THE RALLYING
Fathers of the Sacred Heart--Fathers of the Faith--Fusion--
Paccanari--The Rupture--Exodus to Russia--Varin in Paris
--Clorivière--Carroll's doubts--Pignatelli--Poirot in
China--Grassi's Odyssey.
While the Society was maintaining its corporate life in Russia several
contributory sources began to flow towards it from various parts of
Europe. The most notable was the association that was formed under the
eyes and with the approval of the wise and virtuous Jacques-André Emery,
the superior of the Seminary of Paris, who himself had been trained in
the Jesuit college of Macon. Under his guidance and very much attached
to him, was a little group of seminarians consisting of Charles and
Maurice de Broglie, sons of the celebrated Marshal of that name, both of
whom bore the title of Prince; François Eléonore de Tournély, who was
the animating spirit of the little association, and, omitting others,
Joseph Varin who succeeded de Tournély as the guide of the growing
community.
When the Revolution broke out, Varin yielding to his martial instincts,
left the seminary and became a soldier in the royalist army; but Charles
de Broglie kept the group together and under the direction of Pey, a
distinguished canon of Paris, they plunged into the study of the
spiritual life and continued to dream of an association which might in
one way or another take up the work of the suppressed Society of Jesus.
In 1791 they were compelled to seek a refuge in Luxembourg. Two years
later, they fled to Antwerp, and finally found themselves in the old
Jesuit villa of Louvain, which is still standing near the château of the
Duc d'Arenberg. There they were joined by de Broglie's brother, Xavier,
and by Pierre Leblanc, both of whom had served for two years in the army
of the Prince de Condé. Varin joined them in that year. He had been a
soldier ever since the seminary had closed, and had given up all idea of
ever resuming the soutane. But it happened that he was absent from his
regiment when a battle occurred, and in disgust he had gone to Belgium
to ask to be transferred to another corps. While there, he fell into the
hands of his old seminary friends; in a few days his former fervor
returned and he was accepted as the sixth member of what de Tournély had
determined to call "The Society of the Sacred Heart."
On the very day of Varin's entrance, he and five associates started off
on foot, with their bags on their backs, to beg their way to Bavaria. It
took them five days to get as far as Augsburg, and there they remained,
though their intention was to establish themselves at Munich. But the
Bishop of Augsburg told them that if they wanted to learn what the
Society of Jesus was, no better place could be found than the city in
which they then found themselves, for the memory of many illustrious
Jesuits was still fresh in the hearts of the people. The bishop who gave
them this welcome hospitality was Clemens Wenzeslaus, who besides being
a prelate was a prince of Saxony and Poland. Yielding to his advice,
they took up their abode in Augsburg where they were soon joined by two
distinguished men who were afterwards to be conspicuous in the
reconstructed Society, Grivel, who was to be sent to Georgetown in
America as master of novices, and the famous Rozaven, who was to save
the Society from wreck in the first general congregation held after the
Restoration, and who was subsequently to be the assistant General both
of Fortis and Roothaan.
As they were all Frenchmen, they were necessarily debarred from
apostolic work among the people whose language they could not speak. But
that was providential, for they had thus a better opportunity to devote
themselves to the study of the spiritual life. On March 12, 1796, Varin
and some others were promoted to the priesthood, and about the middle of
December, they were installed first at Neudorf and then at Hagenbrünn,
near Vienna, as the invading armies of Moreau and Jourdan made Augsburg
an unsafe place to live in. They were now sixteen in number and their
close imitation of the Jesuit mode of life caused a sensation there, as
Austria had only a short time before suppressed the Society.
De Tournély died on July 9, 1797, and Varin was elected in his place on
the first ballot. The organization however, had not yet received the
authorization of the Sovereign Pontiff, for as Napoleon held him a
prisoner now in one place now in another, it was impossible to make any
personal application for his approval of the new organization. Hence, a
petition was drawn up, signed by twenty-five or thirty bishops asking
the Holy Father's approbation. The answer came in the month of September
1798, assuring them that their project afforded him the greatest
consolation, and with all his heart he gave them his blessing.
The establishment of this Society was not as has been said "the
underhand work of the Jesuits," for Varin and his associates had as yet
never met any member of the old Society, nor were they aware of the
existence of any similar organization in Italy. Indeed, when a letter
came from Rome, signed Nicolas Paccanari, announcing that he was their
superior, and was such, "in virtue of an express wish of the Pope to
have the two communities united," the associates regarded it as the
abolition of their Society of the "Fathers of the Sacred Heart,"
especially as this unknown individual announced that he was then on his
way to Hagenbrünn to carry the plan into effect.
Nicolas Paccanari was a very curious personage. He had no education
whatever, and in his early life had been engaged in various occupations
which scarcely seemed to fit him to be the founder of a religious order.
He was born near Trent, and had been for some time a soldier, then a
merchant on a small scale, and when swindled by an associate, he took to
tramping from town to town, vending, as Guidée says, "objects of
curiosity," that is, he was an itinerant peddler. He was a pious man,
and as he belonged to one of the guilds in the Caravita at Rome, he was
prompted by the spirit that prevailed in that famous Oratory to do
something more than usual for the glory of God. He first thought of
being a Carmelite, and then the fancy seized him that he was destined to
resuscitate the Society of Jesus. Strangely enough, although he was not
even a priest, he was joined by a doctor of the Sapienza and two French
ecclesiastics, Halnat and Epinette, the latter of whom entered the
Society and later taught philosophy at Georgetown D. C. He was
undoubtedly clever, and so plausible in his speech that he won the
confidence of the most distinguished personages in Europe: cardinals and
noblemen and heads of religious orders, with the result that he and his
two friends made their vows on the eve of the Assumption 1797, in the
chapel of the Caravita, and Paccanari was elected superior. He succeeded
even in seeing the Pope, who was then a prisoner at Spoleto, and
obtained his approval and blessing. He called his organization "The
Society of the Fathers of the Faith of Jesus," which was shortened
later into "The Fathers of the Faith." In Böhmer-Monod we find them
styled "The Brothers of the Faith."
Paccanari failed to arrive at Hagenbrünn for a considerable time, for he
had fallen into the hands of the police and was kept a prisoner in Sant'
Angelo. His restless activity and constant change of abode had attracted
the notice of the authorities, and he was suspected of being concerned
in some political plot against the Roman Republic, which the French had
just then set up in the Papal dominions. His associates were arrested at
the same time, and were not released for four months. It was during this
time of incarceration that Paccanari sent a second letter to Varin more
startling than the first. It announced that the Fathers of the Sacred
Heart had been received into the Paccanari association, and that Father
Varin was appointed superior of the society in Germany. Such a
communication from a man whom they had not even seen, made them conclude
that they had to do with a lunatic. Finally, in the month of February
1799, a third letter arrived, clearing up what had been said in the
second. The explanation offered was that not knowing if he would ever be
let out of jail, and not wishing that the privileges he had received
from the Holy See should lapse, he had as a precaution admitted Varin
and his associates into the Society of the Fathers of the Faith.
When at last he was released, he started for Vienna, and on his way,
made it his business to see some of the dispersed Jesuits who were in
Parma and Venice. They were very kind to him, procured him financial
assistance, but did not welcome him with the enthusiasm he expected.
They had remarked that he never spoke of uniting his associates with the
Jesuits of Russia. Paccanari was keen enough to divine their reason,
and he was therefore only the more eager to affiliate with the people at
Hagenbrünn, for he had only twenty members of his own, not more than
three of whom were priests. He reached Vienna on April 3, and was
naturally received with some reserve, but when Cardinal Migazzi and the
nuncio made known the desire of the Pope, all opposition ceased and the
discussion of the mode of union began. The sessions lasted ten days and
ended by the election of Paccanari as general. The Society of the
Fathers of the Sacred Heart thus passed out of existence on April 18,
1799.
The house at Hagenbrünn at once took on a different aspect. There was
less study, fewer exercises of piety, the recreations were immoderately
prolonged, and the Fathers were actually compelled to take up a series
of athletic exercises that made them think they were back in their
college days. Of course this soon became intolerable, but little else
could have been expected from a man like Paccanari, who was absolutely
ignorant of the first elements of community life. What is still more
curious is that he was not even yet tonsured; but he was, nevertheless,
so wonderfully insinuating in his manner that he succeeded in persuading
everyone outside of his own household that he was the man of the hour.
The public praised him, but his subjects were exasperated at his
opinionativeness, his despotism, his repeated absences from home, and
above all by his avoidance of all association with the dispersed
Jesuits. All that quickly convinced the Fathers of the Sacred Heart that
a serious mistake had been made. It is true that on August 11, 1799,
Paccanari made a formal announcement that his sole purpose was to
amalgamate with the Jesuits of Russia, but it was tolerably clear that
if he ever had any such intention it was rapidly vanishing from his
mind. He began by founding several establishments in various parts of
Europe, even Moravia being favored in this respect. In this
distribution, de Broglie and Rozaven were dispatched to England, and
Halnat, Roger and Varin to France.
After the example of the old Jesuits, the first work that Varin and his
companions undertook when they arrived in Paris was the care of the
hospitals of La Salpétrière and Bicêtre, the first of which had 6,000
patients and had not seen a priest in its wards for ten years. The
government now admitted the folly of its previous methods of procedure,
and sought the help of the ministers of religion. A tremendous
transformation was immediately effected. Nor could it have been
otherwise, for the zealous priests spent thirteen and fourteen hours a
day there, going from bed to bed to comfort the patients.
It was Halnat who first discovered the existence of the venerable Father
de Clorivière, a Jesuit of the old Society, who was to be the first
provincial of France after the restoration. The pious Mlle. de Cicé, a
niece of the Archbishop of Bordeaux, also comes into view at this
period. She had been the directress of an association of ladies
established by Father de Clorivière to supply as far as possible the
place of the expelled nuns, in looking after the young girls of Paris.
Varin became her spiritual guide and also directed Mlle. de Jugon, a
remarkable woman, who subsequently married a wealthy nobleman; but at
his death she resumed with great ardor the charitable works which had
previously reflected such glory upon her piety and zeal.
Just at this time, an attempt was made to assassinate Napoleon. An
"infernal machine," as it was called, was exploded under his carriage,
and Mlle. de Cicé was suspected of knowing something about it, chiefly
because of her association with the mysterious personages who had
recently arrived in France--Varin and his companions. Indeed, although
the good woman's holiness of life was vouched for by a great number of
witnesses, chiefly the beneficiaries of her charity, she might have been
condemned to death, had not Father Varin appeared in court, where he
made a candid explanation of the character of his society, as having for
its only purpose religion and charity, without any political
affiliations whatever. His good temper at the trial was a happy offset
to Father Halnat's outburst of anger which almost provoked an
unfavorable verdict. Later Halnat applied for admission to the Society
of Jesus, but it was thought unsafe to admit him.
At this juncture, there appears the figure of Madeleine-Sophie Barat,
the foundress of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, a title chosen at that
time not to indicate any social distinction; indeed Madame Barat was
from people in very ordinary circumstances, but the name "religious" was
in disfavor at that turbulent period, and it was thought advisable not
to obtrude unnecessarily the fact that she and her associates formed a
community of nuns. They were merely _des dames pieuses_, who lived
together for charitable and educational work. The name "dames" is an old
title for nuns in England.
She was the sister of Father Louis Barat, who was one of the Fathers of
the Faith, and when Varin was looking around for some capable woman to
give the girls of Paris and elsewhere a Christian education, Barat
suggested her as a possibility. He had taught her Latin, Greek, Spanish,
Italian, and natural philosophy, besides subjecting her to a very rigid
and somewhat harsh training in asceticism. She was then twenty years of
age, and with her usual habit of submission, she and her three
companions addressed themselves to the task. This was in 1801. Before
1857, she had succeeded in establishing more than eighty foundations in
various parts of the world and she is now ranked among the Beatified.
To Varin must also be accorded the credit of forming in the religious
life another woman who is among the Blessed; the Foundress of the
Sisters of Notre-Dame de Namur, Julie Billiart. Perhaps his prayers had
something to do with the restoration to health of this remarkable woman,
who had been a paralytic and almost speechless for thirty-one years. She
recovered her youthful vigor in 1804, at the end of a novena to the
Sacred Heart, which had been suggested by her confessor. She was then at
Amiens, and Varin united her and her companions into a teaching
community, and drew up the rules and constitutions which they have
undeviatingly adhered to ever since. Indeed it was this very fidelity
that gave them the name of Notre Dame de Namur. For in the absence of
Varin a prominent ecclesiastic attempted to modify their rule, whereupon
the indignant women left Amiens and emigrated in a body to Namur. That
city has ever since been regarded as their spiritual birthplace. In the
space of twelve years, namely between 1804 and 1812, this quondam
paralytic founded fifteen convents, and made as many as one hundred and
twenty journeys, some of them very long and toilsome, in the prosecution
of her great work for the Church. Like the Ladies of the Sacred Heart,
the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur have establishments all over the
world.
Meantime, a very marked difference had displayed itself in the tone of
the various members of the Fathers of the Faith. Those who had been
followers of Paccanari had no idea whatever of the real nature of
religious life, whereas the disciples of Varin for the most part were
spiritual men and eager in the work of perfection. How noticeable this
was, is revealed in a letter from Bishop Carroll in America. He had
asked for help from the new organization, and four priests had been
promised him, but only one arrived--an Italian named Zucchi. Whether he
lost his way or not, or fancied he could follow his own guidance, he
went first to Quebec, but was promptly informed by the government
officials there that his presence was undesirable. He finally reached
Maryland, and Carroll describes him in a letter to Father Plowden in
England as follows: "There is a priest here named Zucchi, a _Romano di
nascità_, a man of narrow understanding, who does nothing but pine for
the arrival of his companions. Meantime he will undertake no work. From
this sample of the new order, I am led to believe that they are very
little instructed in the maxims of the Institute of our venerable
mother, the Society. Though they profess to have no other rule than
ours, Zucchi seems to know nothing of the structure of our Society, nor
even to have read the _Regulæ Communes_ which our very novices know
almost by heart."
The bishop had also heard of the establishment of one of the communities
of women by Father Varin, and that made him still more suspicious about
the genuineness of the Fathers of the Faith. "In one point," he writes
to Plowden, "they seem to have departed from St. Ignatius, by engrafting
on their Institution a new order of nuns, which is to be under their
government."
The rupture in the ranks of the Fathers of the Faith took place in 1803.
In the preceding year, Rozaven and Varin had gone to Rome and were there
confirmed in their suspicions that Paccanari was not sincere in his
protestations about his desire to join the Jesuits in Russia. They were
also shocked at the lack of religious spirit in the Paccanarist house
in Rome. In the following year, Rozaven again returned to Rome, and
besides being confirmed in his conviction that Paccanari was working for
the development of an independent society, he was informed of certain
charges against the personal character of the man. Paccanari's
explanation of the accusations, far from convincing Rozaven, only
confirmed him in his opinion. The result was that he obtained a private
audience with the Pope, and was authorized to sever his connection with
the Fathers of the Faith.
To his amazement, he found on his return to London, that his associates
had already taken the matter in hand for themselves and had applied to
Father Gruber in Russia, for admission to the Society. The petition was
granted, not, however to enter corporately but individually, namely
after each one's vocation had been carefully examined. The application
was to be made to Father Strickland in England, who had been a member of
the old Society. With other candidates from Holland and Germany,
twenty-five new members passed over to Russia.
It is very distressing to note that Father Charles de Broglie, who with
de Tournély had initiated the whole movement, was not in this group. He
and three others remained in London as secular priests, and
unfortunately, his relations with a certain number of refractory
Frenchmen led him into the schism known as _La Petite Eglise_. He
persisted in his rebellion as late as 1842, when he at last made his
submission to the Church.
Rozaven wrote from Polotsk to Varin, giving him an account of what had
happened to him in Rome, insisting on the justifiableness of the act,
and reminding him that they had joined the Fathers of the Sacred Heart,
and subsequently the Fathers of the Faith, solely for the sake of
uniting with the Jesuits in Russia. As Paccanari had not only no
intention of carrying out that purpose, but was doing everything in his
power to prevent it, the duty of allegiance ceased, and so the Pope had
decided. Forthwith, Varin, with the approval of all his subjects in
France, notified Paccanari that they had severed all connection with his
Society. Meantime however, they retained the name of Fathers of the
Faith.
But this independence was not satisfactory to Varin. What was he to do?
Should he disband his communities which were performing very effective
work in France or wait for developments? The Apostolic nuncio at Paris,
della Genga, decided that he should continue as he was till more
favorable circumstances presented themselves. They had not long to wait.
The emperor's uncle, Cardinal Fesch, had thus far protected them, but in
1807 Napoleon publicly and angrily reproached him for this patronage,
and on November 1st ordered all the Fathers to report to their
respective dioceses within fifteen days, under penalty of being sent to
the deadly convict colony of Guiana. Fouché offered several positions of
honor to Varin and on his refusal to accept them, drove him out of
Paris. By this time, however, Varin was a Jesuit and was following the
directions of the venerable Father Clorivière who had been empowered to
receive him.
The secession of the Fathers of France and England was quickly imitated
by the communities in other parts of Europe. Meanwhile Paccanari's
conduct became a public scandal. A canonical process was instituted
against him in 1808, and he was condemned to ten years' imprisonment.
But when the French took possession of the city in 1809 and opened the
prison doors, Paccanari disappeared from view, and no one ever knew what
became of him.
While the work of the Fathers of the Faith was progressing in France and
elsewhere, the saintly Pignatelli, who had been Angel Guardian of the
Spanish Jesuits when they were expelled from their native land, was
accomplishing much for the general establishment of the Society. After
landing in Italy where the Jesuits were as yet unmolested, he had
betaken himself, with the advice of the provincial to Ferrara, and there
housed the exiles as best he could. He also established a novitiate in
connection with the college which had been handed over to him; but all
this was swept away when the Brief of Clement XIV suppressed the entire
Society in 1773. Of course, the first thought of Pignatelli after this
disaster was to join his brethren in Russia, and with that in view he
wrote to Pope Pius VI, who had succeeded Clement XIV, asking him if the
Jesuits whom Catherine II had sheltered, really belonged to the Society.
The reply delighted him beyond measure, for it told him that he might go
to Russia with a safe conscience and put on the habit of the Society.
The Jesuits there really belonged to the Society for the Brief of
Suppression had never reached that country. The Pontiff also added that
he would restore the Society as soon as possible; and if he were not
able to do so he would recommend it to his successor.
Pignatelli's joy knew no bounds, and he immediately prepared for his
journey to the North, but the Providence of God kept him in Italy, for
the Duke of Parma, though a son of Charles III of Spain, had resolved to
recall the Jesuits to his Duchy, and for that purpose had written to
Catherine II of Russia to ask for three members of the Society to
organize the houses. The empress was only too glad to accede to his
wish; on February, 1794, three Jesuits arrived in Parma and began their
work at Calorno, just when Pius VI was passing through that city on his
way to the prisons of France. The opportunity was taken advantage of to
ask the august captive for authorization to open a novitiate and he most
willingly granted the request. Panizzoni, who was then provincial of
Italy, appointed Pignatelli as superior and master of novices.
Unfortunately the Duke of Parma died, and the Duchy was taken over by
France; however, the Jesuits were not molested for a year and a half,
and during this time Pignatelli, who was exercising the office of
provincial, succeeded in having the Society restored in Naples and
Sicily. This was in 1804. But when Napoleon laid his hands on the whole
of the peninsula an order was formulated for the expulsion of the
Jesuits. Fortunately its execution was not rigorously enforced and
colleges were established in Rome, Tivoli, Sardinia and Orvieto.
Meantime matters were progressing favorably in Russia, so much so that
in 1803 Father Angiolini was sent as imperial ambassador to the Pope to
solicit alms for the missions. When he appeared in Rome dressed as a
Jesuit, he found himself the sensation of the hour. The Sovereign
Pontiff received him with effusive affection and granted all that he
asked. He remained there as procurator of the Society, and in the
following year, was able to communicate to Father Gruber the pleasing
news that, at the request of King Ferdinand, the Society had been
re-established in the Two Sicilies. Father Pignatelli was made
provincial, and as many as 170 of those who had survived after Tanucci
had driven them out thirty-seven years previously came from the various
places that had sheltered them during the Suppression to resume their
former way of life. Several of them who had been made bishops asked the
Pope for permission to return but all were refused except two, Avogado
of Verona and Bencassa of Carpi.
The whole kingdom welcomed back the exiles with enthusiasm. The King
came in person to open the Church which he had persistently refused to
enter ever since the expulsion; at the first Mass he and the entire
royal family received Holy Communion. He also gave the Fathers their
former college, and endowed it with an annual income of forty thousand
ducats. This example encouraged others; colleges were founded
everywhere, and the number of applicants was so great that the
conditions for admission to the Society had to be made as rigorous as
possible. Unfortunately this happy condition of affairs did not last
long, for in March 1806, Joseph Bonaparte replaced Ferdinand IV on the
throne of Naples, and the Jesuits again took the road of exile. The Pope
offered them a refuge in Rome, and when they protested that such a
course would draw on him the wrath of Napoleon, he replied that they
were suffering for the Church, and that he must receive them just as
Clement XIII had done when they were exiled from Naples.
While these events were occurring in Italy and France, an opportunity
was presented to the Jesuits of Russia to revive their old missions in
China. Unfortunately it was frustrated. The story as told in the
"Woodstock Letters" (IV, 113) is a veritable Odyssey, and is
particularly interesting to Americans, for the reason that the principal
personage concerned in what proved to be a very heroic enterprise became
subsequently the President of Georgetown College: John Anthony Grassi.
Grassi was a native of Bergamo, and in 1799 entered the novitiate
established by Father Pignatelli at Calorno. He thus received a genuine
Jesuit training and escaped the influence of the establishments which
Paccanari was inaugurating in Italy just at that time. From Calorno he
was sent to Russia, and was made Rector of the College of Nobles which
was dependent upon the establishment at Polotsk. Meanwhile, he was
preparing himself for the missions of Astrakhan, and was already deep in
the study of Armenian when the Chinese matter was brought to the
attention of Father Gruber by a letter from a member of the old Society,
who had contrived to remain in China ever since the Suppression. He was
Louis Poirot. It appears that his ability as a musician had charmed the
emperor, and thus enabled him to continue his evangelical work in the
Celestial Empire.
Hearing of the establishment in Russia, he bethought himself of having
the Jesuits resume their old place in China, evidently unaware that the
Brief of 1801 expressly declared that the Society had been established
"only within the limits of the Russian Empire." But not knowing this he
availed himself of the return of a Lazarist missionary and wrote two
letters; one to the Pope and another to the Father General in which he
said: "I am eighty years of age and there is only one thing I care to
live for. It is to see the Jesuits return to China." His letter to the
General ends with a request to be permitted to renew his vows, "so as to
die a true son of the Society of Jesus." Between the time he wrote this
letter and its arrival in Europe, the limitation of the approval of the
Society to Russia had been withdrawn, and Father Gruber immediately set
about granting the venerable and faithful old man's request. Happily a
solemn legation was just then to leave St. Petersburg for China, and the
ambassador, Golowkin, was urged to take some Jesuits in his suite. The
offer was gladly accepted, but it was decided that it should be better
for the priests to go by the usual sea route than to accompany the
embassy overland.
Father Grassi was considered to be the most available man in the
circumstances, and he was told merely that he was to go to a distant
post, and that his companions were to be Father Korsack, a native of
Russia and a German lay-brother named Surmer, who happened to be a
sculptor. On January 14, 1805, they left Polotsk, and travelling day and
night, arrived at St. Petersburg on January 19. Only then were they
informed that their destination was Pekin. On February 2 they started on
sleds for Sweden. At the end of three days, they were all sick and
exhausted, but kept bravely on till they reached the frontier where they
found shelter in a little inn. Fortunately a physician happened to be
there and he helped them over their ailments, so that in ten days they
were able to resume their journey. They then started for Abo, the
capital of Finland and from there crossed the frozen sea at top speed,
till they reached the Island of Aland. On March 20 they traversed the
Gulf of Bothnia in a mail packet, and landed safely on the shore of
Sweden. On March 22 they were in Stockholm, but the Abbé Morrette, the
superior of the Swedish mission to whom they were to present themselves
was dead. An Italian gentleman, happily named Fortuna, who was Russian
Consul at that place, took care of them and presented them to Alopeus,
the Russian minister.
Alopeus dissuaded them from going to England as they had been directed,
and suggested Copenhagen as the proper place to embark. Arrived there,
they were informed that there was a ship out in the harbor, waiting to
sail for Canton, but that the captain refused to take any passengers;
whereupon they determined to follow their original instructions, and
after a stormy voyage arrived at Gravesend on May 22. From there they
went to London where they met Father Kohlmann.
The same misfortune attended them at London for although Lord Macartney,
who had known the Jesuits in Pekin, did everything to secure them a
passage to China, he failed utterly. Then acting under new instructions
they set sail for Lisbon on July 29, but were driven by contrary winds
to Cork in Ireland, where of course they met with the heartiest welcome
from everyone especially from the bishop. They finally landed at Lisbon
on September 28; passing as they entered the harbor, the gloomy fortress
of St. Julian where so many of their brethren had been imprisoned by
Pombal. They were befriended there by an Irish merchant named Stack, and
also by the rector of the Irish College; but were finally lodged in an
old dismantled monastery where they slept on the floor. Then, in the
dress of secular priests, they presented themselves to the Apostolic
nuncio who was very friendly to the Society, and who would have been a
Jesuit himself had it not been for the opposition of his family. He
warned them to be very cautious in what they did and said, and informed
them that there were very few ships clearing for Macao.
While at Lisbon, they devoted themselves to the study of mathematics and
astronomy, and after two months their friend, the Irish merchant, came
to tell them that there was a ship about to sail. They hastened to
advise the nuncio of it, but were then told that they could not go to
China, without the Pope's permission, for the reason that the Society
had been suppressed in that country. They also learned from a missionary
priest of the Propaganda, that Rome was very much excited about their
proposed journey; Father Angiolini who was then in Rome, wrote to the
same effect. It was then March 1806. Not knowing what to do, they began
a course of astronomy at the observatory of Coimbra, but unfortunately,
the founder of the observatory, an ex-Jesuit, José Monteiro da Rocha,
was very hostile to the Society; and even went so far in his opposition
that in a public oration before the university he had praised Pombal
extravagantly for having abolished the Order.
The wanderers remained at Coimbra for two months, and then returned to
Lisbon. On their way to the capital they saw the unburied coffin of
Pombal. On June 4 a letter came from England which revived their hopes,
especially as it was followed by pecuniary help from the czar; but soon
after that, they received news of the Russian embassy's failure to reach
China, and they also heard that the country of their dreams was in the
wildest excitement because a missionary there had sent a map of the
empire to Europe. The imprudent cartographer was imprisoned and an
imperial edict announced that vengeance was to be taken on all
Christians in the empire. Who the poor man was we do not know. It could
not have been old Father Poirot. He was merely a musician and not a
maker of maps. On December 2, 1806, the nuncio at Lisbon was informed
that the Pope quite approved of the project of the Fathers and had urged
his officials to assist them to carry it out. The reason of this change
of mind on the part of the Holy Father is explained by the fact that he
was anxious to propitiate Russia. Nevertheless, the nuncio advised them
to wait for further developments.
Another year went by, during which they continued their studies and made
some conversions. They had also the gratification of being introduced to
the Marchioness of Tavora, the sole survivor of the illustrious house
which Pombal had so ruthlessly persecuted. Finally they were recalled to
England, which they reached on November 16, 1807, after a month of great
hardship at sea. They were welcomed at Liverpool by the American Jesuit,
Father Sewall, who was at that time sheltering four other members of
the Society in his house. When the little community met at table, they
represented seven different nationalities--American, English, French,
German, Italian, Polish and Belgian. Father Grassi remained in England,
chiefly at Stonyhurst until 1810, and on August 27 of that year set sail
from Liverpool for Baltimore, where he arrived on October 20. He had
thus passed three years in England where community life had been carried
on almost without interruption from the time of the old Society. For
although the Brief of Suppression had explicitly forbidden it,
nevertheless Clement's successor had authorized it as early as 1778, and
had permitted the pronouncement of the religious vows in 1803,--a
privilege that was extended to the Kingdom of Naples in 1804. Arriving
in the United States, Father Grassi found that there had been virtually
no interruption of the Society's traditions in this part of the world.
The Fathers had been in close communication with Russia as early as 1805
and were being continually reinforced by members of the Society in
Europe. When the Bull of Re-establishment was issued there were nineteen
Jesuits in the United States.