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 SOCIETY

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SOCIETY

The cause of the Jesuits was also compromised by the various quarrels of Louis XIV with Innocent XI, especially concerning therego/eand theGallican articles of 1682. (See Louis XIV and Innocent XI. The different standpoints of these articles may help to illustrate the differences of view prevalent within the order on this subject.) At first there was a tendency on both sides to spare the French Jesuits. They were not at that time asked to subscribe to the Gallican articles, while Innocent overlooked their adherence to the king, in hopes that their modera- tion might bring about peace. But it was hardly possible that they should escape all troubles under a domination so pressing. Louis conceived the idea of uniting all the French Jesuits under a vicar, inde- pendent of the general in Rome. Before making this known, he recalled aU his Jesuit subjects, and all, even the assistant, Pere Fontaine, returned to France. Then he proposed the separation, which Thyrsus Gonzdlez firmly refused. The provincials of the five French Jesuit provinces implored the king to desist, which he eventually did. It has been alleged that a papal decree forbidding the reception of novices between 1684-6 was issued in punishment of the French Jesuits giving support to Louis (Cr^- tineau-joly). The matter is alluded to in the Brief of Suppression; but it is still obscure, and would seem rather to be connected with the Chinese rites than with the difficulties in France. Except for the interdict on their schools in Paris, 1716-29, by Car- dinal de Noailles, the fortunes of the order were very calm and prosperous during the ensuing gen- eration. In 1749 the French Jesuits were divided into five provinces with members as follows: France, 891; Aquitaine, 437; Lyons, 773; Toulouse, 655; Champagne, 594; total, 3350 (1763 priests) in 158 houses.

Germany. — The first Jesuit to labour here was Bl. Peter Faber (q. v.), who won to their ranks Bl. Peter Canisius (cj. v.), to whose hfelong diligence and emi- nent holiness tlie rise and prosperity of the German provinces are especially due. In 15.56 there were two provinces. South Germany {Germania Superior, up to and including Mainz) and North Germany (Rhena/ia, or Germania Inferior, including Flanders). The first residence of the Society was at Cologne (1544), the first college at Vienna (1552). The Jesuit colleges were soon so popular that they were demanded on every side, faster than they could be supplied, and the greater groups of these became fresh provinces. Austria branched off in 1563, Bohemia in 1623, Flanders had become two separate provinces by 1612, and Rhineland also two provinces in 1626. At that time the five German-speaking provinces numbered over 100 colleges and academies. But meanwhile all Germany was in turmoil with the Thirty Yeara War, which had so far gone, generally, in favour of the Catholic powers. In 1629 came the Restitiilions- edikt (see Countbr-Reform.\tion), by which the emperor redistributed with papal sanction the old church property, which had been recovered from the usurpation of the Protestants. The Society received large grants, but was not much benefited thereby. Some bitter controversies en.sued with the ancient holders of the properties, who were often Benedic- tines; and many of the acquisitions were lost again during the next period of the war.

The sulTerings of the order during the second period were grievous. Even before the war they had been systematically persecuted and driven into exile by the Protestant princes, whenever these had the oppor- tunity. In 1618 they were banished from Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia; and after the advent of Gus- tavus Adolphus the violence to which they were liable wa.s increased. The fanatical proposal of banishing them for ever from Germany was made by him in 1631, and again at Frankfort in 1633; and

this counsel of hatred acquired a hold which it still exercises over the German Protestant mind. The initial successes of the Catholics of course excited further antipathies, especially as the great generals Tilly, VVallenstein, and Piccolomini had been Jesuit pupils. During the siege of Prague, 1648, Father Plachy successfully trained a corps of students for the defence of the town, and was awarded the mural crown for his services. The province of Upper Rhine alone lost seventy-seven Fathers in the field- hospitals or during the fighting. After the Peace of Westphalia, 1648, the tide of the Counter-Refor- mation had more or less spent itself. The foundation period had passed, and there are few external events to chronicle. The last notable conversion was that of Prince Frederick Augustus of Saxony (1697), afterwards King of Poland. Fathers Vota and Salerno (afterwards a cardinal) were intimately con- nected with his conversion. Within the walls of their colleges and in the churches thi'oughout the country the work of teaching, writing, and preaching contin- ued unabated, while the storms of controversy rose and fell, and the distant missions, especially China and the Spanish missions of South America, claimed scores of the noblest and most high-spirited. To this period belong PhUipp Jenigen (d. 1704) and Franz Hunolt (d. 1740), perhaps the greatest German Jesuit preachers; Tschupick, Joseph Schneller, and Ignatius Wurz acquu-ed an almost equally great reputation in Austria. In 1749 the German prov- inces counted as follows: Germania Superior, 1060; Lower Rhine, 772; Upper Rhine, 497; Austria, 1772; Bohemia, 1239; total, 5340 members (2558 priests) in 307 houses. (See also the Index volume under title "Society of Jesus", and such names as Becan, Byssen, Brouwer, Drechsel, Lohner, etc.)

Hungary was included in the province of Austria. The chief patron of the order was Cardinal Pdz- nidny (q. v.). The conversion of Sweden was several times attempted by German Jesuits, but they were not allowed to stay in the country. King John III, however, who had married a Polish princess, was actually converted (1578) through various missions by Fathers Warsiewicz and Possevinus, the latter accompanied by the English Father William Good; but the king had not the courage to persevere. Queen Christina (q. v.) in 1654 was brought into the Church, largely through the ministration of Fathers Macedo and Casati, having given up her throne for this purpose. The Austrian Fathers maintained a small residence at Moscow from 1684 to 1718, which had been opened by Father Vota. (See Possevinus.)

Poland. — Bl. Peter Canisius, who visited Poland in the train of the legate Mantuato in 1558, succeeded in animating King Sigismund to energetic defence of Catholicism, and Bishop Hosius of Ermland founded the college of Braun.sberg in 1584, which with that of Vilna (1569) became centres of Catholic activity in north-eastern Europe. King Stephen Bathory, an earnest patron of the order, founded a Ruthenian College at Vilna in 1575. From 15SS Father Peter Skarga (d. 1612) made a great impression by his preaching. There were violent attacks against the Society in the revolution of 1607, but after the vic- tory of Sigismund III the Jesuits more than recovered the ground lost; and in 160S the province could be subdivided into Lithuania and Poland. The animus against the Jesuits however vented itself at Cracow in 1612, through the scurrilous satire entitled "Mo- nita secreta" (q. v.). King Casimir, who had once been a Jesuit, favoured the Society not a little; so too did Sobieski, and his campaign to relieve Vienna from the Turks (1683) was due in part to the exhortations of Father Vota, his confes.sor. Among the great Polish missionaries are numbered Benedict Herbst (d. 1593) and Bl. Andrew Bobola (q. v.). In 1756