal without sense for master, you will not hesitate to obey him, as master and guide, because God ordained it to be so.”

And something even better: the Jesuit must see in his superior not a fallible man, but Christ Himself. J. Huber, professor of Catholic theology in Munich and author of one of the most important works on the Jesuits, wrote: “Here is a proven fact: the “Constitutions” repeat five hundred times that one must see Christ in the person of the General”.(15)

The discipline of the Order, assimilated so often to that of the army, is then nothing compared to the reality. “Military obedience is not the equivalent of Jesuitic obedience; the latter is more extensive as it gets hold of the whole man and is not satisfied like the other, with an exterior act, but requires the sacrifice of the will and laying aside of one’s own judgment”.(16)

(15) J. Huber. “Les Jesuites” (Sandoz et Fischbacher, Paris 1875, pp. 71 & 73).
(16) J. Huber: “Les Jesuites” (Sandoz et Fischbacher, Paris 1875, pp. 71 & 73).

Ignatius himself wrote in his letter to the Portuguese Jesuits: “We must see black as white, if the Church says so“.

Such is this “height of freedom” and “liberation from one’s own bondage”, praised earlier on by R.P. Rouquette. Indeed, the Jesuit is truly liberated from himself as he is totally subjected to his masters; any doubt or scruple would be imputed to him as sin.

Mr. Boehmer writes:

“In the additions to the “Constitutions”, the superiors are advised to command the novices, as God did with Abraham, things apparently criminal, to prove them; but they must proportion these temptations to each one’s strength. It is not difficult to imagine what could be the results of such an education”.(17)

The Order’s life of ups and downs—there is not one country from which it wasn’t expelled—testifies that these dangers were recognised by all governments, even the most Catholic. By introducing men so blindly devoted to their cause to teaching among the higher classes, the Company—champion of universalism, therefore ultra-montanism—was inevitably recognised as a threat to civil authority, as the activity of the Order, by the mere fact of their vocation, turned more and more towards politics.

In a parallel way, what we call the Jesuitic spirit was developing amongst its members. Nevertheless, the founder, inspired mainly by the needs of foreign and home “missions”, had not neglected skilfulness. He wrote in his “Sententiae asceticae”: “A clever carefulness together with a mediocre purity is better than a greater holiness coupled with a less perfect skilfulness. A good shepherd of souls must know how to ignore many things and pretend not to understand them. Once he is master of the wills, he will be able wisely to lead his students wherever he may choose. People are entirely absorbed by passing interests, so we must not speak to them too pointedly about their souls: it would be throwing the hook without the bait”.

Even the desired countenance of Loyola’s sons was emphatically stated: “They must hold their heads slightly down, without bending it to the left or right; they must not look up, and when they speak to someone, they are not to look them straight in the eyes so as to see them only indirectly…”(18) Loyola’s successors retained this lesson well in their memory, and applied it very extensively in the pursuit of their plans.

(17) Gabriel Monod, in Introduction aux “Jesuites”, de H. Boehmer, p. XVI (Armand Colin, Paris) (18) Pierre Dominique: “La politique des Jesuites” (Grasset, Paris 1955, p.37).

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