Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/650

 630 JESUITS fore the end of the 16th century into two prov- inces, and where they had houses and colleges in 20 towns. In Sweden they made great ef- forts, under John III. and Sigismund, to re- store the sway of the Roman Catholic church, but the dethronement of Sigismund in 1604 destroyed their hopes. In Russia favorable prospects seemed to open for them with the reign of Pseudo-Demetrius, but the fall of this prince involved that of the Jesuits. The mis- sionary activity of the Jesuits among the pa- gans commenced in 1541, the year after the ' foundation of the order. Francis Xavier sail- ed in that year to the East Indies, founded a college at Goa, preached in Travancore, Ma- lacca, Macassar, the islands, and Japan, and baptized a vast number of pagans. Other members of the order preached in Madura, Ceylon, and many other places, and the Chris- tian population of their missions in India rose to 100,000. Some members of the society, es- pecially Robert de' Nobili, appeared as Brah- mans, and tried to excel the Hindoo Brahmans as sages and penitents, regarding this as the most efficient means of obtaining the confi- dence of the Hindoo population. The mission in Japan was commenced by Francis Xavier in 1549; several princes were converted, and some natives were received into the society. In 1613 the Portuguese Jesuits had in Japan two colleges, eight residences, and three pro- fessed houses ; but the persecution which soon after broke out against the Catholics put an end to their establishments. Their last member, a native of Japan, was put to death in 1636. Father Rogerius penetrated into China in 1584, disguised as a merchant. Ricci established a reputation as one of the best Chinese scholars. Others became the teachers and ministers of several emperors. In 1692 they obtained a de- cree by which Christianity was declared to be a sacred law and the missionaries virtuous men. The number of converts was very large, and amounted in the province of Kiangsu alone to 100,000. But a controversy with several other orders on the conformity of the Jesuits to the pagan customs in China and India was decided by the pope against the Jesuits, and proved a fatal blow to the prosperity of their missions in these countries. Cochin China (1614) and Tonquin (1627) became likewise missionary fields for Jesuits ; the congregations in Tonquin in 1640 numbered 100,000 members, but they were cruelly persecuted. The most celebrated of the Jesuit missions was that established in Paraguay, where they Christianized and civil- ized an Indian population of from 100,000 to 200,000 souls. With the consent of the Spanish authorities they retained the civil do- minion over the Indians, and their principles of government have been commended by many who in other respects were their opponents, as Montesquieu, Muratori, and Southey ; while many of their admirers have represented Para- j guay under the sway of the Jesuits as more I free from vice and corruption than any oth- | er state of modern times. The prosperity of these missions was interrupted in 1750, when Spain ceded seven parishes to Portugal, and the Indians, with an army of 14,000 men, re- sisted the execution of this project. After some time, however, the former state of tilings and the dominion of the Jesuits were restored, both of which continued until the suppression of the order in Spain. In 1566 they were sent to Florida, which in the following year was formed into a vice province of the order, and a school for the children of the Florida In- dians was commenced in Havana (1568). On the invitation of a Virginian chief, called by the Spaniards Don Luis, Father Segura, the vice provincial, with seven members of the or- der and some Indian youths who had been edu- cated at Havana, undertook to establish a new mission on the banks of the Chesapeake, or St. Mary's bay. But the Indian proved to be a traitor, and Father Segura with all his com- panions except one lost their lives (1570). This led the Jesuits to abandon Florida for Mexico. The first mission of the Jesuits in California was established by Father Eusebius Kiilm or Kino, in 1683 ; gradually they found- ed 16 missionary stations, each of which was generally directed by one missionary. They administered these missions until the suppres- sion of the order in Spain and the Spanish pos- sessions. In 1611 the Jesuits established their first mission in the French possessions in Ame- rica. This mission was interrupted for a time by the English, who in 1629 took Quebec and carried off the missionaries; but their work was resumed in 1633, and for nearly half a century they wrestled with paganism in the northern wilds. Quebec remained their cen- tre, whence Jesuit missionaries were sent far and wide. The most distant effort made by the Jesuits was a mission in Arkansas. When Louisiana was settled, Jesuits were sent from France to undertake missions on the lower Mississippi, but these missions were not sub- ject to the superior at Quebec, but to another at New Orleans. After the restoration of the order, the Jesuits recommenced their missions among the Indians on the Missouri in 1824, which gradually extended over a number of tribes. In 1840 the mission in Oregon was commenced by Father de Smet, one of the most celebrated missionaries of the order in the present century. Other missions were estab- lished among the tribes near the Amazon river in Brazil (1549), Peru (1567), Mexico (1572), the Antilles (1700), Congo and Angola, on the W. coast of Africa (1560), and Turkey (1627), where they effected in particular the submission of many members of the eastern churches to the authority of the pope. To- ward the middle of the 18th century the prime ministers of Portugal (Pombal), Spain (Aran- da), and France (Choiseul) resolved nearly at the same time upon the expulsion of the Jesuits from their countries. Pombal was in- censed against them, ostensibly because he