FORMATION OF THE MASTER. HIS COURSES OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY.
It seems an apt distribution of our subject, to consider, first, the
formation of the Master, and secondly, the formation of the Scholar.
The Master's development will conduct us chiefly through the higher
studies; the Scholar's, rather through the lower. Thus the two persons,
about whom the science of education revolves, will be directly under
inspection; while the elements which go to form them will, at the same
time, pass under review.
Without theorizing on pedagogy, the Jesuit system itself, merely as
observed and realized, results in the formation of Professors. There
are several reasons, apparent on the surface, why it should do so.
The studies, which the members of the Order pursue, are the same
courses as the Order professes for the world at large. But, for the
Jesuit members of the divers courses, a most elaborate system of
examinations at every stage, with a specially searching manner of
testing the students, is made to regard one objective point, which
is the capacity of the Jesuit to teach what he has learnt, and this,
as evinced, while under examination. The manner, in which this point
is judicially determined, consists in referring the examiners to a
standard, called "mediocrity." After a personal and oral disputation
with the young Jesuit, lasting either half an hour, or one hour, or two
consecutive hours, according to the stage at which he happens to be,
a preponderating vote of the four or five examining Professors must
aver that he has "surpassed mediocrity." The learning, prudence, and
sincerity of the examiners are appealed to without further sanction,
except at the very last stage in the young man's progress, when success
under the ordeal will entitle him to Profession in the Society. Then
each examiner's prudence is stimulated, and his sincerity bound down,
by an oath. Only at one initial stage, that of the first examination in
the course of his three years' Philosophy, is a certain margin allowed
the beginner, in favor of bare mediocrity.
"Mediocrity" is defined to be that degree of intelligence, and
comprehension of the matters studied, which can give an account of
them to one asking an explanation. "To surpass mediocrity" designates
the student's ability to defend his entire ground with such erudition
and facility as show him qualified, in point of actual attainments, to
profess the philosophy or theology studied. The final degree in the
Order, which is that of Profession, requires this competency for all
Philosophy and Theology together. Here then we see, that the capacity
to teach is made the criterion of having learned sufficiently well.
Passing through all the grades with this mark of excellence, the man
who, after a general formation of seventeen years, and the requisite
development of other qualifications, is then appointed to profess in a
chair of the higher faculties, has been very much to the manner born
of "surpassing mediocrity," and of doing so with the characteristics
of a Professor.[156] How the same principles, if not in the same form,
affect the conduct of the literary curriculum, we shall now see in the
rest of this chapter.
The literary curriculum has been already finished by the Jesuit,
before entering the Order. But, after his admission, special means are
taken to have him revise those studies, extend them, and grasp them
from the standpoint of the teacher. It happens in Jesuit history, and
the nature of secondary education will always have it so, that the
largest amount of teaching has been done in the arena of these literary
courses. And it was no small part of the general revival of studies,
effected by Ignatius of Loyola, that justice was done to literature,
as well by students who were to enter on philosophical or scientific
courses,[157] as by those who contemplated embarking on life in the
world. We noticed, on a former occasion, the reasoning of Aquaviva with
respect to this policy.[158] The literary courses in question are those
of Grammar, Humanities, and Rhetoric, which fill from five to seven
years. The Fathers of 1586 urge the importance of these studies for the
English and German students in Rome, as if special difficulties were
experienced with them.[159]
If we inquire what were the results of the stringent regulations
adopted to enforce this policy, and what degree of proficiency was
attained in the Jesuit courses of Belles-Lettres and eloquence, we have
only to consult the concordant testimony of history upon the "handsome
style" and literary finish of the scholars. An interesting answer, from
a domestic point of view, is casually afforded us by a remark, which
the Fathers of Upper Germany make, when in 1602 they send to Aquaviva
some animadversions of theirs upon the _Ratio_. They say that students
in the class of Rhetoric might deliver their own orations, "since there
are generally found in that class, particularly among those of the
second year, young men who often surpass even their own Professors in
genius, and in the variety and fluency of their language."[160]
The bearing of all this is obvious, in determining the grade of those
students who ask for admission into the Order. It is after a full
gymnasium course of this kind, that the life of the Jesuit is to begin.
And these are the studies which he will have to possess after the
manner of a teacher. He will review them as soon as his two years of
novitiate are over.
Those years of novitiate are blank, under the aspect of secular
pursuits. But, in other respects, being a time for reflection and for
internal application to the affairs of his mind and heart, they are
worth a long season in the process of developing character, by habits
of assiduous labor, of acquiring a taste for retirement and virtue, and
practising the spirit of docility to counsel. Indeed, on issuing from
this period of intense application to the knowledge of self, the young
religious student is already started on his career of knowing men, and
dealing successfully with human characters. Henceforth, ecclesiastical
knowledge and other acquirements will be proper to his state, as a
Religious; but, for the special vocation of the Society of Jesus, he
returns to secular studies.
In view of his approaching "regency," or Professorship in the
curriculum of letters, the critics of 1586 give this advice: "It
would be most profitable for the schools, if those who are about
to be Preceptors were privately taken in hand by some one of great
experience; and, for two months or more, were practised by him in
the method of reading, teaching, correcting, writing, and managing a
class. If teachers have not learnt these things beforehand, they are
forced to learn them afterwards at the expense of their scholars; and
then they will acquire proficiency only when they have already lost
in reputation; and perchance they will never unlearn a bad habit.
Sometimes, such a habit is neither very serious nor incorrigible, if
taken at the beginning; but, if the habit is not corrected then, it
comes to pass that a man, who otherwise would have been most useful,
becomes well-nigh useless. There is no describing how much amiss
Preceptors take it, if they are corrected, when they have already
adopted a fixed method of teaching; and what continual disagreement
ensues on that score with the Prefects of Studies. To obviate this
evil, in the case of our Professors, let the Prefect in the chief
College, whence our Professors of Humanities and Grammar are usually
taken, remind the Rector and Provincial, about three months before the
next scholastic year begins, that, if the Province needs new Professors
for the following term, they should select some one eminently versed
in the art of managing classes, whether he be, at the time, actually
a Professor, or a student of Theology or Philosophy; and to him the
future Masters are to go daily for an hour, to be prepared by him for
their new ministry, giving prelections in turn, writing, dictating,
correcting, and discharging the other duties of a good teacher."[161]
This advice was in keeping with an ordinance of the second general
assembly, held in 1565, nine years after the death of Ignatius. It
had been resolved, that at least one perfect Seminary of the Society
should be established in each Province for the formation of Professors
and others, who would be competent workmen in the vineyard of Christ,
in the department of Humane Letters, Philosophy, and Theology, so as
to suffice for the needs of the whole Province. This was to be done as
soon as convenient in each Province.
Henceforward, it became a matter of general observance that all should
have spent "at least two years in the school of eloquence," besides
repeating grammar, if that were necessary.[162] "And if any are so
gifted as to promise great success in these pursuits, it will be worth
while seeing whether they should not spend three years in them, to lay
a more solid foundation."[163] To such a solid foundation in Humane
Letters corresponds a special privilege in the crowning of a member's
formation, inasmuch as the Society admits to Profession one who is
altogether eminent in literature, even though in Theology he may not
have surpassed mediocrity; a privilege which was extended to great
proficiency in the Indian and Oriental languages, as also to a marked
excellence in Greek and Hebrew.[164]
Examining more in detail this literary formation, we may take up
the programme for the seminary of the junior members, as drafted by
Jouvancy. He drew it up in pursuance of a decree to that effect, passed
a hundred years later, by the general assembly of 1696. This decree
required that, "besides the rules, whereby the Masters of Literature
are directed in the manner of teaching, they should be provided with
an Instruction and Method of learning properly, and so be guided in
their private studies even while they are actually teaching."[165] The
method in question is outlined in the first part of Jouvancy's little
book, entitled _Ratio Discendi et Docendi_, "The art of Learning and of
Teaching." A cursory glance at this part shows that, while addressing
Masters on the subject of their own private studies, his directions
bear chiefly upon their efficiency as teachers.
Jouvancy divides his subject into three chapters: first, the knowledge
and use of languages; secondly, the possession of sciences; thirdly,
some aids to study.
As to languages, they are three in number: Greek, Latin, and the native
tongue. Laying down some principles on style in general, he says: "If a
correct understanding, according to Horace, be the first principle and
source of writing well, it follows that style, which is nothing else
than a certain manner of writing, has two parts; first, the intelligent
thought or sentiment, properly conceived; secondly, the expression of
the same; so that, as man himself is made up of soul and body, all
style likewise consists of the underlying thought and the manner of
its expression." Thought must be true, perspicuous, and adapted to
the subject. To think truly or justly of things, there is required
mental power and insight, which distinguishes what is really the gist
of a subject-matter from what is only a deceptive appearance, or is
superficial. Assistance is to be had for all this from the reading of
good books, from accurate reflection and protracted thought, which
does not merely skim over the subject, or touch it in a desultory way;
again, from the analysis of parts, causes, adjuncts; finally, from the
prudent judgment of others, or what is called criticism. As to the ways
of acquiring proper diction, Jouvancy says: "I would have you avail
yourself of books which treat of this matter, not so as to imagine all
is done by thumbing them; you will gain much more by the plentiful
reading of the best writers"; and again, "'abundance of diction,'
_copia verborum_, will be easily acquired by reading much." It is by
reading, writing, and imitating the best authors that a good style is
formed; and only the best authors are to be read, "lest the odor of a
foreign and vicious style cling to the mind, as to new vases."
Coming to treat of one's native tongue, Jouvancy lays down these
points: "The study of the vernacular consists chiefly in three things.
First, since the Latin authors are explained to the boys, and are
rendered into the mother-tongue, the version so made should be as
elegant as possible. Wherefore, let the master elaborate his version
for himself, or, if he draws on any writer in the vernacular, let him
compare first the Latin text with the version before him; thus he
will find it easy to perceive what is peculiar to either tongue, and
what is the respective force and beauty of each. The same method is
to be observed in explaining and translating histories in the lower
classes. Secondly, all the drafts of compositions, which are dictated
in the vernacular, must be in accord with the most exact rules of the
mother-tongue, free from every defect of style. [Thirdly,] it will
be of use to bring up and discuss, from time to time, whatever has
been noticed in the course of one's reading, and whatever others have
observed regarding the vicious and excellent qualities of speech. The
younger Master should be on his guard against indulging too much in the
reading of vernacular authors, especially the poets, to the loss of
time, and perhaps to the prejudice of virtue."
The interest here manifested in the vicious and excellent qualities of
the mother-tongue was a contribution of the schools to the development
of modern languages. Nor was the severity, which is here prescribed,
with reference to the use of poetry, a barrier to the formation of
some good poets among the Jesuits themselves. Friedrich von Spee is
considered a distinguished lyric poet of the seventeenth century.
Denis, as the translator of Ossian into German, helped to inaugurate
the later period of German literature. In Italian prose, Bartoli,
Segneri, Pallavicini, have ranked as classics; Tiraboschi, as the
historian of literature; Bresciani, in our days, as the popular
novelist. As writers of French prose, Bourdaloue and Bouhours appertain
to the choicest circle of Louis XIV's golden age; Du Cygne, Brumoy,
Tournemine, besides others already mentioned in these pages, took their
place as literary critics. And, in their several national literatures,
Cahours, Martin, Garucci, have attained their literary eminence as
art-critics.
Reverting to solidity of thought as the basis of style, Jouvancy
eliminates the false ornaments of a subtle and abrupt style, by
reducing the conceptions to a dialectical analysis: "What does the
thing mean?" And he gives examples.
In the second chapter of the same part, the _Ars Discendi_, he comes
to the acquisition of those sciences, which are proper to a Master
of Literature. He says: "The erudition of a religious master is
not confined to mere command of languages, whereof we have spoken
heretofore; it must rise higher to the understanding of some sciences,
which it is usual to impart to youth. Such are Rhetoric, Poetry,
History, Chronology, Geography, and Philology or Polymathy, which last
is not so much a single science as a series of erudite attainments,
whereof an accomplished person should at least have tasted." History he
divides into Sacred, Universal, and Particular. "As to the histories
of particular nations, writers of the respective nationalities record
them;" "and if you do not add Chronology to History, you take out one
of History's eyes." For Geography, he designates the books and maps
which were then to be had. And, for all the branches, he indicates
standard authors.
Now, in this little rhetorical sketch of Jouvancy's, we may take
note of two features, one pedagogical, the other historical. The
distinctively pedagogical cast is put upon these private studies, in
as much as they are magisterial, being pursued with express reference
to the Master's chair. The historical feature, to be noted here, is
common to the Jesuit educational literature in general; which, in its
many departments, marked several epochs and, as a whole, made an era in
education.
Thus, at the time of the _Ratio Studiorum_, there were indeed several
guides of the very first rank, in the path of a literary formation.
They were three in number, Cicero, Quintilian, and Aristotle. From
these the Professor of Rhetoric had to derive his matter and make
clear his method. The _Ratio_ names them as his text-books for the
Precepts.[166] From these sources the literary activity and experience
of many generations of Professors, in several hundred colleges of the
Order, tended to mark out the best line to follow, for the attainment
of literary perfection. The literary course, in which they themselves
were proximately formed for the duties of teaching, served but to
organize the matter, and to digest it. The numberless pedagogical
text-books, issued before Jouvancy, and after him, exhibit the progress
of the movement during the several centuries. And, at present, the
system may be seen in its most developed form, if one consults the
newest guides, like Father Kleutgen's _Ars Dicendi_, or Father
Broeckaert's _Le Guide du Jeune Littérateur_. But, long before our day,
the most ordinary systems of literary instruction have embodied the
method; and the commonest text-books have it.
A similar epoch was made, as early as 1572, by the Grammar of Father
Emmanuel Alvarez, _De Institutione Grammatica Libri Tres_, a work
adopted by the _Ratio_, then republished in editions so numerous as
to baffle all calculation, translated either entire, or in part, into
thirteen languages; while one portion, well-known in our times as a
"Latin Prosody," is credited to divers authors or publishers.[167]
The latest editions of this Grammar, issued in different languages,
are of the last twenty-five years. This era of development in grammar
superseded the subtleties and metaphysical abstractions of mediæval
methods.[168]
In history, not to mention the voluminous James Sirmond, whose
researches among original sources were made before the sixteenth
century had closed, Father Denis Petau (Petavius), early in the
following century, composed his great work on Chronology, laying down
the exact basis in this respect for Universal History, both sacred and
profane.[169] Geneva and Holland alike reproduced the work. Labbe's
publications on ancient and modern History and Chronology, the greater
part of his eighty works being upon these subjects, with several
abridgments and geographical adjuncts; Father Buffier's "Practical
History," which was published for the schools in 1701, and then rapidly
went through divers editions, to be supplemented in 1715 by his
"Universal Geography," his treatise on the Globe and his Maps, all of
which went through some scores of French, Italian and Dutch editions;
these and other works of the kind indicate the line of pedagogical
development going on at the same time in the various colleges. Hence,
the "New Elements of History and Geography for the use of the Scholars
of the Collège Louis-le-Grand," which was an abridgment of Buffier's
book, could say, with some propriety, on its first page: "How great has
been the carelessness of an age, otherwise so judicious and cultivated
as ours, in not having as yet made the science of History and Geography
an essential part of the education of youth? The public and posterity
will perhaps be grateful to the College of Louis-le-Grand, for having
shown in this regard an example, which ought to do honor to our
time."[170] Thus the same resources were at the service of Jesuit
education as, in the general literary world, helped to form the Jesuit
historians: Mariana, historian of Spain; Damian Strada, of the War in
the Netherlands; Balbin, of Bohemia; Naruszewicz, of Poland; Katona,
of the Kings of Hungary; Damberger, of the Middle Ages; Francis Wagner,
of Leopold I; G. Daniel, historiographer royal of France.
Geography is not to be separated from History. Up to the end of the
sixteenth century, Ptolemy's Geography, corrected, modified, altered,
according to the reports of navigators, had been the scientific
standard, but uncertain, vacillating, and self-contradictory. From the
earlier part of the seventeenth century, the astronomical observations,
sent from the far East by the Jesuit missionaries, emphasized the need
of a general reform, already sufficiently evident. Father Riccioli,
assisted by Father Grimaldi, who is known in science as one of the
precursors of Newton, undertook, in his _Geographia Reformata_, the
reform of Geography by means of Astronomy.[171] For this purpose, he
created first his own metrology, identifying, and reducing to a common
denomination, all the measures received in reports from different parts
of the earth. The first eclipse of the moon which he makes mention
of, among his astronomical reports, had been observed on the night
of November 8, 1612, by Father Scheiner at Ingolstadt and by Father
Charles Spinola at Nangasaki in Japan. At the time that Riccioli
was writing, the Jesuit missionaries had multiplied in China. Adam
Schall died in 1666, holding the post of President of the Mathematical
Tribunal at Pekin; he was followed by Ferdinand Verbiest; and then a
long line of imperial astronomers of the Celestial Empire, Koegler,
Hallerstein, Seixas, Francesco, De Rocha, Espinha, continued to send
their reports, either to the colleges of their respective Provinces, or
to other mathematical centres, or to the learned societies in Europe,
whereof not a few Jesuits were members. Meanwhile, scientific returns
from Hindustan, Siam, Thibet, on one side of the globe, and from San
Domingo on the other side, poured into the Collège Louis-le-Grand,
and made of this educational centre an indispensable auxiliary to the
Bureau of Longitudes. All this, reacting on education, was received
with satisfaction by the general world, and drew the pedagogic bodies
steadily, though with some difficulty, on the line of progress. The
University of Paris was quite tardy in following up the steps of the
Jesuits.[172]
As to Mathematics in education, it is evident that a similar process
of development must have been the history of this branch, with the
limitation however, that mathematical science has not been so nearly
created anew within these last centuries, as some other departments.
Father Christopher Clavius, "the Euclid of his time," was engaged by
Gregory XIII in reforming the Calendar, the same which we use to-day;
he died in 1612. His death intervening, while his complete works were
being republished, Father Ziegler superintended the new edition, till
it was finished in five tomes. Francis Coster, at Cologne, Hurtado
Perez, at Ingolstadt, Henry Garnet, an Englishman, and Grienberger,
successor of Clavius, both at Rome, belonged, with other mathematicans
of the Order, to the sixteenth century. The writers of the preliminary
_Ratio_, 1586, require that, in a brief course of Mathematics,
"Euclid's Elements" "be seasoned always with some application to
Geography or the Sphere"; then, in the following year, the rest of
Father Clavius' "Epitome of Practical Arithmetic"[173] is to be
finished;[174] and special courses are provided for members of the
Order, who give promise of eminence.[175]
Indeed, whether as Professors of officers for the army and navy, or as
constructing and directing observatories, the members pursued every
branch of Mathematics, pure and applied. Father L'Hoste's "Treatise
on Naval Evolutions" was used in the French navy, as "the Book of the
Jesuit."[176] Of this book the Count de Maistre writes quaintly in
1820: "An English Admiral assured me less than ten years ago, that
he had received his first instructions in the 'Book of the Jesuit.'
If events are taken for results, there is not a better book in the
world!"[177] Eximeno, at the school of Segovia, instructed young nobles
in Mathematics and the science of Artillery. And so, in general,
courses were provided, according as the needs of respective localities
required. The Republic of Venice struck a gold medal in honor of
Vincent Riccolati, the Jesuit engineer, just as the King of Denmark
honors De Vico, the astronomer, with a gold medal struck in his honor,
and having the words inscribed, "Comet Seen, Jan. 24, 1846."[178]
Kircher, Boscovich, Pianciani, Secchi, Perry, honored with the
fellowship of so many learned and scientific Academies, and exercising
a distinct influence to-day, either by the far-reaching effects of
their researches, or by their actual contact with science, may be
looked upon as belonging to our most recent times.[179]
It is remarked that to the Order was due the multiplication of
observatories, in the middle of last century. Father Huberti
superintended the building of an observatory at Würzburg; Father
Maximilian Hell, the court astronomer, built one at Vienna. At Manheim,
a third was erected by Mayer and Metzger; at Tyrnau, one by Keri; at
Prague, another by Steppling; one at the Jesuit College of Gratz;
similarly at Wilna, Milan, Florence, Parma, Venice, Brescia, Rome,
Lisbon, Marseilles, Bonfa. In short, Montucla remarks: "In Germany
and the neighboring countries, there were few Jesuit colleges without
an observatory. They were to be found at Ingolstadt, Gratz, Breslau,
Olmütz, Prague, Posen, etc. Most of them seem to have shared the fate
of the Society; though there are a few which survive the general
destruction."[180]
These few indications go to illustrate the pedagogical epochs made
by the system of the Order. And the young member, who is being
formed to contribute his own share towards carrying on the education
of the world, passes all these branches under review. One of them,
Mathematics, is conducted outside of the philological seminary,
which we have so far been considering; it is left for his course of
Philosophy, which he will pursue during three years, before actually
embarking on the life of the class-room, or his "regency." We may now
suppose that the time has arrived for his entering the class-room, as a
Master of Grammar and Elementary Literature.
When he does so, he has possessed himself, in that philosophical
triennium, of positive intellectual attainments, neither meagre
nor common. He has surveyed the whole field of natural thought and
investigation, in the various branches, mental, physical, and ethical.
To enumerate them, there is Logic, including dialectics, and the
criteria, objective and subjective, of truth; Ontology, or general
metaphysics; Special Metaphysics, in its three divisions:--Cosmology,
which immediately underlies physics, chemistry, and biology;
Psychology, which underlies all the anthropological sciences about
the human compound, its principles, and the formation of its ideas;
Natural Theology. All this is theoretic or speculative philosophy.
There is besides the science of moral life, which comprises Ethics,
Natural Right, and Social Right. Concurrent with Philosophy, there
has been a double course of Physics and Chemistry, during one year,
with a course of higher Mathematics, varying from one year to three;
as well as a half-year's course of Geology, Astronomy, and some other
subsidiary matters. This is the general formation. The principle which
guides individual cases was laid down by Ignatius in these terms: "In
the superior faculties, on account of the great inequality of talents
and age and other considerations, the Rector of the University will
consider how much in each line individuals shall learn, and how long
they shall stay in the courses; although it is better for those who
are of the proper age, and who have the requisite facility in point of
talent, that they should endeavor to advance and become conspicuous
in all."[181] During all this course of higher natural sciences, some
attention has still been paid to accessories; literature has not been
entirely neglected; oratory has been practised, and poems presented on
stated occasions. And then the new Master is introduced into his course
of "regency."