Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/200

 l62 Readings in Europran History Then, gathering in this beautiful city and remaining within its confines in order to complete and preserve the union of their society in Christ, they have drawn up a rule of life in accordance with the principles which they have learned by experience will promote their desired ends, and in conform- ity with evangelical precepts and the canonical sanctions of the fathers. The tenor of the aforesaid rule is as follows: The rule of the Jesuits. Purposes of the society. Special obedience to the pope. He who desires to fight for God under the banner of the cross in our society, — which we wish to distinguish by the name of Jesus, — and to serve God alone and the Roman pontiff, his vicar on earth, after a solemn vow of perpetual chastity, shall set this thought before his mind, that he is a part of a society founded for the especial purpose of provid- ing for the advancement of souls in Christian life and doc- trine and for the propagation of the faith through public preaching and the ministry of the word of God, spiritual exercises and deeds of charity, and in particular through the training of the young and ignorant in Christianity and through the spiritual consolation of the faithful of Christ in hearing confessions ; and he shall take care to keep first God and next the purpose of this organization always before his eyes. . . . All the members shall realize, and shall recall daily, as long as they live, that this society as a whole and in every part is fighting for God under faithful obedience to one most holy lord, the pope, and to the other Roman pontiffs who succeed him. And although we are taught in the gos- pel and through the orthodox faith to recognize and stead- fastly profess that all the faithful of Christ are subject to the Roman pontiff as their head and as the vicar of Jesus Christ, yet we have adjudged that, for the special promotion of greater humility in our society and the perfect mortifica- tion of every individual and the sacrifice of our own wills, we should each be bound by a peculiar vow, in addition to the general obligation, that whatever the present Roman pontiff, or any future one, may from time to time decree regarding the welfare of souls and the propagation of the