Organization And Rules Of The Society
Loyola organized his Company on the strictest military basis. Its General was always to reside at Rome, supervising from his headquarters every branch scattered over the world. Theodor Griesinger says:FAFA 273.3
“Its General ruled as absolute monarch in all parts of the world, and the different kingdoms of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America lay at his feet divided into provinces. Over each province was placed a provincial, as lieutenant of the general, and every month it was the duty of this provincial to send in his report to his General.... From these thousands of reports the General was in possession of the most accurate information regarding all that was going on in the world. Moreover, by means of the Father Confessors at the various Courts, he was initiated into all the secrets of these latter. [The officials] had to be careful to report nothing but the exact truth, [for] each one of them was presided with an assistant who was also in direct communication with the General, [who checked the reports of the one against the other.]” — “History of the Jesuits,” p. 280. London: 1892.
The Abbate Leone, after personal investigation, writes:FAFA 274.1
“Every day the general receives a number of reports which severally cheek each other. There are in the central house, at Rome, huge registers, wherein are inscribed the names of all the Jesuits and of all the important persons, friends, or enemies, with whom they have any connection. In those registers are recorded ... facts relating to the lives of each individual. It is the most gigantic biographical collection that has ever been formed. The conduct of a light woman, the hidden failings of a statesman, are recounted in these books with cold impartiality.... When it is required to act in any way upon an individual, they open the book and become immediately acquainted with his life, his character, his qualities, his defects, his projects, his family, his friends, his most secret acquaintances.” — “The Secret Plan of the Order,” with preface by M. Victor Considerant, p. 33. London: 1848.FAFA 274.2
Similar registers are also found in the offices of the provincials, and in the “novitiate houses,” so that when one Jesuit follows another in office, he has at his finger tips the fullest knowledge of the most secret lives of those for whom he is to labor, whether they are friends or foes. The Abbate Leone says of his secret investigation of this fact:FAFA 274.3
“The first thing that struck me was some great books in the form of registers, with alphabeted edges.FAFA 274.4
“I found that they contained numerous observations relative to the character of distinguished individuals, arranged by towns or families. Each page was evidently written by several different hands.” — Id., p. 31.FAFA 274.5
Those who enter the Jesuit society spend two years of “noviceship,” and then take the “simple vows.” After several more years of intensive training, they take the fourth vow, by which they pledge themselves under oath to look to their General and their Superiors as holding “the place of Christ our Lord,” and to obey them unconditionally without the least hesitation.FAFA 274.6
The Jesuits being a secret order, they did not publish their rules. How then can we be absolutely sure about these regulations? Dr. William Robertson says:FAFA 275.1
“It was a fundamental maxim with the Jesuits, from their first institution, not to publish the rules of their order. These they kept concealed as an impenetrable mystery. They never communicated them to strangers, nor even to the greater part of their own members. They refused to produce them when required by courts of justice.” But during a lawsuit at Paris, in 1760, Father Montigny committed the blunder of placing the two volumes of their “Constitutions” (the Prague edition of 1757) in the hands of the French court. “By the aid of these authentic records the principles of their government may be delineated.” — “History of Charles the Fifth,” Vol. II, p. 332. (See also “History of the Jesuits,” Theodor Griesinger, pp. 435-489, 474-476)
The author was so fortunate as to have the privilege of carefully reading “The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus.” He saw a Latin edition of 1558, and an English translation of it printed in 1838, together with the three Papal Bulls: 1. The Bull of Pope Paul III, given September 27, 1540, sanctioning “The Society of Jesus.” 2. The Bull of Clement XIV, abolishing the “Society,” July 21, 1773. 3. The Bull of Pius VII, restoring it, August 7, 1814. We shall now quote from “The Constitutions,” thus presenting first-hand evidence of their Rules:FAFA 275.2
“It is to be observed that the intention of the Vow wherewith the Society has bound itself in obedience to the supreme Vicar of Christ without any excuse, is that we must go to whatever part of the world he shall determine to send us, among believers or unbelievers.” — ” Constitutions,” pp. 64, 65.FAFA 275.3
“Displaying this virtue of obedience, first to the Pope, then to the Superiors of the Society ... we ... attend to his voice, just as if it proceeded from Christ Our Lord; ... doing whatever is enjoined us with all celerity, with spiritual joy and perseverance; persuading ourselves that everything is just; suppressing every repugnant thought and judgment of our own in a certain obedience.... Every one .. should permit themselves to be moved and directed under divine Providence by their Superiors just as if they were a corpse, which allows itself to be moved and handled in any way.... Thus obedient he should execute anything on which the Superior chooses to employ him.” — Id., pp. 55, 56.FAFA 275.4
It is this corpse-like obedience, required of all its members, that has made the Jesuits such a power in the world. Rene Fulop-Miller in his book: “The Power and Secret of the Jesuits,” commended by Father Friedrich Muckermann, leading Jesuit writer of Germany, and Father Alfonso Kleinser, S. J., and the Deutsche Zeitung, Berlin’s leading Catholic organ, says:FAFA 276.1
“The Society of Jesus represented a company of soldiers. Where ‘duty’ in the military sense is concerned, as it is in the Society of Jesus, obedience becomes the highest virtue, as it is in the army. The Jesuit renders his obedience primarily to his superior ... and he submits to him as if he were Christ Himself.” — “The Power and Secret of the Jesuits,” pp. 18, 19.FAFA 276.2
“So the Jesuits seek to attain to God through ‘blind obedience.’FAFA 276.3
“Ignatius requires nothing less than the complete sacrifice of the man’s own understanding, ‘unlimited obedience even to the very sacrifice of conviction. ’” — Id., pp. 19, 20.FAFA 276.4
He taught his Jesuit members by a complete “corpse-like obedience” to be governed by the following principle:FAFA 276.5
“‘I must let myself be led and moved as a lump of wax lets itself be kneaded, must order myself as a dead man without will or judgment.” — Id. p. 21.FAFA 276.6
“It was the obedience of the Jesuits that made it possible to oppose to the enemies of the Church a really trained and formidable army.” — Id. p. 23.FAFA 276.7
“For, within a short time after the foundation of the order, the Jesuits were acting as spiritual directors at the courts of Europe, as preachers in the most remote primeval forests, as political conspirators, disguised and in constant danger of death; thus they had a thousand opportunities to employ their talents, their cleverness, their knowledge of the world, and even their cunning.” — Id., p. 26.FAFA 276.8