* Dr. Alois Postina, Der Karmelit Eberhard Billick. Ein Lebensbild aus

dem 16, Jahrhundert, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1901, p. 25.

In 1541, Eberhard Billick was appointed provincial, and almost

immediately began to visit the houses in his jurisdiction. At Cologne

he found a condition of things sufficient to make the boldest reformer

quail. The Lutherans had entirely gained the upper hand, and a certain

Count William of Neuenar and Mors, who had been for some tine a

follower of the new doctrines, was bent on introducing them by force

into Mors. He first forbade the practise of the Catholic religion among

his tenants, and then tried to seduce the religious. They were

forbidden to say Mass except on Sundays, and then even none outside the

convent were to be admitted to it. Their church was given over to the

Lutherans, and the friars were forced into being present at the

Protestant sermons. Not content with this, Count William inflicted

seven Lutheran beneficiaries upon them, obliging them to lodge and feed

them gratis. Lutheran preachers and school teachers were salaried out

of the convent revenues, which the Count managed by fraud and cunning

to confiscate. That portion of the convent buildings which bordered on

his property he turned into stables for his own horses, so that

entrance to the friar's quarters was open to his servants, while the

Carmelites were themselves forbidden to go in and out on that side.

The new Provincial succeeded in time by dint of courage and firmness,

in getting back all that the Count had seized by force; but other

houses were in as deplorable a condition, and little could be done to

improve matters. Billick appealed to the Emperor, who had taken all the

Carmelite convents in Lower Germany under his protection; but the

Emperor's goodwill surpassed his power to help, the whole of his money

and energy being needed to oppose the Turks, the French, and the Duke

of Cleves.

The greatest danger and difficulty lay in the behaviour of Count

Hermann of Wied, Archbishop and Elector of Cologne. From the outset his

rule had been detrimental to the Church. The best that could be said of

him in his youth was that he was "kind and peace-loving, fond of

hunting, but not particularly learned." Charles V., in a letter to the

landgrave Philip of Hessen, who had joined the Lutherans, says: "How

should the good man be able to reform his diocese? He has no Latin, and

has never said more than three Masses in his life. He does not even

know the Confiteor." Philip replied: "I can assure your Majesty that he

reads German industriously, and interests himself in religious

questions."

Unfortunately, these "religious questions" threw the archbishop into

the arms of the Lutherans, and already in 1536, Aleander considered him

as much lost to the Church as Philip of Hessen himself, who made no

secret of his apostasy. Melancthon was his dear friend already when he

made the acquaintance of Martin Bucer at the Diet of Hagenau in 1540.

Two years later, Archbishop Hermann invited this violent and notorious

heretic to preach in the minster at Bonn. Immediately, Cologne rose up

in protest, and the Cathedral Chapter, the clergy and the Magistrate

presented the archbishop with a remonstrance. Hermann replied by

sending Melancthon to support Bucer at Bonn, and thus, by entrusting

the work of reform to men whose sole aim was to subvert Catholic

doctrine and to disorganise Christian society, proved himself faithless

to the solemn promise he had made neither to introduce religious

novelties into his diocese, nor to abolish customs founded on Catholic

tradition.

The Chapter, fully alive to the critical nature of the situation, drew

up a memorandum, dated 5th February 1543, in which they showed good

reasons why Bucer could not be tolerated as a minister of religion in

the diocese. His broken vows, his marriage, his open profession of

Luther's doctrines, proved sufficiently that he was no longer a member

of the Catholic Church. Further, his preaching at Strassburg had

resulted directly in the wholesale destruction of images and altars,

and ultimately in the abolition of the Mass in that place. The

memorandum went on to affirm that, in patronising such a man the

Archbishop was acting in direct disobedience to the Pope and to the

Emperor.

Bucer's answer to these objections was devised in such a manner as to

cause his opponents some embarrassment. It was written in the Swiss

dialect, an unknown tongue to the clergy of Cologne, as well as to the

university. Nevertheless, before long, an epitome of its purport was

furnished to the Chapter, and the refutation of the doctrines therein

set forth was entrusted to the Carmelite provincial, Billick.

The two champions were personally not unknown to each other, as they

had met at the Diets of Worms and Regensburg, where Billick had made a

point of studying the Strassburg heresiarch carefully. The Carmelite

now skilfully exposed the weakness of Bucer's arguments, together with

his frequent misinterpretation of Scripture and the Fathers, Billick

showing himself to be an experienced polemical writer; but the taste

and tone of his book are repugnant to modern ideas, and betray the same

acrimony which characterises the writings of Luther against Erasmus,

and vice versa. Accusations of hatred, cunning, lying, slandering, and

double-dealing, are cast like a hail of bullets, with no especial aim

at any of Bucer's arguments in particular. Interspersed with much able

criticism are choice epithets of abuse and reflections on Bucer's

personal character, which, although perfectly in accordance with

sixteenth century methods of controversy, are quite beside the mark,

and certainly not such as to promote peace in any age.

What the Church in Germany needed at this juncture, was not so much a

fiery defender of the faith, or a scholar to taunt the heretics in

finely-pointed sarcasm with their want of learning, as a saint,

demonstrating in his own life the beauty of holiness, while laying

aside polemics, he expounded the philosophy of Catholic doctrine. The

need for reform was patent to all; many, like the zealous Carmelite

provincial, were already putting their hands to the plough. The

movement had been set on foot, but it lacked an apostle to lead and

govern it. Such a man was at that moment being formed at the University

of Cologne-the second apostle of Germany, as St. Boniface had been the

first-Blessed Peter Canisius.

Canisius was a native of Nymwegen in the Low Countries, and was born on

8th May 1521. Having studied at Paris and Orleans, he became tutor to

the sons of Rene Duke of Lorraine, whose wife was Philippine of

Guelderland. From an early age Peter had desired to consecrate himself

to God in the priesthood, and his father having given his consent, the

young man proceeded to Cologne for his course of theology and civil and

canon law. No sooner did he appear in the lecture rooms than he

attracted universal attention. It was not merely the clearness and

conciseness of his reasoning, nor altogether the humility of his

bearing, but perhaps the mingled charm of each that roused the interest

of professors and students alike. That interest led them to watch him

closely, and they not only noticed that he seemed altogether

unconscious of the plaudits which he excited, but they discovered that

he was in the habit of imposing privations on himself, in order to have

money to give to poor students, that these might be better fed and

clothed, and more amply furnished with books. It was soon related of

him that he frequently went out of his way to instruct, counsel, and

rescue those (and there were many of them at Cologne) who had fallen

upon evil ways. Broad-minded, large-hearted, enlightened beyond his

companions, and possessing a strong and well balanced character, it

needed no great gift of prophecy to foresee that Peter Canisius would

do great things in the future.

In the meanwhile, Father Peter Faber, the first associate of St.

Ignatius, was at Mainz, whither he had been sent by Pope Paul III. to

counteract the spread of the new doctrines by all the means in his

power. His reputation for holiness Was so great in the Society of

Jesus, that St. Francis Xavier invoked him when in danger from a storm

at sea, and inserted his name in the Litany of the Saints while he was

yet living. At Mainz Father Faber gave the Spiritual Exercises of St.

Ignatius, and obtained many wonderful conversions.

His fame soon reached Cologne, where Canisius, yet uncertain as to his

future, was praying, studying, and exercising himself in all good

works. Suddenly, it became clear to him that his vocation would be made

known to him through Father Peter Faber. He hastened to Mainz, and at

their first interview Canisius was convinced that he was called to join

the new Society. He made the Spiritual Exercises, and on the fourth day

bound himself by a vow to do so. He returned to Cologne as a novice,

and continued to live much as before, pursuing his theological studies

and making a deep impression on all those with whom he came in contact.

Associated with two other novices, also university students-the

Spaniards Alfonsus Alvarez and John of Arragon--he received a common

rule of life from Faber, and in their zeal they soon exceeded it. They

preached, instructed children in Christian doctrine, begged alms for

the poor from door to door, nursed the sick in the hospitals, and, in

short, seized every opportunity of self-denial and humiliation.

When Faber heard of all this he wrote to Canisius, commending the

charity of the trio, but reminding them at the same time that study was

their paramount duty, and would lead to more valuable work in the

future than anything they could then do for souls.

"As obedience requires you to finish your course of theology," he

wrote, "you must not neglect it, thinking to do more by succouring your

neighbour in his temporal necessities."

Soon Faber came himself to Cologne, and lodged with the Carthusians,

those valiant sons of St. Bruno, whose boast it is never to have quite

departed from the spirit of their founder.

On the 8th May 1545, his twenty-fourth birthday, Peter Canisius made

the three simple vows of the Society and the same year was ordained

priest. By this time his reputation as a Catholic reformer was as great

as his reputation for learning. His capacity for work was prodigious.

He lectured twice daily; every Sunday he preached in one of the

churches, great crowds flocking to hear him. At home, every hour was

occupied either in teaching or in receiving those who came to him for

advice and help in their doubts. He answered them all with so much

insight, wisdom, gentleness, and humility, that even Lutherans dropped

the usual epithets, and spoke of him with respect. Every free moment

was devoted to literary work, which also obtained a certain celebrity.

But to all these strenuous efforts the Archbishop Elector Hermann von

Wied persistently remained a stranger. Relations between himself and

his Chapter were strained to the utmost. A deputation of his clergy had

waited upon him and solemnly entreated him to retrace his steps, and to

cancel the novelties he had introduced. On his refusal, they declared

that they would with a clear conscience, and for fear of incurring the

divine wrath if they further delayed, proceed by all legitimate means

to remove so grievous a scandal. Then the Chapter, including

representatives of the lower ranks of the clergy and the university,

made a public protest, and drew up appeals to the Pope and the Emperor.

They at once informed the archbishop of these measures, and again

attempted before taking irrevocable steps to bring about a peaceful

solution. But all was useless; and, forced to extremities, they

solicited for their appeal the support of other dioceses and learned

academies, in order to obtain more speedy relief. The best and most

distinguished of the bishops and clergy, as well as the universities of

the whole province, joined in the appeal, and the University of

Ingolstadt also signified its intention of seconding them.

The archbishop on his part was also careful to procure himself allies.

As Elector of Cologne he summoned the Landtag, and its members declared

themselves in his favour. The landgrave, Philip of Hessen, to whom

Luther had given licence to commit bigamy, and other Protestant princes

naturally promised him their support, and the Schmalkaldian League did

likewise.

The Catholics of Cologne agitated that the case might be brought before

the Reichstag at Worms, to which they had sent their representative,

the Dominican, Johann Pessel.

But the archbishop appealed to a General Council, or rather to a

National Synod, to be held in Germany and to be entirely independent of

the Pope.

At this juncture Eberhard Billick wrote one of his most violent letters

to Pessel, attacking the counter appeal of the archbishop which would

shortly be presented to the Reichstag, and which was calculated by its

affectation of piety to deceive even the elect. But let them be on

their guard. It would be seen that Hermann despised the Pope, the

Emperor, and the Oecumenical Council already assembled at Trent. He set

his own authority above all councils, although they had been instituted

by the common consent of Christendom, and he appealed to a lawless,

headless council which might only meet at Bonn or at Schmalkald, in

order that it might be unrestrained by any authority whatever. There

was, continued the Carmelite, no end to the archbishop's innovations.

In defiance of all justice and precedent he had transferred the Chapter

to Bonn, where people and preachers were split up into parties, and

persecuted each other with persistent malice. This he had done, not

because there was any greater safety at Bonn than at Cologne, where

senate, clergy, and people lived in peace and unity as before, and

where his friends in the Chapter might act with all freedom,* but

because at Bonn he was sure of a majority in his favour, for loyal

Catholics, in spite of his safe-conduct, would not go there. By this

stratagem it would appear as if all ranks in the diocese had consented

to his measures.

* Others maintained, however, that some of the canons known to be

inclined towards Lutheranism had been threatened with death.

Billick went on to complain bitterly that the sentence against the

archbishop announced by the papal nuncio, Verallo, as imminent, had not

yet been passed. "Every postponement of the imperial mandate," he

wrote, "means a weakening of our cause and a strengthening of that of

our opponents. At Worms they speak fair, and assume a supplicating

attitude; but at Cologne they go about their business boldly. Paintings

are scratched off the walls of the churches, statues are hurled from

their pedestals, heretical preachers are multiplied and forced upon the

Catholics against their will. Four days ago, the archbishop attacked

the parish priest of Bruhl, because he still said Mass, and forbade him

to do so in future. And much more is done in this enormous diocese

which entirely escapes our notice." In conclusion, Billick implored the

Dominican to do his utmost with the Emperor, the Cardinal of Augsburg,

the Apostolic Nuncio, and the other Catholic authorities in order that

the mandate might be issued without further delay, adding, "Gropper,

the indefatigable champion of our cause, is ill, otherwise he would

have sent a learned and luminous disquisition on this subject."

At last, the Emperor was moved to abandon the passive and

procrastinating attitude he had hitherto assumed; and towards the close

of the Reichstag he answered the Cologne appellants by citing the

archbishop to appear within thirty days, and answer the charges of

innovation brought against him. In the meanwhile he was to cancel all

the novelties he had introduced into the diocese.

Charles V. on his way to the Netherlands stopped at Cologne, and in a

personal interview with Hermann, represented to him the terrible

consequences that would ensue if he persisted in his disobedience.

The archbishop demanded a short time to consider and to consult with

his advisers. His answer, written on 19th August, after the Emperor's

departure, was to the effect that he could not change his opinions. He

was then cited to appear at Brussels within the space of thirty days.

At the same time Paul III. sent him a brief, commanding him and his

adherents to justify their conduct at Rome within sixty days.

Hermann paid no attention to either of these citations, but with

renewed zeal continued to advance the Protestant reformation. On the

8th January 1546, Verallo suspended him, and confiscated the revenues

of the diocese. The archbishop made a solemn protest, but showed no

sign of yielding, and on the 16th April, the Pope proceeded to his

ex-communication, at the same time depriving him of all his

ecclesiastical dignities, offices and benefices.

By a special brief of 3rd July, Hermann's coadjutor, Adolf von

Schauenburg, was made administrator of the archdiocese, and Gropper and

Billick were appointed to examine the deposed archbishop with regard to

his attitude towards the Catholic religion. The result was

unsatisfactory, but the Emperor could not be induced to take any

immediate steps against Hermann, his whole attention being directed

towards crushing the Schmalkaldian League. It was not till November

that the archbishop was officially informed of his excommunication,

when he made a further protest, declared the Pope incompetent to judge

him, and again appealed to a German Council. The time now seemed ripe

for putting pressure on Charles V. to carry out the Pope's sentence.

The imperial arms had been victorious over the league, and the

Catholics of Cologne commissioned Billick to proceed to the camp, and

to petition the emperor to formally depose the archbishop.

The biographers of Blessed Peter Canisius for the most part claim him

as the hero of this expedition, which was in fact entrusted to several

delegates, of whom the principals were the veteran Carmelite

provincial, and Johann von Isenburg. Canisius was deputed to go first

to Liege, and to beg that its bishop, George of Austria, son of

Maximilian I., and uncle to the Emperor, would facilitate their

journey, the country through which they would have to pass being

invested with the enemy's troops. During the time which he spent at

Liege, Canisius completely won the heart of the prince-bishop, who

ordered him to preach in his cathedral and in his private chapel,

expressing himself greatly edified with what he had heard. His visit

being unavoidably prolonged, Canisius gave the Spiritual Exercises,

took part in theological conferences with the Lutherans, visited the

sick in the hospitals, and catechised the children. Crowds followed him

wherever he went, and there was but one opinion of his learning,

eloquence, and charity.

It is probable that on his return to Cologne, having given an account

of his mission, he started with the other delegates for Worms.

Writing to the coadjutor Adolf, on 6th December, Billick says that at

Mainz they heard that all the roads were occupied by the enemy. In

order to avoid all appearance of an embassy they left their baggage

behind them at Mainz, and being advised by the vicar-general, Scholl,

the Carmelite separated from his companions, and hastened on alone to

Worms to present his letters to the Dean of St. Andrew's. Here he lay

hidden for four days, in the greatest anxiety and doubt as to his

further progress. Neither he nor his advisers could hit on a safe mode

of continuing the journey, as it was known that separate parties of

defeated Schmalkaldians were making their retreat good by various roads

back to the Rhine. To add to his alarm and embarrassment Billick

discovered that his horse had been rendered useless by a mysterious

wound, so that he had reason to think he had been betrayed. Just then,

however, he received information that the imperialists were in hot

pursuit of the Schmalkaldians, and having bought another horse from a

Jew, he set out for Speyer. At Speyer he fell in with a nobleman

belonging to the imperial army on his way back to the camp, and Billick

joined him, without however revealing his name or his mission, so

necessary was it to regard every stranger as a possible enemy.

At last the road to the Emperor was open, and the delegates, who all

arrived simultaneously at Krailsheim on the 5th December, were received

by Cardinal Granvelle. The object of their embassy was then speedily

attained. Charles V. issued a mandate, ordering the Landtag to assemble

at Cologne on the 24th January following; and at the date fixed two

imperial commissioners appeared to conduct the proceedings.

On the same day the coadjutor Adolf was inducted as archbishop, in

spite of the opposition of a large number of the representatives of the

Landtag, who, however, gave in their adhesion by the end of the month.

Hermann still offered a futile resistance, but on 28th February 1547

was at last forced from a position that had become untenable. He died

on the 15th August 1552.

During these proceedings Peter Canisius had attracted the attention of

Cardinal Otto Truchsess, who desired to have him as his second

theologian at the Council of Trent, Father Le Jay having already been

sent there as first theologian to that prelate. The cardinal, in a

letter to St. Ignatius, laid stress on the circumstance of Peter's

intimate acquaintance with the state of religion in Germany, and on his

being able therefore to suggest to the Council the best means of

meeting the prevalent evils. These reasons had great weight with St.

Ignatius, and scarcely had the young Jesuit returned to Cologne, when

he received orders to set out for Trent. Great was the lamentation

among the burghers of Cologne. All whom he met in the streets greeted

him with tears and supplications not to depart out of their midst. His

leaving, they declared, would mean triumph to the enemies of the

Church. The university conferred on him unanimously the title of doctor

of divinity as a proof of their gratitude, esteem, and regret at his

loss. The clergy and senate presented him with two precious relics--the

heads of two of the martyred companions of St. Ursula.

At Trent Canisius found four of his religious brethren, and joined them

at their lodgings in the hospital. Here the five Jesuits followed the

special rule of life which St. Ignatius had sent to them. "Three things

I wish you to bear in mind," he wrote:--

"(1) at the sessions of the Council the greatest glory of God, and the

general good of the Church; (2) outside the Council your fundamental

principle to labour for the salvation of souls, a matter that lies

especially near my heart in this your journey; (3) when at home not to

neglect yourselves." He recommended them to behave as prudently as

possible at the Council, not to speak hastily, and to be ever on the

side of peace. Every evening they were to confer with each other on the

day's proceedings, and to make resolutions for the morrow. "Moreover,"

he continued, "you will allow no opportunity to escape you of acquiring

merit in the service of your neighbour. You must always be on the watch

to hear confessions, to preach to the people, to instruct the little

ones, to visit the sick." In their sermons they were to avoid

controverted dogmas, and to lay stress on all that appertained to the

reform of morals, and obedience to the Church.

The meetings of the Council being adjourned till 1550, Canisius was

called to Rome, where he remained for five months, under the personal

guidance of St. Ignatius himself, who submitted him to the most

humiliating trials in order to prove his virtue. He sent him to beg and

to preach in the most frequented parts of the city, and to nurse the

sick in the hospitals, where he was day and night at the beck and call

of exacting officials, who set him to perform the most loathsome tasks,

and often curtailed his sleep and food. St. Ignatius would then cause

inquiries to be made at the hospitals concerning the behaviour of his

novice under this kind of treatment.

In the spring of 1548, Canisius was sent with eleven companions to

Messina, where the Viceroy, Don Juan de Vega, had founded a college. On

the eve of their departure St. Ignatius put to them four questions in

writing. Canisius answered the questions thus:--

1. "I am ready, with the help of God's grace, to remain here or to go

to Sicily, to India, or wherever it may be that obedience requires me.

2. "If I am sent to Sicily I affirm that I will accept with joy

whatever office is conferred on me, even should it be that of porter,

cook, or gardener.

3. "I am ready to learn or to teach in any department of science,

although hitherto I may have been quite unskilled in it.

4. "I will regard as best for me whatever my superiors may decide to do

with me, whether they entrust me with any office or with none. I

promise this day, the 5th February, for my whole life never to demand

anything for myself concerning my lodging, office or any other similar

thing, but once for all I leave the guidance of my soul, and every care

for my body in the complete submission of my judgment and will, to my

father in God, the Rev. Father General, 1548. Peter Canisius of

Nymwegen."

Hereupon St. Ignatius appointed him professor of rhetoric at Messina,

and Canisius wrote to his friends at Cologne: "As I am useless for any

spiritual office I am entrusted with the insipid department of belles

lettres. I teach rhetoric for which I have little aptitude, but I take

pains to form these good youths, and am always ready, with God's help,

to do all that obedience requires of me."

After a fruitful year, during which he had learned Italian, and having

preached in that language, had obtained some wonderful conversions from

sin, he was recalled to Rome, where he laid his four solemn vows* in

the hands of St. Ignatius. Immediately afterwards he was told to

prepare for his apostolate in Germany.

* The first three of the solemn vows taken by the Jesuits are those of

poverty, chastity, and obedience. The fourth vow is the promise to go

wherever the Pope may send them.

William IV., Duke of Bavaria, surnamed the valiant, on account of his

faithful adherence to the Catholic Church, at a time when so many of

the reigning princes of Germany fell away, saw, with distress and

alarm, the daily increasing dangers to which his beloved fatherland was

a prey. Even in the college which he had himself founded at Ingolstadt,

heresies were steadily gaining the upper hand, and he besought St.

Ignatius to send him learned men, imbued with the apostolic spirit, to

stay the progress of error.

The Church was not wanting at this time in men of learning and piety.

Theologians, such as Cardinal Cajetan, Gropper of Cologne, Eck of

Ingolstadt, Cochlaeus, and others, had a European reputation. The first

members of the Society of Jesus were all saints and scholars. Lainez,

Salmeron, Lefevre, Faber, Le Jay, Bobadilla, were formed for the

exigencies of the time; but for the special work required of him,

Canisius effaces them all, or rather, gathers up in his own character

each of the great qualities which they possessed. His strength,

moreover, was equal to his enormous task. Westphalia, Bavaria, Saxony,

Bohemia, Austria, Franconia, Suabia, Moravia, Tirol, Switzerland, from

the falls of the Rhine to its source in the Alps, both banks of the

Danube, from Freiburgim-Breisgau to Pressburg, the banks of the Main

and of the Vistula--all this was the scene of his labours during a

period of fifty-four years; and within these limits, it is an

incontrovertible fact that there is no city or district still remaining

Catholic but owes its faith to him.

St Ignatius answered the demand of the Duke of Bavaria by sending

Fathers Le Jay, Salmeron, and Peter Canisius, the three most

distinguished men of his Society. On the way to Germany they stopped at

Bologna, in order that the two first might receive the degree of

doctor, Canisius, as we know, being already a graduate of Cologne. The

German heretics prided themselves so much on the few individuals in

their ranks who had attained to it, that it was important to provide

them with opponents whom they might meet in controversy on equal

grounds. At Munich Duke William welcomed them, assuring them that

nothing lay nearer to his heart than the maintenance of the Catholic

religion in his states, but that heresy had already taken possession of

many of his towns and villages, and had even ventured to lift its head

in the University of Ingolstadt. The three missionaries proceeded at

once to that place, where they were received by the principal

dignitaries of the University.

A few days later they began their lectures: Salmeron, with a commentary

on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans; Canisius, with a dissertation

on the Sentences of Peter Lombard; Le Jay, with an exposition of the

Psalms. From the beginning their success was assured, but in a few

months the whole work devolved on Canisius, Le Jay being sent to the

Diet of Augsburg, Salmeron going to support Lainez, at the re-opened

Council of Trent, as the Pope's theologian.

So great was the confidence which Canisius inspired, that already, in

1550, the University, by unanimous consent, elected him its rector.

Humility prompted him to refuse the office, but St. Ignatius bade him

accept it. The need for drastic changes in various departments was only

too apparent; Canisius not only secured the good he aimed at, but by

his tact escaped the odium which so frequently attaches to the crusader

against time-honoured abuses. As he accepted none of the emoluments

belonging to his offices, he was the more free to insist on the perfect

probity with which the administration of the funds of all offices

should be conducted.

He next tools away from the students all heretical books, and obtained

from Duke William a mandate, forbidding the booksellers to sell such.

He abolished gambling, to which the students had been much addicted. He

settled disputes between them and their professors, and the ancient

rules and regulations concerning studies ceased to be a dead letter.

His words animated his hearers with a love of work, creating a stimulus

and a desire to excel. He re-established the unjustly discredited

syllogistic form of argument, and reverted to the learning of the

Schools in its primitive purity, deprived of the excrescences with

which would-be scholars had disfigured it. Lastly, he succeeded in

freeing the University from every reproach of immorality and license,

and this was, perhaps, his most signal victory at Ingolstadt. The

annals of the University abundantly testify to the greatness of the

work accomplished.

At the end of his six months' rectorship, Canisius gave an account of

his administration, and declined the chancellorship then offered to

him. Ingolstadt, in that short space of time, had been transformed, and

in order to perpetuate the benefits conferred on it, the Duke resolved

to found a college to be handed over to the sons of St. Ignatius.

Next to Bavaria, Austria was to share in the blessings which the very

presence of Canisius seemed to draw down from Heaven, but the whole

German-speaking world clamoured for his possession. The Bishop of

Saxony entreated him to come and change the deplorable state of his

diocese. Duke Albert, son and successor of William IV., stoutly

maintained that he was needed at Ingolstadt, and that he could not

suffer him to leave it; while St. Ignatius was besieged with demands

for the services of his most learned disciple. The Prince-Bishop of

Freising and the Bishop of Eichstadt each claimed him as his theologian

at the Council of Trent. Ferdinand, King of the Romans, urged that "the

Light of Germany" should be instantly sent to the capital of the

Austrian dominions, then plunged in the darkness of heresy. Pope Julius

III. solved the difficulty by desiring that he should proceed at once

to Vienna, and St. Ignatius softened the blow to Duke Albert in these

words: "The formal demand of his Holiness obliges me to send Father

Canisius to Vienna, but without taking him absolutely from your

Highness; I am merely lending him to the King of the Romans for a time,

after which he shall return to Ingolstadt."

The capital of Austria had fallen a complete prey to heresy. For twenty

years not a single priest had been ordained there; religious vocations

were no longer heard of. Scarcely the twentieth part of the population

had remained Catholic. Three hundred country parishes near the city

were entirely without priests. The University, instead of providing a

remedy, aggravated the existing evils by a teaching that was more or

less heterodox. Society, moreover, was rotten to the core, and needed

to be entirely reconstructed. Such was the condition of things when, at

the call of the feeble but devout Ferdinand I., Blessed Peter Canisius

arrived at Vienna in March 1552. Thirteen of his religious brethren had

preceded him by nearly a year, and had opened a college which already

promised well.

Canisius began by preaching sermons at court, and to the people, by

catechising children, and by seizing every possible opportunity of

doing good. Then the plague broke out, and he devoted himself to the

stricken. The Pope proclaimed a jubilee, and Canisius profited by the

occasion to vindicate the honour of indulgences. His method everywhere

seems to have been to do the next, the obvious thing, whatever it might

be, and to throw himself heart and soul into it. Not content with his

work in the city, he evangelised the country places. The poorest

hamlets attracted him most, and as he went on his way, he instructed,

consoled, heard the confessions of a life-time, gave the sacraments to

the living and the dying, and brought back many hundreds of lost sheep

to the fold. He continued to work thus without a break during the

winter months, among people who were Christian but in name,

intemperance, ignorance, and long neglect, having brutalised them

almost beyond human reach. But where he passed, every village changed

its aspect; conversions little short of miraculous marked his progress

everywhere. Words that from the mouth of another might have returned

unto him void, uttered by Canisius carried compunction into the hardest

hearts. It was his sanctity, his entire abnegation of self and

whole-hearted dependence on the Divine Will, far more than his

learning, vigour, or energy that gave his words wings, and worked

wonders among this forsaken and degraded country folk; and his charity

was such that he would have been well content to have laboured among

them for the rest of his life.

But meanwhile Vienna was suffering from his absence, and all sorts and

conditions of men clamoured for his return. The episcopal see having

become vacant, the king besought the Pope and St. Ignatius that it

might be conferred on Father Canisius. But the utmost he could obtain

after long importunity was that Canisius should administer the affairs

of the diocese for one year, pending the election of a bishop, with the

proviso that he should not touch a single farthing of the rich revenues

belonging to the see, which he was to govern as a simple religious.

The arrangement was one admirably adapted to the restoration of order

in the existing state of chaos, while no sacrifice of its discipline

was forced on the Society by the promotion of one of its members to

rank and dignity.

Canisius was afterwards made Dean of the University, in the hope that

he would do for it what he had already done for Ingolstadt, and he set

about the work in the same masterly fashion that distinguished all his

schemes of reform. His first act was to obtain a royal decree, limiting

the admission of professors to those who had submitted themselves to a

rigorous examination in religious doctrine, and had given irrefragable

proofs of orthodoxy. The same conditions were in future to be exacted

of all who presented themselves for degrees. The university teemed with

Lutheran literature; it was swept away by the same inexorable

root-and-branch measures that had been so successfully employed at

Ingolstadt.

The next care of the reformer was to petition the king for a seminary

wherein the ranks of the clergy, thinned almost to extinction, might be

reinforced by men carefully trained to a due appreciation of their high

calling. The result was the foundation of the seminary of priests of

noble family, recruited mainly from the college which the Jesuits had

opened at Vienna, and to which had flocked students from all the great

families of Hungary, Bohemia, Poland, etc. In conjunction with this

seminary, St. Ignatius, about the same tune, founded the celebrated

German College in Rome, for the regeneration of Germany by means of a

clergy that should be as learned as it was morally irreproachable.

In the midst of his multifarious occupations, Canisius continued his

sermons at court, in the Cathedral, and in the principal churches of

Vienna. Lutherans frequented them largely, and some, touched by the

power of his doctrine and eloquence, asked him for conferences, which

he gladly accorded them. Among these were two preachers of some

celebrity, pillars of Protestantism, who defied him to answer their

arguments in a public disputation. He accepted the challenge, and the

day, place, and hour were fixed. A great concourse of people, composed

largely of the new sectaries, were assembled, prepared to swell the

expected triumph of their champions. The two heretical doctors held

their dissertations, one after the other, and sat down amid the

applause of their sympathisers. Then Canisius stood up with religious

modesty and humility, his bearing expressive of the calmness and

benevolence of one who has the whole Catholic Church, past and present,

on his side. His prodigious memory and profound knowledge enabled him

to refute easily every charge brought by his adversaries, whom he

completely crushed with the overwhelming consistency of his logic. They

both acknowledged themselves defeated; one returned to the Catholic

Church, and a few months later entered the Society of Jesus, of which

he remained an edifying member till his death; the other became a more

determined advocate of heresy than before, and swore to avenge his

defeat by a persistent persecution of the Jesuits.

Nor were enemies wanting on any side; the more converts the Jesuits

made, the greater was the hatred they inspired. Calumnies were sown

broadcast, and the life of Father Canisius was in constant danger.

Ferdinand, warned of a plot to murder the holy man, obliged him,

greatly to his discomfiture, to accept a bodyguard whenever he went

out. But the work of reform and conversion went on steadily, and from

all parts of Germany, bishops, princes, and governors sought to obtain

the presence of the illustrious apostle. "I am ready," he wrote in this

regard to St. Ignatius, "to go wherever obedience calls me, and to work

for the salvation of souls however abandoned they may be, whether in

Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Tartary, or China, wherever I am sent."

He was sent to Prague, perhaps the most God-forsaken spot in the whole

empire. Every imaginable sect had accumulated in Bohemia during the

preceding twenty years. Scarcely a vestige of Catholicism remained, and

Hussites, Wicklifites, Vaudois, Lutherans, Zwinglians, and various

other offshoots of the principal sects, were busy relegating each other

in eloquent terms to eternal damnation, when the arrival of Catholic

missionaries gave the signal for a coalition against the common enemy

of them all. At Prague itself, where Canisius was charged to found a

college with the injunction not to leave Bohemia until it should be

solidly established and in a flourishing condition, the Hussites

outnumbered the others. Scarcely had he arrived and set to work, when

the Duke of Bavaria, reminding St. Ignatius that Canisius had only been

lent to Austria, claimed him, at least temporarily, for the foundation

of the college which the Society was to establish at Ingolstadt. The

claim was admitted to be just, and accordingly the affairs of Prague

could only be proceeded with four months later, when Canisius returned

from Germany, having been made provincial.

It was the beginning of Lent 1555, and on the 21st April twelve priests

sent to him from Rome by St. Ignatius, arrived to second him in his

perilous undertaking. The first time the Jesuits appeared in the

streets they were saluted with handfuls of mud cast at them by the city

urchins, who had been bribed to insult them. The cry "Dogs of Jesuits"

(a play upon the word Canisius) followed them wherever they went.

Father Peter was himself assailed with a large stone hurled through the

window of the church as he stood at the altar saying Mass. A plot was

formed to throw the whole community one by one into the Moldau, as they

passed over the bridge that connected the old and the new town; and

ruffians, who had received a part of their reward in advance, were

stationed in the middle of the bridge to waylay them. But a timely

edict issued by the Archduke of Bohemia threatened with the most severe

penalties whoever should raise a hand against any member of the

Society, or even treat any one of them disrespectfully. He went still

further, and sent a detachment of guards to the college daily, with

orders to accompany each of the priests wherever he went, and in

sufficient numbers to prevent any attack.

Added to the open enmity and fierce hatred which they inspired, the

Jesuits had to encounter the jealousy of the University professors, who

would have been willing enough that they should preach, but who, on the

opening of their college, did all they could to hamper them and

prejudice people against them.

The reputation of the Society for teaching was great all over Germany.

Wherever a college was established by them, it immediately attracted

students from all parts, and it was perhaps natural that other

educational institutions should fear for their own existence. But the

pettiness and meanness with which this fear was expressed at Prague

resulted for the Jesuits in a penury so abject, that for many months

they had nothing to eat but bread and cheese, and nothing to drink but

water from their own well. For several days they were even prevented

from going out for want of suitable garments. Nevertheless, however

much they might have to suffer in any one place, struggling through a

painful existence to the end in view, the work of reform went steadily

forward.

About this time, the cathedral at Regensburg was in need of a preacher;

the Diet was about to assemble in that city, all the princes and

electors of the empire were to take part in it, and the new sectaries

were expected in great numbers, in order to wrench, if it might be,

such concessions from the authorities as they had not yet been able to

obtain. The chapter therefore appealed to Father Canisius, and besought

him to throw himself into this important breach. Realising all that was

at stake, he started at once for Regensburg.

His first appearance in the cathedral pulpit was a splendid testimony

to the opinion in which he was held. The vast building was filled with

a brilliant throng, on the fringe of which the people hung in dense

crowds overflowing into the streets. In a letter to Father Lainez (who

had succeeded St. Ignatius as General of the Society) in September

1556, Canisius describes his efforts as successful in supporting and

strengthening the persecuted Catholics, but he goes on to say that the

Lutheran representatives at the Diet let loose a string of calumnies

against him, and did all they could to poison the minds of the weak and

simple. But for the States of the Empire they would have cast him out

of the city as one so dangerous to the Protestant cause that they

declared it would be wrecked altogether if Canisius continued to preach

there.

However, continue he did during the whole of the sessions, save for a

short interval of absence. In this interval he visited Innsbruck, in

which town a college of the Society was nearing completion; and

Augsburg, whose bishop, his old friend the celebrated Otto Truchsess,

desired to consult him on the affairs of his diocese. There,

overwhelmed with his almost superhuman labours, Canisius fell ill. He

desired to be taken to the college at Ingolstadt, and Cardinal

Truchsess accompanied him thither, while the Duke of Bavaria sent him

his physicians. Thanks to their skill and to the enforced rest of his

mental and physical powers, he soon recovered, and was able on the 1st

December to return to his post at Regensburg. On all the Sundays of

Advent he preached at the cathedral, but as it could not contain the

vast concourse of people who crowded to hear him, he was obliged to

preach three times in the week also. From the pulpit he went to the

confessional, and when he returned to his lodging he was besieged by

those who came to seek his advice-princes, concerning the interests of

religion in their dominions, prelates, in regard to the reform of their

dioceses, or to their own spiritual needs. The King of the Romans, and

the Duke of Bavaria often sent for him to confer with him, and all

admired the humility, simplicity, and patience with which he listened,

no less than the frankness and freedom from human respect with which he

proffered his advice. But time was wanting for all the demands made

upon him; and that all might be satisfied he drew up for the use of

bishops a short treatise on the means of reforming the clergy, and of

introducing good morals among their flocks.

The Diet of Regensburg ended in nothing but resolutions to continue the

controversy at Worms, and fearing the objections of Canisius, who was

known to feel great repugnance towards these public conferences with

heretics which never came to any practical conclusion, Ferdinand sought

to anticipate his refusal by obtaining a promise from Father Lainez

that so able a defender of Catholic doctrine should also be present.

Canisius had already written to the general thus:--

"Knowing as I do my poverty of intellect, my great want of aptitude,

and my incapacity, I confess that I should like to run away from this

place, and would rather go and beg in India than involve myself in

those dangerous disputes, out of which nothing can come but perpetual

disgrace to religion, and great harm to the rights of the Church. But

the Lord God will make known to me His will by His servant my Superior,

and when I know it I shall have no further fear, but shall appear with

boldness in the enemy's camp; for all my confidence and all my strength

are in obedience. I can be nothing else but a beast of burden in the

house of the Lord all the days of my life."

Father Lainez shared to the full the opinion of Canisius as to the

uselessness of these conferences, which were exacted by the Lutherans

in the hope of wresting something to their own temporal advantage, and

the Pope differed from neither in his estimation of the small amount of

good to be hoped from them. But as the Emperor was not to be restrained

from granting concessions which all Catholics agreed were futile, it

was extremely important that the interests of religion and the rights

of the Holy See should be ably defended; and Father Lainez therefore

insisted that Canisius should not only remain at the Diet of Regensburg

to the bitter end, but that he should hold himself in readiness to

reopen the campaign at Worms.

In the interval Canisius went to Rome to pay his respects to the new

General, and on his return to Germany visited Munich. The capital of

Bavaria was also a hot-bed of heresy, and after a brief sojourn there

he wrote to Father Lainez, entreating that he would send some Fathers

capable of attracting people by their sermons and of edifying them by

the holiness of their lives. He then went to Ingolstadt, and was

greatly consoled by the results that had been obtained by the newly

founded college. Heresy no longer ventured to raise its head where

formerly it had flaunted its colours unabashed, and in every respect

the university was worthy of the care that had been bestowed upon it.

The place was naturally dear to his heart, as the magnificent

first-fruits of his labours for Germany, but tearing himself

reluctantly from the piety and peace which he had so successfully

planted there, he proceeded to confront the enemy at Worms.

The greater number of the Lutheran disputants had already arrived, but

of the six Catholic theologians deputed to enter the lists against

them, the most celebrated, Johann Gropper, Archdeacon of Cologne, was

conspicuous by his absence. Canisius wrote to entreat him to come, but

Gropper was so thoroughly convinced of the uselessness of the

disputations, that he persistently refused to take part in them. The

organisation of the whole matter therefore devolved on Canisius, who

prepared the plan of defence, and appointed to each Catholic theologian

the subject of which he was to treat. Besides this, he continued to

preach, to hear confessions and to take counsel with his colleagues

daily. At night he allowed himself but a brief interval of sleep, the

rest of the time being spent in prayer and study.

He had stipulated before the opening of the conferences that none but

those Protestants who belonged to the Confession of Augsburg, and who

were the only regular, and to some extent, disciplined body among them

should take part in the disputations. This condition had been accepted,

but from the very beginning, Anabaptists, Sacramentarians, and heretics

of every imaginable sect appeared, and claimed the right of speech.

Those of the Augsburg Confession were furious, and refused to make

common cause with the new arrivals. Recriminations, invectives, and

threats were hurled about the Protestant camp till a formidable tumult

ensued. The Augsburg Lutherans at last succeeded in turning out the

other sects, but ashamed of the spectacle they had presented to the

eyes of the Catholics who were all united, they left Worms secretly,

and contented themselves with attacking each other in the usual

vituperative terms.

"It was," wrote Canisius, "as if the giants of old were seeking to

rebuild the Tower of Babel. God visited them with the same spirit of

confusion which prevented their understanding one another, so that

Melancthon was punished by the work of his own hands, like those who

are devoured by the wild beasts which they have themselves bred up with

great pains and difficulty."

Cologne, Strassburg, and his own native Nymwegen next came in for a

share in the apostles' labours. The Bishop of Trent begged him to come

and found a college in his diocese; the Duke of Bavaria called upon him

to organise the one he had already set on foot at Munich, and to

establish another at Landshut. But Straubing, by reason of its extreme

need, detained him longer than any of these places.

Charles V. had himself been mainly responsible for the worst of the

difficulties and complications that existed at Straubing, on account of

his famous interim, which granted to all, on his own personal

authority, permission to communicate under both kinds, pending the

decision of the Council of Trent on this point. Straubing had availed

itself without exception of the permission, and even after the decision

of the Council persisted in retaining the custom. A few priests had

attempted resistance, but numberless apostasies and half an

insurrection had followed on their action, and now the position had

come to be regarded as impregnable.

Canisius made no attempt to storm the fortress; he arrived, and was

gentleness itself. He had scarcely passed a week in the town when he

was regarded as the friend and adviser of all its principal citizens.

His sermons drew crowds as usual, and his instructions on the subject

of Holy Communion, of which his hearers proved to be strangely

ignorant, were continued in the confessional, and on every possible

occasion. At Easter nearly the whole population approached the

sacraments, and communicated without making the least difficulty, under

one kind. The apostle, broken with fatigue, for he had preached

throughout Lent, three times a week, besides catechising, visiting the

sick, hearing confessions, and answering the objections of all who came

to him, was yet beaming with joy, so markedly had his labours been

blessed.

It would be superfluous to follow Canisius in his journey to Poland, in

his fruitful sojourn at Augsburg, in his campaign against the ignorance

of the clergy at Wurzburg, against the Calvinism of the Swiss

Protestants. Everywhere the story is the same: ignorance, vice, and

heresy fled before the bright light of his presence, and his wisdom

provided, that where he had planted the good seed, others should follow

him, to keep it watered, so that there should be no return to the

former errors. Long after his death, the colleges of the Society which

he had founded continued his work, and formed an efficient barrier

against the modern spirit of revolt from authority and order.

If in a sense the old ages of faith were dead, the new age witnessed a

wonderful resurrection, the effect of which is still going on in our

own day. And the scourge of heresy wherewith the Church in Germany was

scourged to its ultimate salvation in the sixteenth century, lies now a

thing of nought, effete and all but lifeless, while the Bride of Christ

has renewed her youth like the eagle.

V. JESUITS AT COURT

Lacordaire once wrote in a letter to Madame Swetchine these remarkable

words concerning the disciples of St. Ignatius:

"Tout ce qui m'a tombe sous la main m'a toujours revolte par l'emphase

ridicule de l'eloge, ou par l'impudeur du blame. II semble que cette

nature d'hommes ait toujours ote la raison a ses amis et a ses ennemis.

Je voudrais leur consacrer dix annees d'etudes, ne fut ce que pour mon

plaisir propre; mais Dieu nous donne et nous prepare une bien autre

besogne, et il faut dire avec l'auteur de l'Imitation, 'relinque

curiosa.' Les Jesuites continueront a faire du bien, et a le faire mal

quelquefois; ils auront des amis frenetiques et des ennemis furieux, en

attendant le jour du jugement dernier, qui sera pour bien des raisons

un tres-interessant et tres-curieux jour."

At no time has the world been more occupied with the Jesuits than at

the present moment, and the prophecy of the celebrated Dominican above

quoted seems more than ever likely to be fulfilled. If their friends

are indeed still as extravagant in their praise as Lacordaire found

them, perhaps on the other hand criticism is even louder, hatred more

profound, accusation more wild and general. Most of the governments of

Europe have banished them, on the ground that they are the enemies to

progress, to liberal ideas, that they have meddled in politics, and

constitute a danger to the State, by seeking to grasp the helm of

public affairs, secretly stirring up the nations against their rulers.

The subject appears to be of perennial and universal application, since

even in this twentieth century, and in so tolerant a country as

England, people have been moved to some apprehension lest we should be

incurring a danger in suffering the Jesuit to live unmolested in our

midst. But it is not our present ambition to settle so burning a

question as the right of members of the Society of Jesus to exist

anywhere; rather would we make an excursion into the domain of history,

and inquire what have been the rules and regulations, and what has been

the practice of the Society concerning politics in the past, what has

been the attitude of its members, prescribed and actual towards kings,

potentates, and dynasties.

Certain facts have recently come to light, bearing on the history of

the Jesuits at the various German courts in the sixteenth century, and

the scattered remains of the private correspondence belonging to the

archives of the old Society before its suppression have been gathered

together. What was done more or less in secret is now proclaimed on the

housetops, and the result, as might be expected, is in many ways

interesting and instructive.*

* Die Jesuiten an den deutschen Furstenhofen des 16ten Jahrhunderts.

Auf Grund ungedruckter Quellen. Von Bernhard Duhr, S. J., Freiburg im

Breisgau, 1901.

This correspondence consists of communications between the rank and

file, and the superiors at Rome, and vice versa, and includes the

letters which passed between the General and the kings, archdukes and

other reigning princes, who were ostensibly friends of the Society, but

who did their best to put frequent spokes in the wheels of the

Constitutions.

The great dearth of learned preachers and confessors that prevailed

about the middle of the sixteenth century appealed strongly to the

Jesuits to throw themselves into the breach, and thus against the

original intention of their founder, they became the spiritual guides

of those who made the history of Europe for the next hundred years and

more. It was a delicate and an onerous task, fraught with temptations

from without and from within.

Ignatius of Loyola, being a man of the world as well as a saint, was

well aware of the perils to which he exposed his sons, in sending them

forth into the midst of vanities, while at the same time, having had

some experience of courts, he knew that princes love not contradiction.

But he decided after mature deliberation that after all his "least

Society" was created to do a certain work in the Church and in the

world, the need of which work was only too apparent in the decayed

state of faith and morals. It was not by turning his back on courts

that he could hope to regenerate them; but it would be interesting

could we discover whether by a contrary decision he would have averted

some of the odium which the name Jesuit has accumulated in the course

of ages.

John III. of Portugal was the first king to demand a Jesuit confessor,

and to him Ignatius sent Father Luis Gonzalez de Comara, much against

the desire of the said individual. To his entreaties and objections the

first General of the Society made answer, on the 9th August 1552, that

he was indeed edified by the humility which caused Father de Comara to

shrink from a position which many envied; nevertheless, he was of the

opinion that he should obey his Highness in this, as in other things,

"for the honour of God our Lord." St. Ignatius went on to say that he

need not occupy himself with any but good and pious objects, neither

had he reason to fear that the king would, against the will of the

Society, confer upon him those honours and dignities with which it was

the custom to distinguish other confessors. If moreover, his remaining

at court was a cross to him, he must bear it with patience as he would

all else that obedience required of him.

At the second General Congregation held in 1565, the question arose

whether Cardinal Otto of Augsburg might have a member of the Society

attached to his court, as theologian. The Congregation decided not to

allow any member to reside permanently at the court of any prince,

spiritual or secular, or to consent to his following the said court on

its travels, either in the capacity of preacher, theologian or

confessor, and that no appointment of such a kind should be permissible

for longer than one month or double that period at the most.

Ten years later, the Provincial Congregation of North Germany was

reminded of this decree in drawing up propositions to be placed before

the third General Congregation, and it was expressly stated that none

but the General of the Society himself should have the power to make

such appointments, that they should be made as rarely as possible,

experience having proved that more harm was done to the confessor by

his residing at court than good to the penitent by his ministrations.

The reply to this proposition was to the effect that with the General

alone should rest the appointment.

By degrees, further legislation became imperative, and the fifth

General Congregation, held in 1593, forbade in the most solemn form

every member of the Society to interfere in politics or any public

affairs whatever. The decree was so absolute that not only did it

ensure the imprudent from taking part in the questions of the day, but

timid confessors were thereby prevented by their scruples from giving

counsel, when appealed to on matters that could scarcely be supposed to

border on politics.

In order therefore, to correct all misapprehension, the General, Father

Aquaviva, issued an Instruction for the confessors of princes, which

was formally approved by the General Congregation of 16o8. This was

considered so important a document that it was incorporated into the

Institute, a sort of code, containing the Constitutions which St.

Ignatius drew up, as well as the decrees of General Congregations. The

Instruction was in fact a summary of all previous experience on the

subject. It provided, first of all, that in cases where the Society

could not avoid compliance with the demand for a confessor at court,

great care should be taken in the choice of the individual member to

fill the office, so that he might conduce to the welfare of the prince,

the edification of the people, and the avoidance of all injury to the

Order. The last clause bore reference to the fact that not infrequently

the Society was called upon to suffer in one place for wounds inflicted

on it in another. Rules for the said confessor were then laid down, to

fit every possible emergency, and in minute detail.

For instance, the king's confessor, although attached to the royal

chapel, must not only lodge exclusively in a college of his Order, but

he must remain subject to the rule, like any other member of the

Society. Even when travelling with the court he was obliged to sleep in

a house of his Order, or if passing through a town where no such house

existed, he must beg hospitality of any other religious community,

preferably to passing the night at court.

It was again solemnly impressed upon him not to allow himself to be

drawn into any secular concerns, which rule the king was humbly

petitioned to enforce.

Neither must the confessor undertake to be an emissary between the

prince, his penitent, and any of his ministers, or other officials.

As regarded the prince himself, he was bound to listen to his

confessor, not merely when he exhorted him on the subject-matter of his

confessions, but also in matters relating to the prevention of

injustice, oppression, or other scandals such as often came about

through the fault of officials, and which were unknown to the sovereign.

None might undertake the office of permanent confessor at court without

the consent of his provincial. It was, moreover, the duty of the

provincial before according such permission, to hand this Instruction

to the prince in order that he might thoroughly understand what the

Society was willing to bestow upon him. The prince was further to be

reminded in modest but decided terms, that superiors retained the right

to the obedience of the individual who became his confessor, as

absolutely as to that of any other member of the Society.

At first there seemed no great need for these precautions. The emperor,

Charles V., chose Dominicans for his confessors, and his successor,

Ferdinand, followed his example. But Ferdinand held the Society in

great esteem, and at his death Father Lainez, who was then General,

ordered that each priest in the college at Dillingen should offer

twelve Masses for the repose of his soul, and the lay-brothers were to

say certain prayers with the same intention. The Society was not only

indebted to him for his unvarying friendship, but owed to his

munificence the foundation of four colleges, viz., those of Vienna,

Prague, Innsbruck, and Tyrnau.

Ferdinand's son and successor, Maximilian, having Protestant leanings,

dispensed with a confessor altogether, but his wife, Doha Maria, sister

of Philip II. of Spain, was provided with a Spanish Franciscan, who was

chosen for her by her brother. Maximilian's sons all chose Jesuit

confessors, as did also his daughter, the Queen of Bohemia.

At that time the Lutherans thought that Catholicism was at its last

gasp, and they eagerly anticipated the banishment of the Jesuits. But

Maximilian, in spite of his Protestant tendencies, was well disposed

towards them, and their college at Vienna received many marks of his

favour, to the great disgust of his Lutheran subjects. The Protestant

nobles assembled at the Landtag held in Vienna, attached three

conditions to their votes of supplies for his war against the

Turks:--The abolition of the procession of Corpus Christi, the

confirmation of the Confession of Augsburg, and the banishment of the

Jesuits. They declared that if the emperor refused to grant these

requests, they would not furnish him with the required subsidy for the

war. Maximilian replied that it was his business to repulse the Turks;

the other things did not concern him, but the Pope.*

* Orig. G. Epist., 6, 48 seq.

Disappointed in their hopes, the Lutherans, allying themselves with the

enemies of the Jesuits within the Church, began to circulate false

reports against the Society. At one moment they accused Father Peter

Canisius of prejudicing the Pope against the emperor, at another, the

whole community at Vienna were declared guilty of openly insulting the

Protestants. Reiterated complaints poured into the emperor's ears ended

by alienating Maximilian from his former friends, and it was difficult,

almost impossible for them to obtain a hearing. But the empress

remained loyal to them, and would perhaps have been termed by

Lacordaire frenetique.

Father Maggio, who was then court preacher, seems to have been a man of

great prudence and mildness, thoroughly imbued with the spirit of

religion. By degrees he not only convinced Maximilian of the injustice

of the attacks made upon the Society, but the two became fast friends,

so that when he was made Provincial of Austria in 1566, the appointment

gave much satisfaction at court. He was frequently summoned to private

audiences, and the emperor treated him with so much confidence that

Father Maggio would sometimes venture to address to him written words

of exhortation, words which Maximilian invariably took in good part.

The empress, observing the affection of her husband for the Jesuit

would consult Father Maggio as to the best means of confirming him in

the Catholic religion.

When Father Maggio was made provincial, Father Antonio, a Portuguese

Jesuit, became court preacher, but so little to his own satisfaction

that he repeatedly appealed to the empress and to the General for his

release. He bewailed his unfitness for a post requiring so much

exceptional virtue, and expressed his desire to be sent to foreign

missions. If such were not the will of his superiors, he entreated that

he might have some humble office in a house of novices, where he might

live unnoticed by the world, and labour for his soul's health.

The General, Father Mercurian, replied, on the 18th March 1576, that he

had no one to replace him at court, and that he must perforce remain

where he was. Previously to this, Father Antonio had besought the

empress to dismiss him, but she had answered that she counted on his

ministrations at the hour of death. A month after Father Mercurian's

refusal to remove him, he again wrote to the General, begging that he

might apply to the empress for, at least, a year's leave of absence,

during which time a locum tenens might be dispensed with. Two days

later, he followed up this letter with another, giving the General his

opinion why it was inexpedient for any member of the Society to remain

at court for more than a short term, such as a month or two. There was,

he said, no bishop, ambassador, or person of consequence who did not

desire to have several of the Fathers about him; the door which, at

their profession, they had shut on the world, seemed in a certain sense

to be reopened by a residence at court; unfortunately, men were not

wanting who aspired to such offices, and great inconveniences ensued

thereby. Some grew accustomed to a certain independence, little in

accordance with the rules of the Society, some were altogether spoiled,

and brought disgrace on the Order. It was, perhaps, not astonishing

that after this letter the General showed even less inclination than

before to remove Father Antonio. One who thus appreciated the dangers

of the world would be less likely than another to fall a prey to them,

and was as safe at court as in fulfilling the humblest duties of the

noviceship.

But when all was said and done, the influence of the Jesuits at the

Court of Vienna was not very great. Their El Dorado was the Archducal

Court at Gratz, where reigned Ferdinand's son, Charles II. Here their

power was at least supposed to be so great that their enemies declared

that they possessed the master-key of all the doors in the palace, and

could pass through all the rooms composing the apartments of the

Archduchess at will. This, however, with other things, she declared

solemnly to be nothing but lies--nur lautere Lugen--and an attack on

her honour.*

* Hurter, Ferdinand II, 3, 578.

Apart from these unpleasant calumnies, the Society flourished at Gratz

as hardly anywhere else, and was able to train its novices, give the

Spiritual Exercises, and administer the sacraments undisturbed. The

only difficulties that arose were in connection with the right of the

provincial to move his men about as he chose, the archduke, like the

emperor, being inclined to regard his confessors as his own property.

This was notably the case with the celebrated Father Blyssem, who

received marching orders in 1578. The Archduke at once wrote to the

General, declaring that Father Blyssem's removal would be extremely

inconvenient, and was not to be contemplated. If the General were on

the spot he would be of the archduke's opinion. First, Father Blyssem

was his and the archduchess's confessor, and they both wished above all

things to keep him. Secondly, he was not only a vigilant rector of the

college under him, and an experienced confessor, but he was also an

excellent preacher. And finally, he was beloved by all, was well

acquainted with the idiosyncrasies of the country, enjoyed a good

reputation and inspired respect even in the opponents of the Catholic

religion. His sudden departure could not therefore but be injurious to

the temporal and spiritual welfare of the college, and detrimental to

the general good.

Not alone the archduke, the papal legate, Bishop Ringuarda, also

appealed to the General of the Jesuits in the same interest, saying

that he had already sought the intervention of the Pope and the

Cardinal of Como, to prevent the removal of Father Blyssem. As he now

heard that, in spite of his efforts, Father Blyssem was to go to Rome,

at least for three months, Bishop Ringuarda begged most urgently that

this order might be cancelled, the Father's absence for even a week, to

say nothing of a month, being likely to entail serious harm to the

Church in Austria. His daily presence was so necessary, that if he were

not already at Gratz, he must be sent there without delay. The legate

then went on to enumerate all the wonderful qualities possessed by the

rector, and ended his letter with the solemn entreaty that the General

would on no account remove him.*

* Orig. G. Epist., 3, 298.

Pressure such as this being frequently brought to bear on superiors,

they could scarcely be said to exercise undivided control over their

own subjects.

Driven into a corner, Aquaviva was obliged to leave the archduke's

confessor where he was, accommodating matters by making him Provincial

of Austria, in place of Father Maggio, Father Emerich Torsler replacing

Father Blyssem as rector of the college at Gratz. The archduke

expressed himself content with the arrangement, provided that Father

Blyssem did not absent himself on the business of the province when he

required him at his side.

The new provincial had occasion, in January 1582, to write to the

General about the sermons of a certain Father John Reinel, which were,

he complained, too lengthy and too violent. In regard to the first

fault he had improved somewhat, but no admonition had succeeded in

causing him to desist from his biting attacks on the heretics. His

Paternity was, therefore, requested to command him to observe more

moderation and gentleness, and instead of handling the heretics angrily

and roughly, to teach and exhort them with Christian charity. In this

manner he would convert a far greater number, as every one maintained.

But if he continued as heretofore, Father Blyssem would be obliged to

send him to another college, where he would have to adopt a different

style or give over preaching altogether, and take up another occupation.

But the removal of Father Reinel was not so simple a matter as it at

first appeared. Towards the end of the year, Father Blyssem again wrote

to Aquaviva on the same subject. It had been decided during the

preceding summer to send the unmanageable preacher to another sphere of

activity, he having been already so long a time at Gratz, where he was

too much engrossed in the court, which he had recently, against the

wishes of his superiors, accompanied in its journey of several months

through Bavaria and Suabia, to the neglect of the pulpit at Gratz.

Moreover, his harsh and aggressive manner of preaching was as repulsive

to the Catholics as to the Lutherans, but when, according to his

instructions, he was on the point of starting for Vienna, the

archduchess, whose confessions he sometimes heard in Father Blyssem's

temporary absence, was so much aggrieved at the change, that she

entreated her husband with many arguments and tears to prevent his

departure. Accordingly, the archduke begged the provincial to defer

Father Reinel's removal on account of his consort's distress, and this

he apparently did, but he wrote to the General asking him to insist on

the order being carried out, and to persuade the archduke to agree to

it.

Sometimes varying reports were sent to the General concerning the

behaviour of certain Fathers at court. Thus, the rector of the college

at Gratz wrote somewhat severely of Father Saxo, who also was a

favourite in the most exalted circle.

But Father Blyssem in a letter to Aquaviva, dated gist December 1585,

defended him, saying:--

"Your Paternity appears to be incorrectly informed as to Father Saxo.

In my judgment, and in that of other Fathers of consideration, he has

very greatly improved in his manner and conduct towards others. When I

was at Gratz last year he was in possession of a costly little alarum,

which he had received as a present from a nobleman. He was well pleased

that the clock should be taken from him, and sold for the benefit of

the noviceship. The seal which he used at missions, and which he would

willingly have kept afterwards, he gave up at once at the instance of

his superior. He had received a great many books as presents in the

course of his missions, to assist him in preaching, and these he

delivered up for the common use, after very little delay. The Fathers

whom I questioned answered that they had noticed nothing in Father Saxo

that might give scandal, nor had they ever heard anything of the kind

about him."

The complaints against Father Viller were less easily answered. He had

filled the office of Austrian Provincial between the years 1589 and

1595, and in the latter year was appointed rector of the college at

Gratz. During this time the Archduke Ferdinand chose him as his

confessor. Not long afterwards he was accused to the General of being a

courtier, an imputation so vague as to need a discursive reply. But his

long letter of self justification addressed to Father Aquaviva is

interesting on account of the vivid scenes it lays before us. Its main

contents are these:--

"Already fifteen or sixteen years ago, when Father Maggio had left the

province, certain Fathers in Vienna complained bitterly to the new

provincial, Father Blyssem, that I had a courtier-like mind, because

people about the court came to me, and I associated with them. I was,

it is true, in favour with the imperial council, with the bishops and

the Hungarian nobles, also with the apostolic nuntios Delphin and

Portia, and I laboured to the extent of my power in the interests of

religion. Father Provincial removed me from my office, and I became his

secretary and admonitor. Two years later, when a visitor, Father Oliver

came, he reinstated me as Master of the alumni, discipline among them

having become relaxed. When I had been another two years in this

office, I was again accused to the provincial. I was deposed, but in

the meantime, the baselessness of the charges brought against me having

been proved, I was appointed rector at Olmutz, and Father Provincial

assured me with tears that I had been unjustly treated. Five years

afterwards I was elected provincial, and the Father Visitor was able to

testify that I suffered much, even to the danger of losing my life, in

discharging the duties of this office in Bohemia and Hungary. The next

provincial (Father Ferdinand Alber) evinced dislike of me immediately

on his taking up office, the reason of which was, I believe, merely

that we do not share the same opinions. He, like Fathers Bader, Reinel,

and Scherer, is for public penitential exercises in the refectory

daily; I, on the contrary, am for a milder proceeding, such as I have

learned of Fathers Maggio, Everard (Mercurian) Goudan, Canisius, and

Lanoy. Therefore, I am called a courtier, even when I am not at court.

The whole college will bear witness that I go there less often than

Father Reinel, who at least went once a day, whereas I go on an average

but once a week.

"If it be objected that I suffer the princes to come frequently to the

college, I reply, as I replied to the Father Provincial, that I will

undertake they shall come no more, but the responsibility for this must

rest with others.

"I am further reproached with having invited the princes to dinner at

the vineyard, and also at the college, and that I even played with them

at the vineyard. As for the invitation, the princes themselves asked to

be invited, and the Apostolic Nuntio, and the Bishop of Laibach, were

present at the games, which were, in my judgment, honourable and modest.

"I have begged to be removed from both my offices, in order to remove

suspicion, and to obtain peace, for I see that I am not agreeable to my

provincial, he having forbidden me to hear the confessions of the

archduke and those of the dowager archduchess, who with her daughters

insists on confessing to me.

"If any one has told the provincial that the college is in a bad state,

ocular demonstration will prove the contrary; everything goes on in an

orderly way. The archduke receives Holy Communion every Sunday. He is

burning with desire to reinstate the Catholic religion, and he labours

for the conversion of the nobility. Only yesterday a man in a very high

position was received into the Church. As for your Paternity's

exhortation to guard against the spirit of the world, I thank you, but

I do not see how I am to do it, unless I flee from the court and from

those about it. I will take pains to satisfy my conscience and

obedience, but I fear that I shall not content those who look on the

dark side. If your Paternity thinks that I seek the favour of princes

more for my own sake than that of the Society, it is a bitter reproach,

for I would rather die than be guilty of such a fault. The archdukes

will bear me out how often I have spoken to them on this subject, and

how I have begged them to write nothing on my behalf to the General or

to the provincial; but they insist that if I lay down the rectorate I

must retain the confessorship."*

* Orig. G. Epist., 35, 479.

In the end, this suggested compromise was effected. Father Viller was

no longer rector of Gratz, but remained confessor to the archducal

family. Nevertheless, complaints of him did not cease, and he had to

defend himself against the charge of clinging inordinately to the

worldy advantages of his position. In a confidential letter to the

German Resident in Rome he wrote:--

"I call God to witness that I do not value the court and my present

office more than any other service which my superiors may call upon me

to render to the Society. I am cheerfully ready to leave the court at

any moment, and at the risk of losing the prince's favour, whenever my

superior expresses a wish that I should do so, to say nothing of

receiving a decided order. I have not so high an opinion of my person

that I seek consideration on account of the favour and affection of the

prince."

Still the attacks on Father Viller did not cease. Those who were for

unmitigated austerity looked on his broad views with horror. Father

Scherer, one of the most rigid, called him "the synagogue of

Libertines." The provincial, and the Spaniard, Father Ximenes, were

among those who judged him most severely. He was, moreover,

involved--and this is perhaps less to his credit than any supposed

laxness with which he was charged--in the squabbles between the

Hapsburg and Wittelsbach royal families, concerning the bishopric of

Passau. This had for long been an apple of contention between Austria

and Bavaria, and the new rector of the college at Gratz, Father Haller,

in describing the situation to the General, wrote: "Outsiders on either

side naturally throw oil on the flames, and as regards Ours, I doubt

whether they do their best to extinguish them, exercising the necessary

charity and prudence. Father Viller does the reverse, blaming and

condemning everything Bavarian, while he praises and defends the

Austrians indiscriminately. Both parties have their adherents, who

publish everything from their own point of view. As this one-sided

material is all that is laid before Ours, the danger is that the advice

given is not in favour of investigation. It is taken for granted that

all that comes before their eyes is true, and the other side is

condemned unheard. But as it is clear that the Christian cause in

Germany would be greatly benefited by a union of the two parties, it

would be well worth the trouble, seeing the immense influence which the

Society has over the princes and their advisers, for the members of the

Order to labour with more zeal than heretofore, to bring about this

reconciliation, particularly at Prague, Vienna, Munich, and Gratz." He

concludes with the wish that not alone the Society, but the rulers of

the Church also, might advance the cause of union.

In a postscript Father Haller returns to his charge against Father

Viller, who, he declares, has disregarded the rules of the fifth

General Congregation. At Ferrara, for instance, he engaged in a violent

controversy with the Bavarian agent, Sper, about the Passau question,

as well as that of the bishopric of Salzburg, which the Bavarians were

supposed to covet. Besides this, Father Viller, blinded by prejudice,

disapproved of the contemplated marriage between the Austrian Archduke

and the Princess Maria Anna of Bavaria, "which he would prevent if he

could. In short," wrote the provincial, "the good Father has

extravagant and dangerous notions, and gives no good example to the

college."

In his own defence Father Viller wrote that he was by no means averse

from the alliance, that he had himself secretly applied for, and

obtained, the necessary dispensation at Rome, and had frequently

expressed his earnest desire that the marriage might take place,

considering that a union between the two princely houses would conduce

to the honour of both, and to the protection and defence of the

Catholic religion in Germany.

Only, the health of the bride must be considered no less than her great

and remarkable piety, as it was important to provide for the

continuation of the line of the august house, into which it was

proposed she should enter. He had thought that as marriage was so

delicate an affair, foresight was needful, in order that no want of

physical health and beauty might in course of time change affection

into aversion, such as was to be daily observed in the marriages of so

many illustrious persons. This, Father Viller declared, was his whole

mind on the subject, and such as he had in all humility expressed it to

the prince. With his whole heart he wished both exalted personages the

tenderest love, firm union, and continuous happiness. He believed that

the Archduke Ferdinand could not form a more suitable alliance with any

other family in Europe, but at the same time, no one should quarrel

with him, Father Viller, for wishing that the bride might possess

sufficient corporal health and beauty to ensure the well-being of their

issue, and the continuance of conjugal affection. For this reason he

trusted in the great piety and noble character of the duke and duchess

that they would not endanger the future of their daughter, and that of

her children, as well as the happiness of their prospective son-in-law,

by concealing a want of health on the part of their most devout and

admirable daughter.*

* The reports as to the condition of the Princess Maria Anna's health

appear not to have been without foundation. Hurter mentions her

delicacy, and Koch says that she was unhealthy. She died on the 8th

March 1616.

But Duke William of Bavaria was deeply offended with the Archduke

Ferdinand's confessor, and even after the marriage which took place on

the 23rd April 1600, at Gratz, Father Viller having indiscreetly

reopened the subject of the bride's want of health, complaints of him

reached the General. But, in spite of all this, he did not lose the

archduke's favour, retaining his entire confidence to the end.

An incident connected with the jealousy with which the Society guarded

its rule of non-interference in politics, is furnished by the same

Father Viller, who, in 1599, was appointed to go to Rome on a mission

from the Austrian archduke. On this occasion the General, Father

Aquaviva, wrote to Father Viller as follows:--

"As at the present time general suspicion is aroused, especially in

Venice, by any semblance even of politics, it will be difficult to

avoid remarks, when it is seen that your reverence is charged with an

embassy from the archduke to the Pope. And as the good prince has

deserved so well of the Church and of the Society, and especially as

your reverence has resisted so long, excusing yourself in prudent and

religious fashion, it appears to me that a via media is possible, and

an exception may be made. That is to say, that if the mission has

nothing whatever to do with politics, but has merely regard to matters

of faith, concerning heretics or the Turks, your reverence is at

liberty to undertake it, and may set out as soon as is desired. But if

the business is a political one, you must entreat the archduke,

appealing to his love for the Society, to send some one more suitable

in your place. This will be better for the archduke himself, and will

confer a benefit on the Society."*

*Ad. Austr., 1573-1600.

It cannot be denied that during the reigns of the Archdukes Ferdinand,

Charles, and Rudolph, the Court of Gratz was a model of purity,

uprightness, and activity. As the Jesuits were all-powerful there

during the whole of this period, it is obvious that this satisfactory

condition must, in a large measure, be attributed to their influence.

The introduction of the Society into Innsbruck was the work of the

Emperor Ferdinand, and the first Jesuit to labour in the new field was

the Tyrolese, Father Charles Grim. At Innsbruck, in 1561, lived the

five so-called queens, daughters of the emperor, who lived a

semi-religious life, and who desired to be confessed, directed, and

preached to by members of the Society. In 1563 the emperor paid a visit

to his daughters, and inspected the new college at Innsbruck. He

expressed his satisfaction with it, and presented the community with a

garden.

The five "queens," Magdalen, Margaret, Barbara, Helena, Joanna, had a

great reputation for piety and charity. A young girl, who had received

severe injuries from a fire, was received into their palace and nursed

with the most loving care. Certain persons were charged by them to

inform them of cases of need as they arose. Father Edmund Hay told the

General that three of the "queens" had dedicated themselves to God by a

vow, and had resolved to remove as soon as possible from the turmoil

and luxury of the court into greater solitude. One of them was

especially pious, frequented the sacraments once a month and oftener,

and would practise very great austerities if her confessor would allow

her. In 1565 people already declared that the court of these

archduchesses was like a convent; every sign of pomp and splendour had

disappeared, and humility and modesty reigned in their stead.

On the 11th January 1566, Father Dirsius wrote to the General, St.

Francis Borgia, in behalf of the "queens" Margaret, Magdalen, and

Helena, telling him that their brothers, the emperor, and the Archdukes

Ferdinand and Charles, fully concurred in their making the

above-mentioned vow. They had wished, he said, to remove to Munich,

with their attendants, and to live there in a convent of Poor Clares,

apart from the world. But this plan their brothers opposed, and desired

them to remain in Austria. The emperor had even offered them deserted

convents in Corinthia, but in those parts there were too many heretics

to please the princesses. Everyone advised them to remain at Innsbruck,

where they already edified the faithful by their virtuous example, and

prevented apostasy. They themselves were willing to remain; at least

they wished to be in a place where there was a college of the Society,

and were thinking of taking the newly-built Franciscan convent, the

Italian Franciscans for whom it had been constructed being unlikely to

remain on account of the climate and the difficulties they experienced

in mastering the German language. In case the archduchesses did not get

possession of this convent they had also in view a house in the

neighbourhood of Innsbruck. In this event they humbly begged for

fathers to direct them spiritually, and to undertake the care of other

souls in the place.

In answering this letter St. Francis Borgia said that the Society was

ready to help the archduchesses spiritually, if only out of gratitude

to their father and brother, but that it was contrary to the Institute

for the members of the Society to live for any length of time apart

from their colleges or houses, and it would in any case be displeasing

to the Fathers themselves to forego the company and edifying example of

their religious brethren. It seemed, therefore, advisable that the

three princesses should take up their abode where there was a college

or house of the Society, and preferably at Innsbruck, where they might

inhabit the house built by their father, or some other of the same

description, where they might observe the rule of life they had

adopted, and keep the vow they had taken before God. The Fathers might

hear the confessions of the princesses and preach to them. A proviso

was afterwards made that, in the event of the "queens" founding a

convent, the Jesuits should no longer be their confessors, as this

would be directly contrary to the intention of St. Ignatius, as

expressed in the Institute.

The General then sent Father Canisius to Innsbruck to arrange matters,

and the holy apostle of Germany formulated the opinion that "Ours

should not easily receive permission to direct women, even the most

exalted in position, for we have experienced to our detriment and the

detriment of this college in particular, that Ours are liable in such

matters to suffer in their vocation, and as a consequence to become

unbearable."*

* Kroess, p. 177.

The next year (16th August 1567), Father Peter Canisius reiterated his

apprehension: "I consider it extremely difficult to keep Fathers to

their obedience and religious discipline when they are in any way bound

to the court," he said.

Meanwhile, the "queens" had chosen Hall, a little town near Innsbruck,

as their residence, and Father Dirsius announced the circumstance to

the General in these terms:--

"The Queens have purposed for years to withdraw from the world. Now,

with the consent of their brothers, they have decided to reside at

Hall, and there with some of their ladies and attendants who wish to

imitate them, to lead a religious life in common, but without adopting

a habit or the rule of any religious order. They need priests, however,

and wish for Fathers of the Society. They beg, therefore, that the

church to be built at Hall with all its treasures may be taken over by

the Society, for which they also wish to found a novitiate there."

But Father Borgia again objected, foreseeing nearly all the

difficulties which arose later on. The Society might not undertake the

direction of a community of women, even though these were not leading a

thoroughly conventual life. It was not advisable for the Fathers to

accept the church offered to them at Hall, because the college they

were to establish in that place would have its own church connected

with it, which would suffice. Further, it was not convenient that a

church, communicating with the house where the archduchesses lived with

their suite, should be handed over to them, and lastly, it was not the

custom of the Fathers to go daily from their own to another church at a

distance, to conduct divine service there. The General concluded his

letter with the remark that, as the project of the "queens" was

directly opposed to the Institute, nothing further need be said about

such a foundation.

In a second letter he instructed Blessed Peter Canisius to impress upon

the archduchesses that they should be content with the confessor chosen

by the Society as the one best suited to them. Canisius was then to

name Father Lanoy, whom the General was sending to Innsbruck from

Vienna, the empress having been very well contented with him. If they

demurred, it was to be represented to them that it was not becoming for

"Ours" to frequent palaces much. The less frequently they were seen

there the better, and the less people testified their affection for

them by sending them food and clothes, the better would they be enabled

to live a community life, and observe the Institute. The better also

would they be able to render spiritual service.

Father Borgia communicated this instruction to the rector of Innsbruck

College also, and added that he feared the Fathers were too much

spoiled by presents from the "queens," who were in the habit of sending

meals daily from their palace to them. In answer to the rector's

question as to what was to be done with the food thus sent, the General

replied that it was to be given to the sick, or to those in need. It

was to be desired that the "queens" might be persuaded to send no more

things of the sort. If they wished to bestow an alms on the college,

they should do so in a more useful way. On no consideration should

their confessor be allowed to take his meals in his own room; sickness

being the only exception to this rule.

It was some time before the princesses could be induced to give up

sending delicacies to their confessors, two lackeys being daily told

off to carry the various dishes from the palace to the college. At

last, however, the unwelcome favours were stopped by the rector

declaring that the dinners thus sent did not reach the destination

intended, but were distributed to the sick members of the community and

others, the "queens" confessors partaking of the ordinary fare.

Nevertheless, the archduchesses gained their point as regarded the

other matter, for in the end, the General gave an unwilling consent to

their choosing their own confessors, but he told Canisius that this

arrangement only held good during the lifetime of the "queens," and was

to form no precedent. After their death the Society would not continue

to direct the community of ladies which they had founded, such work not

being in accordance with the rules of the Institute, which, in this

particular as in others, had been approved by the Holy See.

In order to secure the Jesuits permanently as their directors, the

pious archduchesses determined to found a novitiate at Hall, and to

offer it to the General of the Society. St. Francis Borgia accepted the

offer, but on condition that no responsibility was to accrue to the

Society respecting the future of the community, and he wished it to be

impressed on the princesses how much he had condescended in allowing

their confessors to associate with their court, such frequent

intercourse with seculars, especially with ladies, being undesirable

for religious, and giving occasion to idle and frivolous remarks.