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Rh echoes the real spirit of the Society on this point: "Faithful to the traditions of the Church, the Society did not estimate a man's worth simply according to his birth and outward circumstances. The constitutions expressly laid down that poverty and mean extraction were never to be any hindrance to a pupil's admission ... and Sacchini says: 'Do not let any favoring of nobility interfere with the care of meaner pupils, since the birth of all is equal in Adam and the inheritance is Christ'."

It is said that the Jesuits "labored for those pupils who could pay them for their efforts." In the Constitutions of the Society it is laid down as a strict rule that "no one is to accept anything which might be considered as a compensation for any ministry," [education included]. How this principle was applied to the colleges can be best seen from the following regulations made by Father Nadal: "The Rector cannot receive anything either for any instruction, or degree, or matriculation; nothing as a remuneration for the teacher, nor any present from a scholar. In short, nothing can be received, not even as alms or on any other grounds. Should the Rector hear that any one else has accepted anything, be he a teacher or an official of the school, he must see that it is returned to the person who gave it; and he must severely punish the person who received it."