done ; but it was his habit to insist with extreme obstinacy on
opinions once adopted, and his manners were rude and repul-
sive; he did not sufficiently regard the feelings of others, and
so grievously offended the self-love of many powerful mem-
bers of the order, that the general congregation of 1661 adopt-
ed measures against him, such as, from the monarchical
character of the institution, could scarcely have been supposed
possible.
They first requested permission from Pope Alexander VII
to associate with their general a vicar, who should have the
right of succession. The permission was readily granted, the
court even pointed out a candidate for the appointment — that
Oliva, who had first advised Alexander to call his kinsmen
around him, and the order was sufficiently compliant to elect
that favorite of the palace. The only question now was, as to
the mode in which the power should be transferred from the
general to the vicar. The members could not prevail on them-
selves to pronounce the word " deposition." Wherefore, to
obtain the thing, and yet evade the word, they proposed the
question whether the vicar was to be invested with a cumulative
power — authority held in conjunction with the general, that is;
or a primitive power, one that is held apart from him. The
congregation, of course, decided for the primitive. They next
declared expressly, and as a consequence of this decision, that
THE HISTORY OF THE POPES 93
the authority of the general was wholly forfeited, and was to be
entirely transferred to the vicar.*
Thus it came to pass that the society of which the first prin-
ciple was unlimited obedience, deposed even their supreme chief,
and that without the commission of any real offence on his part.
It is obvious that, by this proceeding, the aristocratical tenden-
cies of the period attained a decided predominance, even in
the order of Jesuits.
Oliva was a man who loved external tranquillity and the lux-
uries of life, but was constantly involved in political intrigue.
He possessed a villa near Albano, where he occupied himself
with the cultivation of the rarest exotics ; even when residing in
the capital, he would occasionally retire to the novitiate house of
St. Andrea, where he would give audience to no one. The most
select delicacies only were suffered to appear on his table. He
never left his residence on foot. In his house, the apartments
inhabited by himself were arranged with the most refined atten-
tion to comfort : he was studious to enjoy the position that he
held, the power that he had obtained ; but, certainly, this was not
the man calculated to revive the ancient spirit of the order.
The society was in fact continually departing more and more
widely from the principles on which it had been established.
Was it not pledged to defend and uphold, above all things,
the interests of the Roman See, and even founded for that espe-
cial purpose? But the intimate relations formed by the order
with France and the house of Bourbon, had so modified the
spirit of the former, that in all the conflicts now gradually aris-
ing between that house and the Roman Court it almost invaria-
bly took part with the French.^ Occasionally, works of Jesuit
authors were condemned by the Inquisition of Rome, because
they defended the rights of the crown with too much vehemence.
The principals of the French Jesuits avoided all intercourse
with the papal nuncios, lest they should bring on themselves
the suspicion of entertaining ultramontane opinions. Nor could
* Circumstantial narration in the con- Xmo. 1639-1641 : " " The Jesuits, who
temporary " Discorso." The author ought to be as they formerly were, de-
concludes thus: "We going to Rome fenders of the Holy See, now com-
at that time, and proceeding to pay our promise it more frequently than any
respects [to Nickel], ... he ended others. . . . They profess a total es-
by saying these words: 'I find inyself trangement [from the nuntiatura], and
here entirely abandoned, and liave no are always fearful lest by approaching
longer the power to do anything.' " the nunzio they should lose the favor of
^ " Relatione della nuntiatura di the royal ministers."
Monsr. Scotti, nunzio alia Mta. del re
94
RANKE
the Roman See boast of any great obedience from the order at
this time in other respects. In the missions more particularly,
the papal enactments were almost invariably treated with total
disregard.
Again, it was one of the most essential principles of the order,
that all worldly connections should be renounced, and that each
member should devote himself exclusively to his spiritual duties.
The rule that all who entered the order should abandon every
temporal possession had been strictly enforced in former times ;
but now the act of renunciation was either delayed for a time or
was performed under certain conditions only, on the ground
that the members were at all times liable to expulsion ; and, at
length, the custom obtained of each member making a transfer
of his property to the society itself, but with the clear under-
standing that this was in favor of the particular college to which
he had attached himself, and even in such sort that he frequently
retained the management of his possessions in his own hands,
though under a different title.^ Nay, the members of the col-
leges having sometimes more leisure than their relations, who
were engaged in active life, undertook the agency of their af-
fairs, collected their revenues, and conducted their lawsuits.''
Nor did this mercantile spirit long confine itself to individ-
uals ; it became manifest among the colleges, even in their cor-
porate character. All were anxious to secure themselves in the
possession of wealth, and as the large donations of earlier times
had ceased, they sought to effect this by commercial pursuits.
The Jesuits held that there was no material difference between
the practice of agriculture, to which the more primitive monks
had devoted themselves, and the labors of commerce, in which
they were engaged. The Collegio Romano possessed a manu-
factory of cloth at Macerata, and though at first they produced
«" Vincentii Caraffae epistola de me- et studio perfectse paupertatis: " " Illud
diis conservandi primaevum spiritum intolerabile, si et lites inferant et ad
societatis: " " Definitis pro arbitrio tribunalia confligant et violentas pecu-
dantis domibus sive collegiis in quibus niarum repetitiones faciant, aut palam
aut sedem silai fixurus est aut jam negotiantur ad qusstum, . . . specie
animo fixerit; . . . anxie agunt ut quidem primo aspectu etiam honesta,
quae societati reliquerunt, ipsimet pei- caritate in consanguineos, decepti."
se administrent." " Having had it set- " Things have become intolerable, for
tied in what houses or colleges they they commence lawsuits and contend
will fix their seat, or having chosen it before the tribunals, making violent and
in their own minds, . . . they labor repeated demands for money; they also
strenuously to obtain for themselves the trade openly for the sake of gain,
administration of what they have re- .... deluded by what at the first
signed to the society." view seems indeed to be upright,
'' " Epistola Goswini Nickel de amore namely, the love of their kindred."
THE HISTORY OF THE POPES 95
it only for their own use, yet they soon proceeded to the supply
of all other colleges in the provinces, and ultimately to that of
the public in general, for which last purpose they attended the
fairs. From the close connection existing between the different
colleges there resulted a system of banking business, and the
Portuguese ambassador in Rome was empowered to draw on
the Jesuits of Portugal. Their commercial transactions were
particularly prosperous in the colonies. The trading connec-
tions of the order extended, as it were, a network over both
continents, having Lisbon for its central point.
This was a spirit that, when once called into action, could
not fail to affect the whole internal economy of the society.
The members still retained the profession of their first essen-
tial principle, that instruction should always be given gratui-
tously ; but they received presents when the pupil entered, and
on occasion of certain festivals, occurring at least twice in the
year.^ The preference was given to pupils of rich families ; and
it followed, as a necessary consequence, that these young peo-
ple, conscious of a certain independence, would no longer en-
dure the severity of the ancient discipline. A Jesuit who raised
his stick against a pupil received a stab from a poniard in reply ;
and a young man in Gubbio who thought himself too harshly
treated by the father prefetto, assassinated the latter in return.
Even in Rome, the commotions of the Jesuits' college were a
continual theme of conversation for the city and the palace.
The masters were on one occasion imprisoned for an entire day
by their pupils, and it was at length indispensable that the rector
should be dismissed, in compliance with their demands. These
things may be regarded as symptoms of a general conflict be-
tween the ancient order of things and new tendencies. The lat-
ter finally prevailed. The Jesuits could no longer maintain that
influence by which they had formerly governed the minds of
men.
Nor, indeed, was it now their purpose to subjugate the world,
or to imbue it with the spirit of religion ; their own spirit had,
on the contrary, succumbed before the influence of the world.
^"Discorso:" "Offerings are made other such valuables, all go to these
at least twice a year — at Christmas, that same colleges. It sometimes happens
is, and on their own patron saint's that the local rectors use them indiffer-
days; and these amount to a consid- ently, whence arise infinite offences;
crable sum. Then the money of these but they care little or nothing for the
offerings, or whatever is employed for complaints of their own scholars."
plate, pictures, tapestry, chalices, and
96 RANKE
The Jesuits now labored only to render themselves indispensa-
ble to their fellow-men, by whatever means this might be ef-
fected.
And to secure this purpose, not only the rules of their institu-
tion, but even the doctrines of religion and the precepts of mor-
ality were modified and perverted. The office of confession,
by means of which they maintained so immediate an influence
over the most secret recesses of social and domestic life, received
a direction from these fathers which will be memorable to all
times.
On this subject we have unquestionable proof from authentic
documents. The Jesuits have themselves expounded in many
elaborate works the principles by which they were guided in
confession and absolution, and what they recommended to
others. These are in general essentially the same with those
they have so frequently been accused of prescribing. Let us
endeavor to comprehend at least the leading principles from
which they proceeded to make the whole domain of the confes-
sional their own.
It is manifest that in the confessional everything must infalli-
bly depend on the conception formed of transgression and of
sin.
The Jesuits define sin to be a voluntary departure from the
commands of God.**
But wherein, we inquire further, does this volition consist?
Their answer is, in a clear perception and understanding of the
sin, as sin, and in the perfect consent of the will.^°
They adopted this principle from the ambition of propound-
ing something new, and further impelled by their wish to be
prepared for all the usages of common life ; with scholastic sub-
tlety, and with a widely comprehensive consideration of all
cases that could occur, they carried this principle out, even to
its most revolting consequences. According to their doctrine,
* Definition by Fr. Toledo: " Volun- vitas materiae." "Three things are re-
tarius recessus a regula divina." quired to constitute mortal sin (that
^° Busembaum, " Medulla theologiae which separates us from the grace and
moralis," lib. v. c. ii. dub. iii., expresses friendship of God), of which three, if
himself thvis: " Tria requiruntur ad one be wanting, the sin becomes venial
peccatum mortale (quod gratiam et (that which because of its lightness
amicitiam cum Deo solvit), quorum si does not take from us God's grace and
unum desit, fit veniale (quod ob suam friendship) : i. On the part of the in-
levitatem gratiam et amicitiam non tellect, full perception and deliberation;
tollit): I. Ex parte intellectus, plena 2. On the part of the will, active con-
advertentia et deliberatio: 2. Ex parte sent; 3. Importance of the thing it-
voluntatis, perfectus consensus: 3. Gra- self."
THE HISTORY OF THE POPES
97
it is sufficient if we do not will the commission of sin, as sin.
We have the better ground of hope for pardon, the less we
thought of God during the commission of our evil deed, and the
more violent the passion was by which we were impelled to its
commission. The force of habit, nay, even a bad example, suf-
fice to exculpate the sinner, inasmuch as they restrict the free-
dom of the will. How closely are the limits of transgression
thus narrowed ! For certainly no man will love sin merely for
its own sake. But they also acknowledged grounds of exculpa-
tion of a different character. Duelling, for example, is without
doubt prohibited by the Church ; yet the Jesuits consider, that
if a man were in danger of being accused of cowardice because
he refused to fight a duel, or of losing his office, or the favor of
his sovereign, then he was not to be condemned though he
should fight.^ To take a false oath is in itself a deadly sin, but
the man who only swears outwardly, say the Jesuits, without
inwardly intending to do so, is not bound by his oath : he does
not swear, he only jests.'
These doctrines are to be found in books that make positive
profession of moderate views. But now that these times are
gone by, we should profit but little by a more minute search for
the still wider deviations from rectitude of a subtlety whose rea-
sonings were subversive of all morality, and in which one
teacher sought to surpass another, as in a contest for literary
pre-eminence. But it cannot be denied that the most perverse
tenets of certain among their doctors became extremely dan-
gerous in connection with another principle of the Jesuits —
their doctrine of Probability. They maintained that in doubt-
ful cases a man might follow an opinion of the soundness of
which he was not himself convinced, provided always that the
said opinion were defended by some author of repute.^ They
not only considered it allowable to be guided by the most in-
dulgent teachers, but they even recommended that practice.
* " Privandus alioqui ob suspicionem sworn, but jested." Lib. iii. tract, ii.
ignaviae, dignitate, officio ve! favore cap. ii. dub. iv. n. 8.
principis." (See text.) Busembaum, ^ Em. Sa., " Aphorismi Confessario-
lib. iii. tract, iv. cap. i. dub. v. art. i. rum s. v. dubium ": " Potest quis facere
n. 6. quod probabili ratione vel auctoritate
^ " Qui exterius tantum juravit, sine putat licere, etimasi oppositum tutius
animo jurandi, non obligatur, nisi forte sit: sufficit autem opinio alicujus gravis
ratione scandali, cum non juraverit sed autoris." " Anyone may do what on
luserit." " He who has but sworn ex- probable grounds or authority he thinks
ternally. without swearing with his lawful, although to do the contrary may
mind, is not bound, except perhaps on be safer: but the opinion of some grave
account of the scandal, since he has not author is sufficient."
Vol. III.— 7
98 RANKE
Scruples of conscience were to be disregarded ; nay, the proper
method of freeing one's self from their influence was to follow
the most tolerant opinions, even though they might be less safe.*
How completely were the profound and secret monitions of self-
government and self-judgment thus lowered into a more ex-
ternal act ! In the directing manuals of the Jesuits all possible
contingencies of life are treated of, m.uch in the method usually
adopted for systems of civil law, and appreciated according to
the degrees of their veniality. A man has but to look out the
cases supposed in these books, and, without any conviction on
his own part, to regulate himself according to their directions,
and he is then certain of absolution before God and the Church ;
a slight turn of the thoughts sufficed to exonerate from all guilt.
The Jesuits themselves, with a certain sort of honesty, some-
times express surprise on perceiving how light and easy their
tenets render the yoke of Christ.
Section XII. — The Jansenists
All life must have been utterly extinct in the Catholic Church
had not an opposition instantly arisen against doctrines so per-
nicious, and against every cause producing, as well as every
consequence resulting from, them.
Already were the greater part of the remaining orders on
bad terms with the Jesuits — the Dominicans, because of their
dissent from Thomas Aquinas ; the Franciscans and Capuchins,
on account of the exclusive authority which they arrogated to
themselves in the missions of Asia, beyond the Ganges. They
were not unfrequently assailed by the bishops, whose powers
they restricted ; and were occasionally attacked by the parish
priests, whose duties they encroached upon. In the universities
also — at least in those of France and the Netherlands — they fre-
quently provoked antagonists. But all these things formed no
effective resistance, which could, indeed, arise only from a more
vigorous spirit, and more profound convictions.
For after all, the moral laws of the Jesuits were entirely con-
* Busembaum, lib. i. c. iii.: " Reme- for scruples are: i. To despise such
dia conscientise scrupulosse sunt, i. scruples; 4. To accustom yourself to
Scrupulos contemnere; 4. Assufacere se follow the more indulgent opinions, and
ad sequendas sentential mitiores et even when they may be less sure."
minus etiam certas." " The remedies
INNOCENT THE TENTH.
Photogravure from the original painting by yelasqiie{.
THE HISTORY OF THE POPES
99
sistent with their dogmatical tenets. In the former, as in the lat-
ter, they allowed ample scope to the freedom of the will.
It was, however, precisely against this point that the most
important opposition ever experienced by the Jesuits as a body
was directed. It arose and was developed in the following man-
ner :
During those years when the whole theological world of
the Catholic Church was held in a state of incessant warfare
by the controversies respecting the Means of Grace, two young
men were studying at Louvain — Cornelius Jansen of Holland,
and Jean du Verger of Gascony, both of whom had adopted,
with equally profound conviction, those more rigid doctrines
which had indeed never been wholly departed from in that
university, and both conceived an extreme antipathy to the
Jesuits. Du Verger was the superior in rank and fortune, and
took his friend with him to Bayonne. They here plunged them-
selves into a deep and constantly repeated study of the works
of St. Augustine, conceiving for the doctrines of that father of
the Church, in relation to grace and free will, an enthusiasm
which determined the course of their whole future lives. ^
Jansenius, who became professor in the University of Lou-
vain, and Bishop of Ypres, attached himself more particularly
to theoretical asceticism, as a means of reviving the spirit of
these doctrines, while Du Verger, who obtained the abbacy of
St. Cyran, pursued the same object by a path equally ascetic, and
more practical.
Yet the book entitled " Augustinus," in which Jansenius has
circumstantially and systematically expounded his convictions,
is of great value, not only because it so boldly attacks the
Jesuits both in their doctrines and moral tendencies, but also
because it does this throughout the work, in a manner tending
to restore their original vitality of thought to the doctrines of
grace, sin, and remission.
Jansenius proceeds from the principle that the will of man
is not free, being fettered and held in bondage by the desire
after earthly things. Of its own strength it is not able to
raise itself from this condition ; grace must first come to the
*" Synopsis vitae Jansenii," prefixed very learned men, he made great prog-
to the " Augustinus " : " He then pro- ress in the comprehension of the holy
ceeded into Gascony, where, in the so- fathers, and more particularly of St.
ciety of, and studious intercourse with, Augustine, as is frequently testified."
loo RANKE
aid of the will — grace, which is not so much the forgiveness
of sins, as the deliverance of the soul from the bonds of earthly
desires.^
And here his own peculiar views are immediately presented.
He considers grace to be made manifest in the higher and purer
happiness obtained by the soul from heavenly things. He de-
clares the effectual grace of the Saviour to be no other than a
spiritual delight, by which the will is moved to desire and to per-
form what God has decreed. It is the involuntary impulse com-
municated by God to the will, and by means of which man finds
happiness in good, and labors to obtain it.^ He repeatedly incul-
cates the truth, that good is to be sought, not from fear of pun-
ishment, but from love of righteousness.
And from this point he proceeds to the higher question of
what is this righteousness ?
He answers : God himself.
For man must not think of God as if he were a corporeal
being, nor under any form whatever — not even under that of
light. God must be thought of and loved as the eternal truth —
as the source whence all wisdom and truth proceeds — as right-
eousness, not in its acceptation of a quality or attribute of the
soul, but in its predominance as an idea, a supreme inviolable
rule. The rules of our actions proceed from the eternal law ;
they are a reflection from its light: whoever loves righteous-
ness, loves God himself.*
Man does not become good from the fact of his directing
his efforts to the acquirement of any particular virtue ; it is by
fixing his eyes firmly on the one unchangeable supreme good,
which is truth, which is God himself. Virtue is the love of God.
And in this love it is that the freedom of the will consists ;
its inexpressible sweetness extinguishes the pleasure derived
* Corn. Jansenii " Augustinus," torn. ipsa Dei aeterna veritate splendet, quam
iii. lib. i. c. ii. : "The liberation of the proinde diligendo non aliud diligit nisi
will is not the forgiveness of sin, but a ipsum Deum seu veritatem et justitiam
certain delightful freedom from the e)us incommutabilem, a q^ua promanat
bonds of earthly wishes; enslaved by et ex cujus refulgentis lucis fulget quid-
which, the soul is in chains, until, by a quid velut justum et rectum approba-
celestial sweetness infused by grace, it mus." "The rules of living, and, as it
is borne over to the love of the supreme were, the inscrutable and sempiternal
good." It is thus that Pascal also lights of the virtues, are no other than
understands this doctrine: " God that eternal law which shines in the
changes the heart of man by a celestial truth itself of the eternal God; whence
sweetness which he pours over it." — it follows, that loving these, a man
Provincial Letters, xviii. torn. iii. p. 413. loves no other than God himself, or
3 Tom. iii. lib. iv. c. i. his unchangeable truth and justice, from
* " Regulae vivendi et quasi lumina vir- which there proceeds, and out of whose
tutum immutabilia et sempiterna non refulgence there shines, whatever we
sunt aliud quam lex aeterna, qux in desire as just and approve as right."
THE HISTORY OF THE POPES loi
from earthly gratifications : there then ensues a voluntary and
ineffably blessed necessity not to sin, but to lead a good life.^
That is the true free will — a will freed from evil and replete
with good.
It is to be remarked, and is worthy of admiration, that
throughout this work the development of the doctrinal views
is followed out with a high degree of philosophical clearness,
even in the midst of zealous and hostile polemical discussion.
The essential groundwork of the book is at once moral and
religious, speculative, and practical. To the mere external forms
and self-seeking of the Jesuit doctrines, it opposes an upright
and strict internal discipline, the ideal of an activity whose
primary origin, as well as its ultimate expression, is love to God.
And while Jansenius was still occupied with the prepara-