Tangling with Evangelicalism

"Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord,
that take counsel, but not of Me;
and that cover with a covering, but not of My Spirit
that they may add sin to sin:
2 that walk to go down into Egypt,
and have not asked at My mouth;
to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh,
and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame,
and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion....
For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose:
thereforehave I cried concerning this,
Theirstrength is to sit still.
Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book,

that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
9 that this is a rebellious people, lying children,
children that will not hear the law of the Lord:

which say to the seers, See not;
and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things,
speak unto us smooth things,
prophesy deceits:
11 get you out of the way,
turn aside out of the path,
cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel,
Because ye despise this word,
and trust in oppression and perverseness,
and stay thereon:...
Behold, the name of the Lordcometh from far,
burning with his anger,
and the burden thereof isheavy:
his lips are full of indignation,
and his tongue as a devouring fire:
28 and his breath, as an overflowing stream,
shall reach to the midst of the neck,
to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity:
and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people,
causing them to err.
(Isa.30:1-3,7-13,27,28).

This week I tried to help an ex-Adventist see more clearly the biblical essential of the Law of God. But when the flush of throwing off the yoke of Christ gets absorbed deeply, and the captivity under the Law is removed by Baalpeor celebration, then restoring the original tastes for godliness gets difficult and iffy. The thrill of nakedness holds the person in a strong grip.

"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." (Rev. 16:15).

When the Protestant churches adopted the error that the "holy, and just, and good" (Rom. 7:12) Law of God was nailed to the cross, they deceived themselves, and landed themselves squarely into the realm of spiritualism. 

Spiritualism is lawlessness. "Thou shalt not surely die" doesn't sound like lawlessness, but it dared to controvert the sure word of the Lord. That act led headlong into total perdition, which is lawlessness.

"Therefore hell hath enlarged herself,
and opened her mouth without measure:
and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp,
and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it." (Isa. 5:14).

According to the 2nd and 3rd trumpets of Revelation 8, when the Protestant churches rejected Mount Sinai because  they couldn't refute the new Sabbath reform then they became poisoned with the bitter wine of wormwood. That wormwood came from a star called Wormwood. And if you connect this with the Old Testament third angel's message, you see that the wormwood is spiritualism, or the gods of these nations.

"Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; 19 and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: 20 the Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven. 21And the Lord shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law:  So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the Lord hath laid upon it; 23 and that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, andburning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath: 24 even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger? 25 Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: 26 for they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them: 27 and the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book." (Deut. 29:18-28).

The crux of the last plagues is that God has a group that have been purified, and that the whole Protestant world had followed after the false gods and is drunken with the spiritualistic and despotic power of Jesuitism.

This is where Evangelicalism comes into play. Any form of lawless grace flows from a wicked spring. Spiritual Formation in any form comes straight from the bottomless pit of Hades and goes into the deepest occultism.

This is what the 5th trumpet is about. Notice the key words of Revelation 9: "smoke", "fire", "brimstone" (or, jacinth, the color of burning brimstone"), and "torment". These make up the 3rd angel's warning, and bears a close resemblance to Moses' threatening warning on Deuteronomy 29. 

Both warnings describe the twisted minds of the devil possessed. Beside, the world going into total chaos, the worst of the stress will come from Satan's full habitation of a world of rebellious minds. God is exonerated by His sealed children, because they have cooperated in His work of humbling them and inscribing His Law in them. The hour of His judgment has come.

So, the great need to warn our brother Sunday worshipers continues.

"They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them." (Prov. 28:4).

"He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination." (Prov. 28:9).

"With the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." (Rom. 7:25).

"the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." (Rom. 8:7,8).

"Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." (Rom. 3:31).

"Who is blind, but My Servant?
or deaf, as My Messenger that I sent?
who is blind as He that isperfect,
and blind as the Lord’s servant?
20 seeing many things, but Thou observest not;
opening the ears, but He heareth not.
21 The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake;
He will magnify the law, and make it honourable."(Isa. 42:19-21).

"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."(Matt.
 5:17-20).

And here at the end of the world, the Law of God is the testimony of Jesus, the Spirit of Prophecy.

I'ma i

hem.

We can't fight the coming catastrophic cataclysm

Riots. Citizens demanding rights. A fugitive, rightful whistle blower declaring that laws can be disobeyed. https://youtu.be/gWbaUfFfhlY.

But, isn't this the making of a second French Revolution/ Reign of Terror?

By whose determination do we decide when to rise up in rebellion? By whose conscience/ rules of right and wrong do we live by and fight the government and its military?

A generation that knows not its Creator, Recreator, and Lawgiver? Aren't Americans an iota different from the degraded French atheistic citizenry of 1796? Aren't we no more obedient than were the Jews of the Old Testement?

Hear the word of the Lord: "For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword. 5 Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon." (Jer. 20:4,5).

"And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire. 9 Thus saith the Lord; Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart. 10 For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this (Protestant world) with fire." (Jer. 37:8-10).

The coming modern Chaldean power has so much control and unbeatable ultra-high tech weaponry that they are a Juggernaut that will overthrow the moral old world order. Nebuchadnezzar was empowered and chosen by God to punish the Jews, man and woman, old and young.

Last time an apostate nation was determined by heaven to be punished, the Jesuits infiltrated and whipped up the wrath of the people of France. The desire for revenge was fomented until souls exploded in wickedness, the Jesuits manipulating them.

Are we going to join in the chaos and cries for anarchy? We will not be martyrs if we get mowed down in order to regain the lost good old days because God has told us that the juggernaut is for our punishment, correction, and purification. We must learn submission, surrender, and service.

The Terah Tehran connection

This link connects Abram's father, Terah, with Tehran. And he finds other connections of that region with early biblical persons. I find this a great new thought.


https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://dancingfromgenesis.wordpress.com/2007/11/01/ice-age-biblical-patriarch-terah-was-namesake-of-tehran-iran-and-grandfather-of-isaac-and-ishmael-showing-ancient-etymological-and-genetic-kinship-in-middle-east/amp/&ved=2ahUKEwjY0LTyxv3pAhW4SzABHXUQAvAQFjALegQICBAB&usg=AOvVaw2zT8IYuWsh_99gqbO3zua7&ampcf=1

www.reformation.org/jesuit-oath.html

Jesuit Extreme Oath of Induction The following is the Jesuit Extreme Oath of Induction given to high ranking Jesuits only. This oath is taken from the book Subterranean Rome by Carlos Didier, translated from the French, and published in New York in 1843. "When a Jesuit of the minor rank is to be elevated to command, he is conducted into the Chapel of the Convent of the Order, where there are only three others present, the principal or Superior standing in front of the altar. On either side stands a monk, one of whom holds a banner of yellow and white, which are the Papal colors, and the other a black banner with a dagger and red cross above a skull and crossbones, with the word INRI, and below them the words IUSTUM, NECAR, REGES, IMPIOUS. The meaning of which is: It is just to exterminate or annihilate impious or heretical Kings, Governments, or Rulers. Upon the floor is a red cross at which the postulant or candidate kneels. The Superior hands him a small black crucifix, which he takes in his left hand and presses to his heart, and the Superior at the same time presents to him a dagger, which he grasps by the blade and holds the point against his heart, the Superior still holding it by the hilt, and thus addresses the postulant:" Superior: My son, heretofore you have been taught to act the dissembler: among Roman Catholics to be a Roman Catholic, and to be a spy even among your own brethren; to believe no man, to trust no man. Among the Reformers, to be a reformer; among the Huguenots, to be a Huguenot; among the Calvinists, to be a Calvinist; among other Protestants, generally to be a Protestant, and obtaining their confidence, to seek even to preach from their pulpits, and to denounce with all the vehemence in your nature our Holy Religion and the Pope; and even to descend so low as to become a Jew among Jews, that you might be enabled to gather together all information for the benefit of your Order as a faithful soldier of the Pope. You have been taught to insidiously plant the seeds of jealousy and hatred between communities, provinces, states that were at peace, and incite them to deeds of blood, involving them in war with each other, and to create revolutions and civil wars in countries that were independent and prosperous, cultivating the arts and the sciences and enjoying the blessings of peace. To take sides with the combatants and to act secretly with your brother Jesuit, who might be engaged on the other side, but openly opposed to that with which you might be connected, only that the Church might be the gainer in the end, in the conditions fixed in the treaties for peace and that the end justifies the means. You have been taught your duty as a spy, to gather all statistics, facts and information in your power from every source; to ingratiate yourself into the confidence of the family circle of Protestants and heretics of every class and character, as well as that of the merchant, the banker, the lawyer, among the schools and universities, in parliaments and legislatures, and the judiciaries and councils of state, and to be all things to all men, for the Pope's sake, whose servants we are unto death. You have received all your instructions heretofore as a novice, a neophyte, and have served as co-adjurer, confessor and priest, but you have not yet been invested with all that is necessary to command in the Army of Loyola in the service of the Pope. You must serve the proper time as the instrument and executioner as directed by your superiors; for none can command here who has not consecrated his labors with the blood of the heretic; for "without the shedding of blood no man can be saved." Therefore, to fit yourself for your work and make your own salvation sure, you will, in addition to your former oath of obedience to your order and allegiance to the Pope, repeat after me--- The Extreme Oath of the Jesuits: "1, _ now, in the presence of Almighty God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed Michael the Archangel, the blessed St. John the Baptist, the holy Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul and all the saints and sacred hosts of heaven, and to you, my ghostly father, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius Loyola in the Pontificate of Paul the Third, and continued to the present, do by the womb of the virgin, the matrix of God, and the rod of Jesus Christ, declare and swear, that his holiness the Pope is Christ's Vice-regent and is the true and only head of the Catholic or Universal Church throughout the earth; and that by virtue of the keys of binding and loosing, given to his Holiness by my Savior, Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose heretical kings, princes, states, commonwealths and governments, all being illegal without his sacred confirmation and that they may safely be destroyed. Therefore, to the utmost of my power I shall and will defend this doctrine of his Holiness' right and custom against all usurpers of the heretical or Protestant authority whatever, especially the Lutheran of Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and the now pretended authority and churches of England and Scotland, and branches of the same now established in Ireland and on the Continent of America and elsewhere; and all adherents in regard that they be usurped and heretical, opposing the sacred Mother Church of Rome. I do now renounce and disown any allegiance as due to any heretical king, prince or state named Protestants or Liberals, or obedience to any of the laws, magistrates or officers. I do further declare that the doctrine of the churches of England and Scotland, of the Calvinists, Huguenots and others of the name Protestants or Liberals to be damnable and they themselves damned who will not forsake the same. I do further declare, that I will help, assist, and advise all or any of his Holiness' agents in any place wherever I shall be, in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, England, Ireland or America, or in any other Kingdom or territory I shall come to, and do my uttermost to extirpate the heretical Protestants or Liberals' doctrines and to destroy all their pretended powers, regal or otherwise. I do further promise and declare, that notwithstanding I am dispensed with, to assume my religion heretical, for the propaganda of the Mother Church's interest, to keep secret and private all her agents' counsels from time to time, as they may entrust me and not to divulge, directly or indirectly, by word, writing or circumstance whatever; but to execute all that shall be proposed, given in charge or discovered unto me, by you, my ghostly father, or any of this sacred covenant. I do further promise and declare, that I will have no opinion or will of my own, or any mental reservation whatever, even as a corpse or cadaver (perinde ac cadaver), but will unhesitatingly obey each and every command that I may receive from my superiors in the Militia of the Pope and of Jesus Christ. That I may go to any part of the world withersoever I may be sent, to the frozen regions of the North, the burning sands of the desert of Africa, or the jungles of India, to the centers of civilization of Europe, or to the wild haunts of the barbarous savages of America, without murmuring or repining, and will be submissive in all things whatsoever communicated to me. I furthermore promise and declare that I will, when opportunity present, make and wage relentless war, secretly or openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Liberals, as I am directed to do, to extirpate and exterminate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare neither age, sex or condition; and that I will hang, waste, boil, flay, strangle and bury alive these infamous heretics, rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women and crush their infants' heads against the walls, in order to annihilate forever their execrable race. That when the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly use the poisoned cup, the strangulating cord, the steel of the poniard or the leaden bullet, regardless of the honor, rank, dignity, or authority of the person or persons, whatever may be their condition in life, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agent of the Pope or Superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Faith, of the Society of Jesus. In confirmation of which, I hereby dedicate my life, my soul and all my corporal powers, and with this dagger which I now receive, I will subscribe my name written in my own blood, in testimony thereof; and should I prove false or weaken in my determination, may my brethren and fellow soldiers of the Militia of the Pope cut off my hands and my feet, and my throat from ear to ear, my belly opened and sulphur burned therein, with all the punishment that can be inflicted upon me on earth and my soul be tortured by demons in an eternal hell forever! All of which, I, _, do swear by the Blessed Trinity and blessed Sacraments, which I am now to receive, to perform and on my part to keep inviolable; and do call all the heavenly and glorious host of heaven to witness the blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, and witness the same further with my name written and with the point of this dagger dipped in my own blood and sealed in the face of this holy covenant." (He receives the wafer from the Superior and writes his name with the point of his dagger dipped in his own blood taken from over his heart.) Superior: "You will now rise to your feet and I will instruct you in the Catechism necessary to make yourself known to any member of the Society of Jesus belonging to this rank. In the first place, you, as a Brother Jesuit, will with another mutually make the ordinary sign of the cross as any ordinary Roman Catholic would; then one cross his wrists, the palms of his hands open, and the other in answer crosses his feet, one above the other; the first points with forefinger of the right hand to the center of the palm of the left, the other with the forefinger of the left hand points to the center of the palm of the right; the first then with his right hand makes a circle around his head, touching it; the other then with the forefinger of his left hand touches the left side of his body just below his heart; the first then with his right hand draws it across the throat of the other, and the latter then with a dagger down the stomach and abdomen of the first. The first then says Iustum; and the other answers Necar; the first Reges. The other answers Impious." (The meaning of which has already been explained.) "The first will then present a small piece of paper folded in a peculiar manner, four times, which the other will cut longitudinally and on opening the name Jesu will be found written upon the head and arms of a cross three times. You will then give and receive with him the following questions and answers: Question —From whither do you come? Answer — The Holy faith. Q. —Whom do you serve? A. —The Holy Father at Rome, the Pope, and the Roman Catholic Church Universal throughout the world. Q. —Who commands you? A. —The Successor of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus or the Soldiers of Jesus Christ. Q. —Who received you? A. —A venerable man in white hair. Q. —How? A. —With a naked dagger, I kneeling upon the cross beneath the banners of the Pope and of our sacred order. Q. —Did you take an oath? A. —I did, to destroy heretics and their governments and rulers, and to spare neither age, sex nor condition. To be as a corpse without any opinion or will of my own, but to implicitly obey my Superiors in all things without hesitation of murmuring. Q. —Will you do that? A. —I will. Q. —How do you travel? A. —In the bark of Peter the fisherman. Q. —Whither do you travel? A. —To the four quarters of the globe. Q. —For what purpose? A. —To obey the orders of my general and Superiors and execute the will of the Pope and faithfully fulfill the conditions of my oaths. Q. —Go ye, then, into all the world and take possession of all lands in the name of the Pope. He who will not accept him as the Vicar of Jesus and his Vice-regent on earth, let him be accursed and exterminated." Editor's Notes Alberto Ribera taking the Jesuit oath.   This oath is taken from the book Subterranean Rome by Carlos Didier, translated from the French and published in New York in 1843. Dr. Alberto Riveraescaped from the Jesuit Order in 1967, and he describes his Jesuit oath in exactly the same way as it appears in this book. Semper idem: always the same. The Jesuit Oath of Induction is also recorded in the Congressional Record of the U.S. (House Bill 1523, Contested election case of Eugene C. Bonniwell, against Thos. S. Butler, Feb. 15, 1913, pp. 3215-3216). Copyright © 2007 by Niall Kilkenny

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Foreign & Commonwealth Office

https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2017/04/17/st-ignatius-jesuits-and-pope-close-and-complex-history

"A new crisis arose in 1586 when a dissident band of Spanish Jesuits with Jewish or Moorish origins successively persuaded Popes Sixtus V and Clement VIII to intervene in the workings of the Society to effect radical changes. That effort eventually backfired on the dissidents. Decree 52 of the Fifth General Congregation prohibited the future admission into the Society of “those who are of the Hebrew or Saracen races,” a rule that would taint the Society until its removal in 1946 in the wake of the Holocaust."

1. https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/american-jesuits-world
   "The nineteenth century was a period of extraordinary growth for the Society, but many of us know little about that history. Worse, we have mistaken assumptions. Because of the influence of Jesuit General Pedro Arrupe (1965–83), many think of the order as broad-minded, committed to social justice, and fairly progressive. While that assessment might have some credibility today, in the nineteenth century the Society was very different.  
2. Some background first. The Society of Jesus founded in 1540 was suppressed by papal decree in 1773. Literally overnight this forced twenty-three thousand Jesuits out of their eight hundred schools and hundreds of other apostolic projects. Many were sent into exile or to prison. The story is a sad one indeed. In 1814 the Jesuits were restored and within a hundred years they had seventeen-thousand members.
3. ..... First, after the restoration, Jesuits were naturally loyal to the papacy, becoming significant supporters of Pope Pius IX (1846–1878). In 1850, after a two-year political exile from Rome, Pius returned and urged the Jesuits to establish a new journal, Civiltà Cattolica. The journal soon became the most influential Catholic publication combatting the heterodox ideas proliferating not only across the continent but throughout the world. Subsequently, Jesuits assisted Pius in writing the 1854 declaration on the Immaculate Conception, the 1864 Syllabus of Errors, and the 1870 declaration on papal infallibility. Their fealty extended to Pope Leo XIII (1878–1903), who called on them 'to defend the church and the Roman pontificate.'"

"Second, the emerging European liberal movements of the nineteenth century were perpetually at odds with the papacy. Liberal governments in Austria, Switzerland, France, and parts of modern day Italy, Germany, and Spain—with what McGreevy describes as their “liberal intolerance”—eventually expelled the Jesuits. McGreevy notes that the Jesuits were often pawns between civil and papal forces. At the same time the Jesuits became known in the press as opponents of progress, democratic sensibilities, and national unity.  

Having barely recuperated from its suppression by the papacy, the Society looked with great disdain at the emerging liberal societies and their promise of fraternity, liberty, and equality. Nonetheless, being exiled from Europe meant the Jesuits were available for foreign missions, and they were immediately dispersed throughout the world. The revolutions of 1848 mark the time when exiled Jesuits were first sent in large numbers across the present-day United States. As the Jesuits arrived here, so did anti-Jesuit sentiments. 

Third, the Jesuit influence changed with the enormous European migrations to the United States. While Catholics were a mere 3 percent of the American population in 1830, by 1900 they constituted 18 percent. At that time, the Jesuits were operating twenty-five universities, to say nothing of their other schools and apostolates.  

Https://blogs.fco.gov.uk/nigelbaker/2015/01/20/the-jesuits-revival-restoration-or-re-establishment/

Nigel Baker

Ambassador to the Holy See (2011-2016)

Part of UK in Holy See

20th January 2015

The Jesuits: revival, restoration or re-establishment

Andrea Pozzo’s fresco of St Ignatius of Loyola taken in the Sant’Ignazio Church, Rome. Photo: © Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk

Earlier this week, the embassy co-hosted with the Pontifical Gregorian University – the university in Rome run by the Jesuits – an event to commemorate the bicentenary of the decision by Pope Pius VII to re-establish the Society of Jesus in 1814, 41 years after its suppression by Pope Clement XIV. This was much more than an historical event. The Jesuits continue to play a crucial role in the global Catholic Church, as they have since their foundation in 1540. As I noted in my brief speech, Jesuits have been at the heart of modern Catholic thinking, especially since the Second Vatican Council in 1965, leaders on ecumenism and freedom of religion, on poverty and indigenous rights, in educational and cultural developments. Not least, we have for the first time a Pope who was formed in the Jesuit tradition, and was the Jesuit Provincial Superior in Argentina during the 1970s.

Other speakers introduced us to the world of Ignatian spirituality and Jesuit history. Interestingly, it was the Catholic powers of Europe that pushed the Pope to suppress the Order, in the 18th century, while non-Catholic powers – Russia, Prussia and Britain – provided protection (both active and indifferent) during the 41 years out of favour. Stonyhurst College was established in Lancashire at that time, and Jesuits were able to teach and form a community there when it was forbidden for them to do so in Catholic Europe, while Heythrop College in London not long ago celebrated 400 years of continuous activity. This is rather an irony given the unwelcome reception given to Jesuit missionaries to England, Wales and Scotland, many of whom became martyrs, during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James VI and I. Whether 1814 saw restoration of the old Society of Jesus, or a new revival springing phoenix-like from the ashes, remains hotly debated by church historians.

Prejudices die hard. “Jesuitical” is a word still occasionally used in the English speaking world to describe people who dissemble or equivocate, and is defined as such in the Oxford English Dictionary. I have also heard it used as a synonym for cunning, even in describing the Pope. Jesuits are certainly taught to think clearly and systematically, and to reach decisions after careful discernment, which makes them formidable allies and tough opponents in an argument. Few Jesuits, least of all Pope Francis, will be dwelling on their history as they address contemporary realities with which they have to deal. But knowing where you have come from always helps an understanding of where you are going.

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About Nigel Baker

Nigel was British Ambassador to the Holy See from 2011-2016. He presented his Credentials to Pope Benedict XVI on 9 September 2011, after serving 8 years in Latin America, as Deputy Head of Mission...

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ARTS & CULTUREBOOKS 

MAY 1, 2017 ISSUE

St. Ignatius, the Jesuits and the pope: a close and complex history

Robert Emmett CurranApril 17, 2017

Ignatius’ persistence finally brought Pope Paul III’s formal approval in late September 1540 (Johann Christoph Handke, Church of Our Lady Of the Snow, Olomouc, Czech Republic).

Pierre Emonet’s biography of Ignatius of Loyola and John W. O’Malley’s overview of Jesuit-papal relations are sterling examples of how richly informative well-crafted brief volumes can be.

Emonet’s text aims to reveal the Ignatius whom bias, agendas and ideology have too often distorted and misrepresented. In 19 mini-chapters, Emonet deftly etches Loyola’s confoundingly complex character while capturing the marrow of Ignatius' transformation from worldly minded glory-seeker to ascetic discoverer of an innovative spirituality and founder of arguably the most influential religious order within Christianity.

ADVERTISEMENT

Ignatius Of Loyolaby Pierre Emonet, S.J.

By Pierre Emonet, S.J. Trans. by Jerry Ryan. Edited by Thomas M. McCoog, S.J.

Saint Joseph’s University Press. 153p $40

The Jesuits And The Popesby John W. O’Malley, S.J.

Saint Joseph’s University Press. 149p. $40

Ignatius, who was born Íñigo López de Loyola, grew up a beneficiary of feudal networks of patronage and indulger of the most traditional military and courtly aspirations. That pathway to fame and riches terminated abruptly on Pentecost Monday, May 20, 1521, when, defending the fortress at Pamplona, he was struck by a French cannon ball, which rendered him permanently hors de combat—at least on the military front. Well known is the story of Iñígo’s forced reading of two spiritual classics, which brought his imagination into the world of the sacred. For a time, godly and saintly feats vied with his traditional chivalric ones. Gradually they became for Iñigo his first experience of the discernment of spirits; later at Manresa the latter served as catalyst for the Spiritual Exercises, the document that became the animating source of the Society of Jesus.

The search for God’s will, facilitated by mystical visions, brought Ignatius to the Holy Land to meditate on Christ in his footsteps. Gradually came the notion of the man for others as the best way to serve him. In Spain and France for the studies essential to the realization of his new vision, Ignatius, through evangelizing, attracted a community of like-minded companions. In August of 1534 they took vows of poverty and chastity, with the intent of converting Muslims in the Holy Land.

When wars in the region foreclosed that goal, Ignatius and the others headed to Rome to determine God’s will. Months of deliberation produced the decision to form a religious order, a very untraditional one with no central monastery, no distinctive habit, no mandated choir for the recitation of the office and no communal penances.—all this to preserve what was essential to the members’ ministry: mobility and availability.

Securing papal sanction proved difficult. Ignatius’ persistence and the pressure of powerful friends finally brought Pope Paul III’s formal approval in late September 1540. His last 18 years were spent in Rome communicating with Jesuits on mission on four continents, from Europe to Asia to the Americas, while he worked at refining the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus. He died in 1556 with them yet unfinished, befitting a text meant to be a living document, ever being adjusted according to the changing experience of the group. The order that had begun as a handful of companions in Paris had grown to a worldwide body numbering more than 1,000 members with more than 100 colleges and institutions.

The relationship between the Jesuits and the popes has had far-reaching consequences for the church over the centuries.

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In a volume scarcely longer than 100 pages, John W. O’Malley, the dean of Jesuit historical studies, has provided a tour de force treatment of the relationship between the Jesuits and the popes, which had far-reaching consequences for the church over the centuries.

Given the extraordinary international composition of its founding group, the Jesuit order developed an unprecedented cosmopolitan concept of mission. Travel, not stability, became the way of life for Jesuits ready to serve Christ “in ten thousand places.” With the world itself as their apostolic field, the Jesuits looked to the authority best situated to choose their missions. So was born a vow distinct to this new order: one of obedience to the pope. That special vow proved significant mainly for its symbolic value, a value that was magnified in 1550, when the Society enlarged its central purpose by adding “defense” [of the church] to “the propagation of the faith,” at a time when the pontiff was increasingly identified with the church.

The Society, at its founding, had a very supportive pope, Paul III. Not so with his successor, Paul IV. Paul’s antipathy to Spaniards, very much including Ignatius, led to his failed effort to control the election of Ignatius’ successor and limit the superior general’s term from life to three years. Gregory XIII, by contrast, became a patron extraordinaire for the Society’s educational centerpieces in Rome: the Roman, German and English Colleges.

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A new crisis arose in 1586 when a dissident band of Spanish Jesuits with Jewish or Moorish origins successively persuaded Popes Sixtus V and Clement VIII to intervene in the workings of the Society to effect radical changes. That effort eventually backfired on the dissidents. Decree 52 of the Fifth General Congregation prohibited the future admission into the Society of “those who are of the Hebrew or Saracen races,” a rule that would taint the Society until its removal in 1946 in the wake of the Holocaust.

Through most of the 17th century, controversial issues at times caused popes to interfere in the governance of the Society, but with no permanent damage. The Chinese rites controversy initiated an anti-Jesuit campaign that reached its full force under the devious leadership of the Portuguese prime minister, the Marquis de Pombal, who systematically demonized the Jesuits in his country to rationalize their expulsion in 1759. Pombal’s success energized the Society’s enemies in France to bring about its banishment there. Belatedly Pope Clement XIII tried to counteract the suppressions, but his efforts fell like a tree in a deserted forest. Spain fell into the suppression line in 1767, with the expulsion of all Jesuits from its far-flung empire.

Finally there came the demand from the Bourbon governments that the pope make the suppression of the Society universal. Clement refused, only to die of a heart attack a few days later, in February 1769. In the ensuing conclave, Bourbon agents brazenly lobbied the supposedly isolated cardinals. After 185 voting sessions the Bourbons finally got their man, the compliant Giovanni Vincenzo Ganganelli. The increasingly paranoid pope delayed more than three years but finally was pressured into signing the brief of suppression. The Jesuits, who in 1750 boasted a membership of 22,500, with over 700 educational institutions, had disappeared canonically.

But not in fact. Jesuits survived in Prussia and Russia, thanks to rulers who prized their schools, and to Clement XIV’s successor, Pius VI, who in 1775 signaled the Jesuits in Russia that their survival did not displease him. A novitiate founded by Catherine the Great ensured the future of this remnant of the Society. Then in 1801 came formal papal recognition of the Society with Pius VII’s brief, “Catholicae Fidei.” And a full restoration arrived in 1814 with Napoleon’s defeat.

The restored Society enjoyed a closer relationship with the papacy over the ensuing two centuries than it had ever known before the Suppression. Jesuits identified with the papacy to a much greater extent; Pius VII came to be regarded as the second founder of the Society. The incorporation of so many Jesuits into the enlarged and centralized papal curia strengthened the bonds. As the pope became the epitome of stability and the old order, the Jesuits took their stand squarely with the pope.

By the time Gregory XVI succeeded Leo XII in 1829, the Jesuit superior general, Jan Roothaan, was meeting weekly with the pontiff. Individual Jesuits were significantly involved in the promulgation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception and in the decrees of the First Vatican Council. The opinion journal La Civiltà Cattolica (1850) became a semi-official organ of the Holy See. In the 20th century the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Vatican Radio were both given to the management of the Jesuits. Symbolic of this unprecedented collaboration was the location of the new Jesuit curia in the 1930s, virtually cheek-by-jowl with St. Peter’s Square.

Jesuits played key roles in the development of the central documents that the Second Vatican Council produced.

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Jesuits played key roles in the development of the central documents that the Second Vatican Council produced. The 31st General Congregation (1965-66) deliberated over the implications of the council for the life and work of the Society and chose a new superior general, Pedro Arrupe. Reactionary elements within the church did not take happily to the social justice direction that the congregation had set for the Society. Some in the Vatican smelled Marxism.

In 1981 Pedro Arrupe suffered a seriously impairing stroke. Father Arrupe designated a ''vicar general" to govern the Society until a general congregation could be called to elect an official successor. For the first time in the restored Society, the pope intervened. There would be no general congregation. He was appointing his own delegate, a Jesuit, to provide interim leadership for the Society. Some saw this as the beginning of another suppression. Many more saw it as papal usurpation and the end of the Society’s traditional limited autonomy. It proved not to be any of that. In 1983 the pope, feeling much better about the Society, not only permitted the 33rd General Congregation to meet but made a personal appearance.

Relations resumed their cordial character over the next three decades. Then the great papal stunner of 2013: the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Francis I. For the first time in the church’s long history, a Jesuit had become pope. Even with a Jesuit in Peter’s chair, the Jesuits and the pope remain a very distinctive duality.

CORRECTION, April 18. After he suffered a stroke, Father Pedro Arrupe designated one of his vicar generals as interim leader of the Society; the original version of this story stated that the staff of the Jesuit Curia designated a leader after invoking the Society's Constitutions.

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This article also appeared in print, under the headline “St. Ignatius, the Jesuits and the pope: a close and complex history,” in the May 1, 2017, issue.

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Robert Emmett Curran

Robert Emmett Curran is a professor emeritus of history at Georgetown University.

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