THE RESTORATION
Tragic death of Father Gruber--Fall of Napoleon--Release of
the Pope--The Society Re-established--Opening of Colleges--
Clorivière--Welcome of the Society in Spain--Repulsed in
Portugal--Opposed by Catholics in England--Announced in
America--Carroll--Fenwick--Neale.
In 1805 the Society met with a disaster which in the circumstances
seemed almost irreparable. During the night of March 25-26 its
distinguished General, Father Gruber, was burned to death in his
residence at St. Petersburg. His friend, the Count de Maistre, who was
still ambassador at the Russian Court, hurried to the scene in time to
receive his dying blessing and farewell. Gruber's influence was so great
in Russia that it was feared no one could replace him. His successor was
Thaddeus Brzozowski, who was elected on the second of September.
Splendid plans, especially in the field of education had been made by
Gruber and had been warmly approved of by the emperor, but they had to
be set aside for more pressing needs. Napoleon was just then devastating
Europe, and the very existence of Russia as well as of other nations was
at stake. It is true that the empire was at peace with France, but at
the rupture of the treaty of Amiens, Napoleon complained of the
political measures of the cabinet of St. Petersburg, and the ambassadors
of both countries received their papers of dismissal. The result was
that a coalition of Russia, England, Austria and Sweden was formed to
thwart the ambitions of Napoleon who was at that time laying claim to
the whole Italian Peninsula. War was declared in 1805. Austerlitz
compelled the empire to accept Napoleon's terms, but Prussia and Russia
continued the fight until the disasters at Jena, Eylau and Friedland.
Then the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia met Napoleon on a
raft anchored out in the Niemen, where on the eighth and ninth of July
peace was agreed to.
At Erfurt, in 1808 Napoleon and Alexander drew up what was known as the
"Continental System," in accordance with which, all English merchandise
was to be excluded from every continental nation. This was followed by a
defensive alliance of Austria and England, and as Austria was Russia's
ally, Alexander again entered the fight against Napoleon, but the
victory of Wagram and the marriage of Napoleon with the Austrian
archduchess, Maria Louisa, changed the aspect of affairs and the
"Continental System" was restored, but in so modified a form that war
broke out again, and in 1812 Napoleon began his Russian Campaign. The
battle of Smolensk opened the way for him to Moscow, but when the
conqueror arrived he found the city in flames. He mistook it for an act
of surrender and Alexander purposely detained him, discussing the terms
of peace until the winter set in. Then the conqueror decided to return,
but it was too late. On February 22, 1813, Alexander sent out a call to
all the kings of Europe to unite against Napoleon and they eagerly
responded. He beat them at Lutzen and Bautzen, and in Silesia, but in
spite of his success he had to continue his retreat. He won again at
Dresden and Leipzig, but they pursued him relentlessly, until at last
the Rhine was reached. Peace was offered in December 1813, but when its
acceptance was delayed, the Allies entered France, and on March 3, 1814,
laid siege to Paris. The city surrendered on the following day.
Meantime Napoleon had released Pius VII from captivity, not voluntarily,
but as a political measure, to propitiate the anger of the Catholics of
the world, who were beginning to open their eyes to the extent of the
outrage. Eighteen months previously he had dragged the venerable Pontiff
from Rome and hurried him night and day over the Alps, absolutely
heedless of the age and infirmity of his victim, until at last the Pope
entered Fontainebleau a prisoner. According to Pacca, it was a jail more
than a palace. There by dint of threats and brutal treatment Napoleon so
wore out the strength of the aged man that a Concordat was signed which
sacrificed some of the most sacred rights of the Holy See. It was
cancelled, indeed, subsequently, but it almost drove the Pope insane
when he realized the full import of what he had been driven to concede.
"I shall die like Clement XIV," he exclaimed. But his jailer was
heartless and it was only after a year and a half of imprisonment, and
when the Allies were actually entering France as conquerors, that he
made up his mind to send the Pontiff back to Rome. Had he done it with
less brutality he might even then, have succeeded in his calculations,
but only one attendant was sent to accompany the prisoner. The cardinals
were purposely dismissed some days later in batches, and ordered to go
by different routes so as to prevent any popular demonstration on the
way.
Pacca overtook the Pope at Sinigaglia on May 12, and on May 24, after a
brief stay at Ancona, Loreto, Macerata, Tolentino, Foligno, Spoleto,
Terni and Nepi, entered Rome. What happened at these places deserves to
be recorded, as it shows that the Faith was not only not dead but had
grown more intense because of the outrages of which the Vicar of Christ
had been the object. At Ancona, for instance, Artaud tell us, "he was
received with transports of delight. The sailors in the harbor flocked
around his carriage, unhitched the horses and with silken ropes of
yellow and red drew it triumphantly through the city, while the cannon
thundered from the ramparts, and the bells of every tower proclaimed the
joy of the people. From the top of a triumphal arch the Pope gave his
benediction to the kneeling multitudes, and then blessed the wide
Adriatic. From there he went to the palace of the Picis for a brief
rest. The next day he crowned the statue of the Blessed Virgin, Queen of
All Saints, and then set out for Osimo escorted as far as Loreto by a
scarlet-robed guard of honor. Entering Rome by the Porto del Popolo, his
carriage was drawn by young noblemen, and he was met by a procession of
little orphan children chosen from the Protectory of Providence. They
were all clothed in white robes and in their hands they held golden palm
branches which they waved above their heads, while their young voices
filled the air with jubilant songs. When the crowd became too dense, the
little ones knelt before him to present their emblems of peace, which he
affectionately received, while tears rolled down his cheeks. At last,
the city gates were reached and he proceeded along the streets lined on
either side by kneeling multitudes who were overcome with joy at his
return."
Almost the first official act of the Pope was to re-establish the
Society. How that came about may be best told in the words of his
faithful servant, Cardinal Pacca.
"While we were in prison together," says the illustrious cardinal, "I
had never tired of adroitly leading the conversation up to this
important matter, so as to furnish His Holiness with useful information
if ever it happened that he would again ascend the Chair of St. Peter.
In those interviews he never failed to manifest the greatest esteem and
affection for the Society. The situation in which we found ourselves was
remarkable, and it shows the admirable Providence of God with regard to
this celebrated Society.
"When Barnabo Chiaramonte was a young Benedictine, he had teachers and
professors in theology whose sentiments were anti-Jesuit, and they
filled his mind with theological views that were most opposed to those
maintained by the Society. Everyone knows what profound impressions
early teaching leaves in the mind; and, as for myself, I also had been
inspired from my youth with sentiments of aversion, hatred and, I might
say, a sort of fanaticism against the illustrious Society. It will
suffice to add that my teachers put in my hands and ordered me to make
extracts from the famous 'Lettres Provinciales,' first in French and
then in Latin, with the notes of Wendrok (Nicole) which were still more
abominable than the text. I read also in perfect good faith, 'La morale
pratique des Jésuites,' and other works of that kind and accepted them
as true.
"Who then would have believed that the first act of the Benedictine
Chiaramonte who had become Pope, immediately after emerging from the
frightful tempest of the Revolution, and in the face of so many sects,
then raging against the Jesuits, should be the re-establishment of the
Society throughout the Catholic world; or that I should have prepared
the way for this new triumph; or, finally, that I should have been
appointed by the Pope to carry out those orders which were so acceptable
to me and conferred on me so much honor? For both the Pope and myself,
this act was a source of supreme satisfaction. I was present in Rome on
the two memorable occasions of the Suppression and the Re-establishment
of the Society, and I can testify to the different impressions they
produced. Thus, on August 17, 1773, the day of the publication of the
Brief 'Dominus ac Redemptor,' one saw surprise and sorrow painted on
every face; whereas on August 7, 1814, the day of the resurrection of
the Society, Rome rang with acclamations of satisfaction and approval.
The people followed the Pope from the Quirinal to the Gesù, where the
Bull was to be read, and made the return of the Pope to his palace a
triumphal procession.
"I have deemed it proper to enter into these details, in order to profit
by the occasion of these 'Memoirs' to make a solemn retraction of the
imprudent utterances that I may have made in my youth against a Society
which has merited so well from the Church of Jesus Christ."
Some of the cardinals were opposed to the Restoration, out of fear of
the commotion it was sure to excite. Even Consalvi would have preferred
to see it deferred for a few months, but it is a calumny to say that he
was antagonistic to the Society. As early as February 13, 1799, he wrote
as follows to Albani, the legate at Vienna: "You do me a great, a very
great wrong, if you ever doubted that I was not convinced that the
Jesuits should be brought back again. I call God to witness that I
always thought so, although I was educated in colleges which were not
favorable to them, but I did not on that account think ill of them. In
those days, however, I did say one thing of them, viz., that although I
was fully persuaded of their importance, I declared it to be fanatical
to pretend that the Church could not stand without them, since it had
existed for centuries before they existed, but when I saw the French
Revolution and when I got to really understand Jansenism, I then thought
and think now that without the Jesuits the Church is in very bad
straits. If it depended on me, I would restore the Society to-morrow. I
have frequently told that to the Pope, who has always desired their
restoration, but fear of the governments that were opposed to it made
him put it off, though he always cherished the hope that he could bring
it about. He would do it if he lived; and if he were unable he would
advise his successor to do it as quickly as possible. The rulers of the
nations will find out that the Jesuits will make their thrones secure by
bringing back religion."
Of course, the thought of restoring the Society did not originate with
Pius VII and Pacca. Pius VI had repeatedly declared that he would have
brought it about had it been at all feasible. Even after the return of
Pius VII to Rome, some of the most devoted friends of the Jesuits, as we
have seen, thought that the difficulties were insuperable; but the Pope
judged otherwise, and hence the affection with which the Society will
ever regard him. Indeed, he had already gone far in preparing the way
for it. He had approved of the Society in Russia, England, America and
Italy. He had permitted Father Fonteyne to establish communities in the
Netherlands; Father Clorivière was doing the same thing in France with
his approval so that everyone was expecting the complete restoration to
take place at any moment. The Father provincial of Italy had announced
that the Bull would be issued before Easter Sunday 1814, although some
of his brethren laughed at him and thought he was losing his mind. This
did not disturb him, however, and in June, 1814 he knelt before the
Sovereign Pontiff and in the name of Father General Brzozowski presented
the following petition:
"We, the Father General and the Fathers who, by the benignity of the
Holy See, reside in Russia and in Sicily, desiring to meet the wishes
of certain princes who ask our assistance in the education of the youth
of their realms, humbly implore Your Highness to remove the difficulty
created by the Brief of Clement XIV and to restore the Society to its
former state in accordance with the last confirmation of it by Clement
XIII, so that in whatever country we may be asked for we may give to the
princes above referred to whatever help the needs of their several
countries may demand."
On June 17, Pius VII let it be known that he was more than eager to
satisfy the wish of the petitioners; and a few days afterwards, when
Cardinal Pacca said to him, "Holy Father, do you not think we ought to
do what we so often spoke of?" he replied, "Yes; we can re-establish the
Society of Jesus on the next feast of Saint Ignatius." Even Pacca was
taken aback by the early date that was fixed upon, for there was not a
month and a half to prepare for it. The outside world was even still
more surprised, and the enemies of the Society strove to belittle the
Pontifical act by starting the report that it was not the old Society
that was going to be brought back to life; only a new congregation was
to be approved. That idea took possession of the public mind to such an
extent that Father de Zúñiga, the provincial of Sicily, brought it to
the attention of the Sovereign Pontiff. "On the contrary," said Pius,
"it is the same Society which existed for two hundred years, although
now circumscribed by some restrictions, because there will be no mention
of privileges in the Bull, and there are other things which will have to
be inserted, on account of circumstances in France and Spain and the
needs of certain bishops."
The chief difficulty was in draughting the document. The time was very
short and some of the cardinals were of opinion that the courts of
Europe should be consulted about it. But Pacca and the Pope both swept
aside that suggestion. They had had a sad experience with the courts of
Europe. Hence Cardinal Litta, who when ablegate at St. Petersburg had
asked for the confirmation of the Society in Russia, was chosen to draw
up the Bull. He addressed himself to the task with delight and presented
to the Pope a splendid defense of the Society which he declared "had
been guilty of no fault;" but when he added that "the suppression had
been granted by Clement XIV unwillingly," and that "it was to be
ascribed to the wicked devices, the atrocious calumnies, and the impious
principles of false political science and philosophy which, by the
destruction of the Order, foolishly imagined that the Church could be
destroyed," the language was found to be too strong and even Cardinal di
Pietro, who was a staunch friend of the Society, protested vehemently
against it. Indeed, di Pietro went so far as to say that certain changes
should be made in the Institute before the Bull was issued. Other
members of the Sacred College were of the same opinion, but did not
express themselves so openly. They were afraid to do so, because the
popular joy was so pronounced at the news of the proposed restoration
that anyone opposing it would run the risk of being classed as an enemy.
As a compromise, the Pope set aside the Bull drawn up by Litta and also
the corrections by di Pietro, and entrusted the work to Pacca. It was
his draught that was finally published. It makes no mention of any
change or mutilation of the Institute; neither does it name nor abrogate
any privilege; it is not addressed to any particular State, as some
wished, but to the whole world; it does not reprehend anyone, nor does
it subject to the Propaganda the foreign missions which the Society
might undertake. Some of the "black cardinals" such as Brancadoro,
Gabrielli, Litta, Mattei and even di Pietro, asked for greater praise in
it for the Society, while others wanted it just as Pacca had written it;
Mattei objected to the expression "primitive rule of St. Ignatius,"
because the words would seem to imply that the Society had adopted
another at some time in its history and he also wanted the reason of the
restoration to be explicitly stated, namely: "the Pope's deep conviction
of the Society's usefulness to the Church." His reason was that many had
asked for it; but only some of his suggestions were accepted.
These details prevented the publication of the Bull on July 31, hence
August 7, the octave of the feast was chosen.
A few extracts from it will suffice. Its title is "The Constitution by
which the Society of Jesus is restored in its pristine state throughout
the Catholic World." The preamble first refers to the Brief "Catholicæ
Fidei" which confirmed the Society in Russia and also to the "Per alias"
which restored it in the Two Sicilies. It then says: "The Catholic world
unanimously demands the re-establishment of the Society of Jesus. Every
day we are receiving most urgent petitions from our venerable brothers,
the archbishops and bishops of the Church, and from other most
distinguished personages to that effect. The dispersion of the very
stones of the sanctuary in the calamitous days which we shudder even to
recall, namely the destruction of a religious order which was the glory
and the support of the Catholic Church, now makes it imperative that we
should respond to the general and just desire for its restoration. In
truth, we should consider ourselves culpable of a grievous sin in the
sight of God, if, in the great dangers to which the Christian
commonwealth is exposed, we should fail to avail ourselves of the help
which the special Providence of God now puts at our disposal; if, seated
as we are in the Barque of Peter, we should refuse the aid of the tried
and vigorous mariners who offer themselves to face the surges of the sea
which threaten us with shipwreck and death. Therefore, we have resolved
to do to-day what we have longed from the first days of our Pontificate
to be able to accomplish, and, hence, after having in fervent prayer
implored the Divine assistance, and having sought the advice and counsel
of a great number of our venerable brothers, the cardinals of the Holy
Roman Church, we have decreed, with certain knowledge, and in virtue of
the plenitude of our Apostolic power, that all the concessions and
faculties accorded by us to the Russian empire and the Two Sicilies, in
particular, shall henceforward be extended in perpetuity to all other
countries of the world.
"Wherefore, we concede and accord to our well-beloved son Thaddeus
Brzozowski, at present the General of the Society of Jesus, and to the
other members of the Society delegated by him, all proper and necessary
powers to receive and welcome freely and lawfully all those who desire
to be admitted into the Regular Order of the Society of Jesus, and that,
under the authority of the General at the time such persons may be
received into and assigned to one or many houses, or colleges or
provinces, as needs be, wherein they shall follow the rule prescribed by
St. Ignatius Loyola, which was confirmed by the Constitutions of Paul
III. Over and above this, we declare them to possess and we hereby
concede to them the power of devoting themselves freely and lawfully to
educate youth in the principles of the Catholic religion; to train them
in morality; to direct colleges and seminaries; to preach and to
administer the sacraments in their place of residence, with the consent
and approbation of the ordinary. We take under our protection and under
our immediate obedience as well as that of the Apostolic See, all the
colleges, all the houses, all the provinces, all the members of the
Order, and all those who are gathered in their establishments, reserving
nevertheless to Ourself, and to the Roman Pontiffs, our successors, to
decree and prescribe whatever we consider it our duty to decree and
prescribe as necessary to consolidate more and more the same Society, in
order to render it stronger and to purge it from abuse, if ever (which
may God avert) any may be found therein. And we exhort with our whole
heart, in the name of the Lord, all superiors, rectors and provincials,
as well as all the members and pupils of this re-established Order to
show themselves in all places, faithful imitators of their Father. Let
them observe with exactness the rule prescribed for them by their great
founder, and let them follow with ever increasing zeal the useful
admonitions and counsels which he has left for the guidance of his sons.
"Finally we earnestly recommend in the Lord this Society and its members
to the illustrious kings and princes and temporal lords of the various
nations, as well as to our venerable brothers, the archbishops and
bishops and whosoever may occupy positions of honor and authority. We
exhort them, nay we conjure them, not only not to suffer that these
religious should be molested, in any manner, but to see that they should
be treated with the benevolence and the charity which they deserve."
A difficulty now arose as to the person into whose hands the Bull was to
be delivered. It was impossible for the General to be present, for he
was unable to obtain permission of the emperor to take part in what
concerned him more than any other member of the Society--a condition of
things which made it evident that the residence of the next General had
to be in some other place than Russia. That, of course, the czar would
never permit and the expulsion of the Society from Russia was from that
moment a foregone conclusion. Angiolini, who was rather conspicuous in
Rome at that time, possibly because he had some years before arrived in
the city as an envoy from the Russian court, was first thought of. In
fact the Pope had already named him, but Albers in his "Liber sæcularis"
does not hesitate to say that Angiolini sought the honor, and had
succeeded in enlisting the interest of Cardinal Litta in his behalf. But
he was known to be a man of impetuous character, eager to be concerned
in every matter of importance and decidedly headstrong. The provincial
was chosen, therefore, to represent the General, and Angiolini was
consoled by being made consultor of the Congregation of Rites. The
difficulty seems almost childish, for whatever prominence Angiolini
possessed, it was purely personal whereas that of Father Panizzoni was
official. It may be, however, that Angiolini's friendship for Rezzi, who
attempted to wreck the Society at the first congregation, had laid him
open to suspicion.
At last the great day arrived. It was Sunday; and all Rome was seen
flocking to the Gesù. As early as eight o'clock in the morning, as many
as one hundred Jesuits along with the College of Cardinals were waiting
to receive the Pope. He arrived at last and said Mass at the high altar.
He then proceeded to the chapel of the Sodality which was crowded with
bishops and most of the notables then in the city. Among them were Queen
Marie Louise of Bourbon, the wife of Charles IV of Spain, with her niece
and three sons. It was Spain's reparation for the wrong it had done the
Society. Behind the cardinals, in a double row were the Spanish,
Italian and Portuguese Jesuits; the youngest of whom was sixty years of
age, while there were others still who had reached eighty-six. It is
even asserted that there was present one old Jesuit who was one hundred
and twenty-six years old. His name was Albert Montalto and he had been
in the Society for one hundred and eight years. He was born in 1689, was
admitted to the novitiate in 1706 and hence was sixty-four years old at
the time of the Suppression.
This beautiful fairy story is vouched for by Crétineau-Joly (V, 436),
but Albers, in his "Liber sæcularis," tells us that there is no such
name as Montalto or Montaud in the Catalogue of 1773 or in Vivier's
"Catalogus Mortuorum Societatis Jesu."
When the Pope had taken his seat upon the throne, he handed the Bull to
Belisario Cristaldi, who in a clear voice, amid the applause of all in
the chapel, read the consoling words which the Jesuits listened to with
tears and sobs. Then one by one some hobbling up with the help of their
canes, others leaning on the arms of the distinguished men present,
knelt at the feet of the Pontiff, who spoke to them all with the deepest
and tenderest affection. For them it was the happiest day of their lives
and the old men among them could now sing their "Nunc dimittis."
Pacca then handed to Panizzoni a paper appointing him superior of the
Roman house, until the nomination arrived from Father General. The
professed house, the novitiate of Sant' Andrea and other properties were
also made over to the Society with a monthly payment of five hundred
scudi.
On entering the Gesù, the Fathers found the house almost in the same
condition as when Father Ricci and his assistants left it in 1773, to go
to the dungeons of Sant' Angelo. It was occupied by a community of
priests, most of them former Jesuits, who had continued to serve the
adjoining church, which, though despoiled of most of its treasures,
still possessed the remains of St. Ignatius. Two years later, the
novitiate of Sant' Andrea was so crowded that a second one had to be
opened at Reggio. Among the novices at that place was Charles Emanuel,
King of Sardinia, who had resigned his crown to enter the Society. He
died there in 1819. In 1815 the Jesuits had colleges in Orvieto,
Viterbo, Tivoli, Urbino, Ferentino, and Galloro, Modena, Forlì, Genoa,
Turin, Novarra, and a little later, Nice. In Parma and Naples, they had
been at work prior to 1814.
Just eight days before these happenings in Rome, an aged Jesuit in Paris
saw assembled around him ten distinguished men whom he had admitted to
the Society. It was July 31, the feast of St. Ignatius, and the place of
the meeting was full of tragic memories. It was the chapel of the Abbaye
des Carmes, where, in the general massacre of priests which took place
there in 1792, twelve Jesuits had been murdered. In the old man's mind
there were still other memories. Fifty-two years before, he and his
religious brethren had been driven like criminals from their native
land. Forty years had passed since the whole Society had been
suppressed. He had witnessed all the horrors of the French Revolution,
and now as he was nearing eternity--he was then eighty-five--he saw at
his feet a group of men some of whom had already gained distinction in
the world, but who at that moment, had only one ambition, that of being
admitted into the Society of Jesus, which they hoped would be one day
re-established. They never dreamed that seven days after they had thus
met at the Abbaye to celebrate the feast of St. Ignatius, Pius VII who
had returned from his captivity in France would, by the Bull
"Sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum," solemnly re-establish the Society
throughout the world.
The old priest was Pierre-Joseph Picot de Clorivière. He was born at St.
Malo, June 29, 1735 and had entered the Society on August 14, 1756. He
was teaching a class at Compiègne when Choiseul drove the Society out of
the country, but though he was only a scholastic, it had no effect on
his vocation. He attached himself to the English province, and after
finishing his course of theology at Liège in Belgium, was professed of
the four vows about a month after Clement XIV had issued his Brief of
Suppression. The decree had not yet been promulgated in the Netherlands.
Instead of going to England as one would expect, he returned to his
native country as a secular priest, and we find him in charge of a
parish at Paramé from 1775 to 1779. He was also the director of the
diocesan College of Dinan, where he remained up to the time of the
Revolution. Meantime, he was writing pious books and founding two
religious congregations, one for priests, the other for pious women in
the world. The former went out of existence in 1825. The latter still
flourishes.
Having refused to take the constitutional oath, he was debarred from all
ecclesiastical functions, and began to think of offering himself to his
old friend and classmate at Liège, Bishop Carroll, to work on the
Maryland missions; but one thing or another prevented him from carrying
out his purpose, though on the other hand it is surprising that he could
make up his mind to remain in France. His brother had been guillotined
in 1793; his niece met the same fate later; his sister, a Visitation
nun, was put in prison and escaped death only by Robespierre's fall from
power; several of his spiritual followers had perished in the storm, but
he contrived to escape until 1801, when, owing to his relationship with
Limoellan, who was implicated in the conspiracy to kill the First
Consul, he was lodged in jail. He was then sixty-nine years old.
During his seven years of imprisonment, he wrote voluminous commentaries
on the Bible, chiefly the Apocalypse. He also devoted himself to the
spiritual improvement of his fellow-prisoners, one of whom, a Swiss
Calvinist named Christin, became a Catholic. As Christin had been an
attaché of the Russian embassy he posted off to Russia when he was
liberated in 1805, taking with him a letter from Clorivière to the
General of the Society, asking permission for the writer to renew his
profession and to enter the Russian province. Of course, both requests
were granted. When he was finally discharged from custody in 1809,
Clorivière wrote again to Russia to inform the General that Bishop
Carroll wanted to have him go out to Maryland as master of novices. As
for himself though he was seventy-five years of age, he was quite ready
to accede to the bishop's request. The General's decision, however, was
that it would be better to remain in France.
Meantime, Father Varin, the superior of the Fathers of the Faith, had
convoked the members of his community to consider how they could carry
out the original purpose of their organization, namely: to unite with
the Jesuits of Russia, but no progress had been made up to 1814. In his
perplexity, he consulted Mgr. della Genga who was afterwards Leo XII,
and also Father Clorivière. But to his dismay, both of them told him to
leave the matter in _statu quo_. This was all the more disconcerting,
because he had just heard that Father Fonteyne, who was at Amsterdam,
had already received several Fathers of the Faith. Whereupon he posted
off to Holland, and was told that both della Genga and Clorivière were
wrong in their decision. To remove every doubt he was advised to write
immediately to Russia, or better yet to go there in person. He
determined to do both. At the beginning of June 1814, he returned to
France to tell his friends the result of his conference with Father
Fonteyne, but during his absence Clorivière had been commissioned by
Father Brzozowski to do in France what Fonteyne had been doing in
Holland. That settled everything, and on July 19, 1814, Fathers Varin,
Boissard, Roger and Jennesseaux were admitted to the novitiate; and a
few days later, Dumouchel, Bequet, Ronsin, Coulon, Loriquet, with a lay
brother followed their example. On the 31st, St. Ignatius' Day, they all
met at the Abbaye to entreat the Founder of the Society to bless this
inauguration of the province of France.
In virtue of his appointment Father Clorivière found that he had now to
take care of seventy novices, most of whom were former Fathers of the
Faith; in this rapidly assembled throng it was impossible to carry out
the whole scheme of a novitiate training in all its details. Indeed, the
only "experiment" given to the newcomers was the thirty-days retreat,
and that, the venerable old superior undertook himself. Perhaps it was
age that made him talkative, perhaps it was over-flowing joy, for he not
only carried out the whole programme but overdid it, and far from
explaining the points, he talked at each meditation during what the
French call "five quarters of an hour." But grace supplied what was lost
by this prolixity, and the community was on fire with zeal when the
Exercises were ended. How soon they received the news of what happened
on August 7, in Rome, we do not know. But there were no happier men in
the world than they when the glad tidings came; and they continued to
be so even if Louis XVIII did not deign or was afraid to pay any
attention to the Bull, and warned the Jesuits and their friends to make
no demonstration. The Society was restored and that made them
indifferent to anything else.
In Spain, a formal decree dated May 25, 1825, proclaimed the
re-establishment of the Society, and when Father de Zúñiga arrived at
Madrid to re-organize the Spanish province, he was met at the gate of
the city by a long procession of Dominicans, Franciscans, and the
members of other religious orders to welcome him. Subsequently, as many
as one hundred and fifteen former Jesuits returned to their native land
from the various countries of Europe where they had been laboring, and
began to reconstruct their old establishments. Many of these old heroes
were over eighty years of age. Loyola, Oñate and Manresa greeted them
with delight, and forty-six cities sent petitions for colleges.
Meanwhile, novitiates were established at Loyola, Manresa and Seville.
Portugal not only did not admit them, but issued a furious decree
against the Bull. Not till fifteen years later did the Jesuits enter
that country, and then their first work was to inter the yet unburied
remains of their arch-enemy Pombal and to admit four of his
great-grandsons into one of their colleges. Brazil, Portugal's
dependency, imitated the bitterness of the mother country. The Emperor
of Austria was favorable, but the spirit fostered among the people by
his predecessor, Joseph, was still rampant and prevented the
introduction of the Society into his domains. But, on the whole, the act
of the Pope was acclaimed everywhere throughout the world. So Pacca
wrote to Consalvi.
Of course there was an uproar in non-Catholic countries. In England,
even some Catholics were in arms against the Bull. One individual,
writing in the "Catholic Directory" of 1815, considered it to be "the
downfall of the Catholic religion." A congress in which a number of
Englishmen participated was held a few years later at Aix-la-Chapelle to
protest against the re-establishment of the Order. Fortunately it evoked
a letter from the old Admiral Earl St. Vincent which runs as follows: "I
have heard with indignation that Sir J. C. Hippisley, a member of
Parliament, is gone to the Congress. I therefore beseech you to cause
this letter to be laid before his Holiness the Pope as a record of my
opinion that we are not only obliged to that Order for the most useful
discoveries of every description, but that they are now necessary for
the education of Catholic youth throughout the civilized world." With
the exception of John Milner, all the vicars Apostolic of England were
strongly opposed to the restitution of the Society in that country.
The United States was at war with England just then, and it happened
that seventeen days before the Bull was issued Father Grassi and his
fellow-Jesuits were witnessing from the windows of Georgetown College
the bombardment of Washington by the British fleet. They saw the city in
flames, and fully expected that the college would be taken by the enemy,
but to their great delight they saw the forty ships on the following
morning hoist their anchors and, one by one, drop down the Potomac. They
did not, of course, know what was going on in Rome, but as soon as the
news of the re-establishment arrived in America, Father Fenwick, the
future Bishop of Boston, who was then working in St. Peter's Church, New
York, wrote about it to Father Grassi, who was President of Georgetown.
The letter is dated December 21, 1814 and runs as follows:
"Rev. and Dear Father,
_Te Deum Laudamus, Te Dominum confitemur_!
The Society of Jesus is then re-established! That long-insulted
Society! The Society which has been denounced as the corrupter
of youth, the inculcator of unsound, unchristian and lax
morality! That Society which has been degraded by the Church
itself, rejected by her ministers, outlawed by her kings and
insulted by her laity! Restored throughout the world and
restored by a public Bull of the Sovereign Pontiff! Hitherto
cooped up in a small corner of the world, and not allowed to
extend herself, lest the nations of the earth, the favorites of
heaven, should inhale the poison of her pestiferous breath, she
is now called forth, as the only plank left for the salvation
of a shipwrecked _philosophered_ world; the only restorer of
ecclesiastical discipline and sound morality; the only
dependence of Christianity for the renewal of correct
principles and the diffusion of piety! It is then so. What a
triumph! How glorious to the Society! How confounding to the
enemies! _Gaudeamus in Domino, diem festum celebrantes!_ If any
man will say after that, that God is not a friend of the
Society, I shall pronounce him without hesitation a liar.
"I embrace, dear Sir, the first leisure moments after the
receipt of your letter, to forward you my congratulations on
the great and glorious tidings you have recently received from
Europe--tidings which should exhilarate the heart of every true
friend of Christianity and of the propagation of the Gospel;
tidings particularly grateful to this country, and especially
to the College of which you are rector, which will hereafter be
able to proceed _secundum regulam et Institutum_."
A word about this distinguished American Jesuit may not be out of place
here. He was born in the ancestral manor of the Fenwicks, in old St.
Mary's County, Maryland, and was a lineal descendant of Cuthbert Fenwick
who was distinguished among the first Catholic colonists by his
opposition to Lewger, Calvert's secretary, then assailing the rights of
the Church in Maryland. When Georgetown College opened its doors,
Benedict Fenwick and his brother Enoch were among its first students.
After finishing the course, he took upon himself what his old admirer,
the famous Father Stonestreet, calls "the painful but self-improving
duties of the class room," and was professor of Humanities for three
years. Later he began a course of theology at St. Mary's Seminary,
Baltimore, but he left in order to become a Jesuit. The Fenwicks, both
in England and America had been always closely identified with the
Society, and when the news came that it was about to be resuscitated,
Benedict and Enoch were chosen with four other applicants to be the
corner stones of the first novitiate in the United States of North
America. He was ordained on June 11, 1808, in Trinity Church,
Georgetown, D. C., by the Jesuit Bishop Neale, coadjutor of Archbishop
Carroll, and was immediately sent to New York with Father Kohlmann to
prepare that diocese for the coming of its first bishop Dr. Concanen.
Kohlmann himself had been named for the see, but the Pontiff had yielded
to the entreaties of Father General not to deprive the still helpless
Society of such a valuable workman; hence, Father Richard Luke Concanen,
a Dominican, was appointed in his stead.
Kohlmann and Fenwick were welcomed with great enthusiasm in New York
which had suffered much from the various transients who had from time to
time officiated there. Several distinguished converts were won over to
the faith, and an attempt was made to influence the famous free-thinker,
Tom Paine, but the unfortunate wretch died blaspheming. It was Kohlmann
and Fenwick who established the New York Literary Institute on the site
of the present St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was successful enough to
attract the sons of the most distinguished families of the city and
merited the commendation of such men as the famous governor of New York,
De Witt Clinton, and of Governor Thompkins who was subsequently
Vice-President of the United States. At the same time, they were
building old St. Patrick's, which was to become the cathedral of the new
bishop. Bishop Concanen never reached New York, and when his successor
Bishop Connolly arrived in 1814, Father Fenwick was his consolation and
support in the many bitter trials that had to be undergone in those
turbulent days. He was made vicar general and when he was sent to
Georgetown to be president of the college in 1817, it was against the
strong protest and earnest entreaties of the bishop, who, it may be said
in passing, regretted exceedingly the closing of the Literary
Institute,--a feeling shared by every American Jesuit. The reason for so
doing is given by Hughes (History of the Soc. of Jesus in North America,
I, ii, 945).
While Fenwick was in Georgetown, Charleston, South Carolina, was in an
uproar ecclesiastically. The people were in open schism, and Archbishop
Maréchal of Baltimore, in spite of his antagonism to the Society
appealed to the superior of the Jesuits for some one to bring order out
of the chaos. Fenwick was sent, and such was his tact, good judgment and
kindness, that he soon mastered the situation and the diocese was at
peace when the new bishop, the distinguished John England, arrived.
Strange to say, Bishop England had the same prejudice as Bishop
Concanen, against the Society; a condition of mind that may be explained
by the fact that it had been suppressed by the highest authority in the
Church, and that even educated men were ignorant of the causes that had
brought about the disaster. But Fenwick soon disabused the bishop.
Indeed, he remained as Vicar General of Charleston until 1822, and when
he was recalled to Georgetown, Bishop England, at first, absolutely
refused to let him go.
In a funeral oration pronounced over Fenwick, later by Father
Stonestreet he said in referring to the Charleston troubles;
"Difficulties had arisen between the French and Anglo-Irish portions of
the congregation, each insisting it should be preached to in its own
tongue; each restive at remaining in the sacred temple while the word of
God was announced in the language of the other. The good Father, nothing
daunted by the scene of contrariety before him, ascends the pulpit,
opens his discourse in both languages, rapidly alternates the tongues of
La Belle France and of the Anglo-Saxon, and by his ardent desire to
unite the whole community in the bonds of charity, astonishes, softens,
wins and harmonizes the hearts of all. A lasting peace was restored
which still continues."
Bishop Cheverus, who was then at Boston, was subsequently called to
France to be Archbishop of Bordeaux and cardinal. Father Fenwick,
without being consulted, was appointed to the vacant see. In fact, the
first news he had of the promotion was when the Bulls were in his hands,
so that no means of protesting was possible. He was consecrated on
November 1, 1825, and his friend Bishop England travelled all the way
from Charleston to assist as one of the Consecrators. At that time the
diocese of Boston was synonymous with New England, but it had only ten
churches, two of which were for Indians. Fenwick, however, set to work
in his usual heroic fashion. He was particularly fond of the Indians,
and bravely fought their battle against the dishonest whites. As the
red men were the descendants of the Abenakis to whom the old Jesuits had
brought the Faith, there was a family feeling in his defense of them.
The same sentiment of kinship prompted him to establish a newspaper
which he called "The Jesuit." It was a defiance of the bigotry of New
England, of which there were to be many serious manifestations. "The
Jesuit" was the pioneer of Catholic journalism in the United States.
Bishop Fenwick was averse to the crowding of Catholics in the large
cities, and to segregate them he established the exclusively Catholic
colony of Benedicta, but this scheme of a Paraguay in the woods of Maine
had only a limited success. Prompted by the same motive of love of the
Society he visited the place which Father Rasle had sanctified with his
blood when the fanatical Puritans of Massachusetts put him to death in
1724. Father Rasle was the apostle of the Abenakis and had established
himself at what is now Norridgewock on the Kennebec. Fenwick went there
to pray. Although it was in the wilderness, he determined to make it a
notable place for the future Catholics of America; and over the
mouldering remains of Rasle and his brave Indian defenders, he erected a
monument, a shaft of granite, on which an inscription was cut to record
the tragedy. It was too much for the bigotry that then reigned in those
parts, and the monument was thrown down; but Fenwick put it in its place
again; at a later date when, in the course of time, it had fallen out of
perpendicular, Bishop Walsh of Portland corrected the defect and amid a
great throng of people solemnly reconsecrated it.
While he was Bishop of Boston, Fenwick made a pious pilgrimage to
Quebec; the city from which the Jesuits of the old Society had started
on their perilous journeys to evangelize the Indians of the continent.
He saw there an immense building on whose façade were cut the letters I.
H. S. "What is that?" he asked. "It is the old Jesuit College, now a
soldiers' barracks," was the reply. His soul was filled with indignation
and he exclaimed in anger, "The outrage that these men of blood should
occupy the house sanctified by the martyrs Jogues, Brébeuf, Lalemant and
the others." The good bishop was unaware that the martyrs had never seen
the building. It was built after they had gone to claim their crowns in
heaven.
During his episcopacy Knownothingism reigned, and in one of the
outbreaks the Ursuline Convent in Charlestown was attacked at midnight.
The sisters were shot at, the house was pillaged, the chapel desecrated
and the whole edifice given over to the flames. The blackened ruins
remained for fifty years to remind the Commonwealth of its disgrace,
until finally the remnants of the building, which it had cost so much to
erect, had to be removed to escape taxation. It was Fenwick who founded
Holy Cross College, in Worcester, Massachusetts, an establishment which
is the Alma Mater of most of the subsequent bishops of New England. It
has also the singular distinction of being the only Catholic College
exempted by law from receiving any but Catholic students. Fenwick is
buried there. He died on August 11, 1846, after an episcopacy of
twenty-one years.
Strange to say the Bull resurrecting the Society was not sent to America
until October 8, 1814, and on January 5, 1815, Bishop Carroll wrote to
Father Marmaduke Stone, in England, as follows: "Your precious and
grateful favor accompanied by the Bull of Restoration was received early
in December and diffused the greatest sensation of joy and
thanksgiving, not only among the surviving and new members of the
Society, but also all good Christians who have any remembrances of their
services or heard of their unjust and cruel treatment, and have
witnessed the consequences of their suppression. You may conceive my
sensations when I read the account of the celebration of Mass by His
Holiness himself at the superb altar of St. Ignatius at the Gesù; the
assemblage of the surviving Jesuits in the chapel to hear the
proclamation of their resurrection, etc."
On returning to America after the suppression of the Society in Belgium,
Father Carroll had gone to live at his mother's house in Rock Creek,
Maryland, for he no longer considered himself entitled to support from
the funds of the Jesuits who still maintained their existence in the
colonies. They had never been suppressed, whereas he had belonged to a
community in the Netherlands which had been canonically put out of
existence by the Brief. He spent two years in the rough country missions
of Maryland and then went with Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase and his
cousin Charles Carroll to Canada to induce the Frenchmen there to make
common cause with the Americans against Great Britain. The Continental
Congress had especially requested him to form a part of the embassy. The
mission was a failure and the Colonies had themselves to blame for it;
because two years previously they had issued an "Address to the English
People" denouncing the government for not only attempting to establish
an Anglican episcopacy in the English possessions, but for maintaining a
papistical one on the banks of the St. Lawrence. Clearly it would have
been impossible for the French Catholics who had been guaranteed the
free exercise of their religion to transfer their allegiance to a
country which considered that concession to be one of the reasons
justifying a revolution.
When the war was over, Carroll and five other Jesuits met at Whitemarsh
to devise means to keep their property intact in order to carry on their
missionary work. They had no other resources than the produce of their
farms, for their personal support. The faithful gave them nothing. At
this conference they decided to ask Rome to empower some one of their
number to confirm, grant faculties and dispensations, bless oils, etc.
They added that, for the moment, a bishop was unnecessary. The petition
was sent on November 6, 1783, and on June 7, 1784, Carroll was appointed
superior of the missions in the thirteen states, and was given power to
confirm. There were at that time about nineteen priests in the country
and fifteen thousand Catholics, of whom three thousand were negro
slaves. In 1786 Carroll took up his residence in Baltimore and was
conspicuously active in municipal affairs, establishing schools,
libraries and charities. Possibly it was due to him that Article 6 was
inserted in the Constitution of the United States which declares that
"no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any
office or public trust under the United States;" and probably also the
amendment that "this Congress shall make no laws respecting the
establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Its
actual sponsor in the Convention was C. C. Pinckney of South Carolina.
Carroll was made Bishop of Baltimore by Pius VI on November 6, 1789,
twenty-four out of the twenty-five priests in the country voting for
him. He was consecrated on August 15, 1790, at Lulworth Castle, England
by the senior vicar Apostolic of England, Bishop Walmesly. On the
election of Washington to the presidency, he represented the clergy in a
congratulatory address to which Washington answered; "I hope your
fellow-countrymen will not forget the patriotic part in the
accomplishment of the Revolution and the establishment of the government
or the important assistance which they received from a nation in which
the Roman Catholic Faith is professed."
He convoked the first Synod of Baltimore in 1791. There were twenty-two
priests of five nationalities in attendance. He called the Sulpicians to
Baltimore in 1791; the first priest he ordained was Stephen Badin, the
beloved pioneer of Kentucky, and four years later the famous Russian
prince, Demetrius Gallitzin. He also succeeded in having a missionary
for the Indians appointed by the government. He had intended to have as
his coadjutor and successor in the see, Father Lawrence Grässel, who had
been a novice in the old Society and who at Carroll's urgent request,
had come out to America as a missionary. Grässel, however, died before
the arrival of the Bulls. Father Leonard Neale, a Maryland Jesuit, was
then chosen and was consecrated in 1800. A year and two months after the
re-establishment of the Society, namely on December 3, 1815, Carroll
died. It was fitting that this son of Saint Ignatius should be called to
heaven on the feast of the great friend and companion of Saint Ignatius,
Saint Francis Xavier.
Apropos of this, a note has been quoted by Father Hughes (op. cit.,
Doc., I, 424) which is often cited as revealing a change in Carroll's
attitude toward the Society after he became archbishop. Fr. Charles
Neale had written to him as follows, "It is equally certain that I have
no authority to give up any right that would put the subject out of the
power of his superior, who must and ought to be the best judge of what
is most beneficial to the universal or individual good of the members,
of the Congregation." On the back of the letter appear the words
"Inadmissible Pretensions," said by Bishop Maréchal to have been written
by Carroll.
Archbishop Carroll's attitude to the Society is clearly manifested in
his letter of December 10, 1814, addressed to Father Grassi, which says:
"Having contributed to your greatest happiness on earth by sending the
miraculous bull of general restoration, even before I could nearly
finish the reading of it, I fully expect it back this evening with Mr.
Plowden's letter." It should not be forgotten that Carroll was
heartbroken when the Society was suppressed and that he longed for death
because of the grief it caused him. The words "Inadmissible Pretensions"
noted on Neale's letter referred to a formal protest made by Father
Charles Neale against a synodial statute of the bishops convened at
Baltimore. Neale, indeed, desired to exercise the special privileges of
the Society and to govern as was done in the old Society or as in
Russia, a procedure which incurred the disapproval of the General.
Grassi writing to Plowden, in England, says: "He (Archbishop Carroll)
considers Mr. Chas. Neale as a wrongheaded man, and persons who knew him
at Liège and Antwerp are nearly of the same opinion." In brief, Neale's
administration both as president of Georgetown and as superior of the
mission was most disastrous (cf. Hughes, I, ii, passim).
Leonard Neale, like Carroll, was an American. He was born near Port
Tobacco in Maryland in 1746, and with many other young Marylanders, was
sent to the Jesuit College of St. Omers in France. After the Suppression
he went to England, where he was engaged in parochial work for four
years. From there he was sent to Demerara in British Guiana and
continued at work in that trying country from 1779 to 1783. His health
finally gave way, and he returned to Maryland and joined his Jesuit
brethren. He distinguished himself in the yellow fever epidemic in
Philadelphia, and remained in that city, for six years as the vicar of
Bishop Carroll. In 1797 another epidemic of fever occurred and he was
stricken but recovered. In 1798 he was sent to Georgetown College as
president, and in 1800 while still president he was consecrated
coadjutor of Archbishop Carroll. He continued his scholastic work until
1806, succeeding to the See of Baltimore in 1815. He was then seventy
years old and in feeble health. He died at Georgetown on June 18, 1817.
Bishop Maréchal who had been suggested to the Pope by Bishop Cheverus of
Boston, had already been named for the See.
Bishop Maréchal was a Sulpician. He had left France at the outbreak of
the French Revolution and after spending some years in America as a
professor both at Georgetown and Baltimore, returned to his native
country, but was back again in Maryland after a few years. Neale wanted
him to be Bishop of Philadelphia, but the offer was declined, and he
was made coadjutor of Baltimore with the right of succession. He
was consecrated on December 14, 1817, and occupied the see until
1826. Unfortunately, the whole period from 1820 was marked by
misunderstandings with the Society. In spite of this controversy, which
was unnecessarily acrimonious at times, Archbishop Maréchal was anxious
to have the Jesuit visitor Father Peter Kenny appointed Bishop of
Philadelphia. (cf. Hughes, op. cit., Documents, for details of the
controversies.)