Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/655

 JESUITS JESUS CHRIST 635 Spaniard, 1687-1705; 1-t, Tamburini, a Mode- nese, 1706-'30 ; 15, Retz, a Bohemian, 1730-'50 ; 16, Visconti, a Milanese, 1751-'5; 17, Centuri- oni, a Genoese, 1755-'7 ; 18, Ricci, a Floren- tine, 1758-'73, died in 1775; 19, Brzozowski, a Pole, 1814-'20 ; 20, Fortis, a Veronese, 1820- f'29 ; 21, Roothaan, a Hollander, 1829-'53 ; 22, Beckx, a Belgian. Among the Jesuits who have been canonized or beatified, the most celebrated are Ignatius Loyola, Francis Xavier, Francis Borgia, Francis Regis, Aloysius Gonzaga, and Stanislas Kostka. Before the suppression of the order, the Jesuits counted among their members some of the greatest scholars of Eu- rope. The works of Petavius, Sirmond, Tur- sellinus, and Viger in classical literature, and of Tiraboschi in literary history, are still valued and used. Among the theologians and pulpit orators, Bellarmin, Pallavicini, Paolo Segneri, and Bourdaloue are especially distinguished. Since the restoration, Passaglia (who, however, left the order in 1858) and Perrone have gained the reputation of being among the principal theological writers of the Roman Catholic church, and Ravignan and Felix in France and Roh in Germany have been counted among the greatest Catholic pulpit orators. The most ex- tensive literary work of the order is the Aeta Sanctorum (Bollandist), commenced in the 17th century and still continued. Among its peri- odicals are the Gimltd Cattolica, semi-monthly, at Rome (which has the largest circulation of any theological publication of Italy); the Pre- cis historiques ft litteraires, semi-monthly, at Brussels; the Etudes theologiques, fortnight- ly, at Paris; "The Month," at London; and two published at Freiburg in Germany. Sev- eral charges of complicity in the murder of princes have been brought against the Jesuits, some of which have been abandoned by all impartial historians, while all are contested. These charges are closely connected with the doctrine of the rightfulness of tyrannicide, which has been defended by several writers of the order. It is generally admitted that 14 Jesuits, viz., Sa, Tolet, Valentia, Delrio, Salas, Mariana, Heissius, Suarez, Lessins, Becan, Gretser, Tanner, Castro-Paolo, and Escobar, have maintained it. But on the other hand, it is alleged that this doctrine was one very com- mon among the Roman Catholic theologians, and that even Thomas Aquinas taught it; that more than 60 Jesuits have written against it ; and that tbose Jesuits who admit it, confine it to a few exceptional cases, and allow it to be committed only by a nation. Acquaviva, by a decree issued after the assassination of Henry IV., and dated July 6, 1610, forbade any mem- ber publicly or privately to uphold the doc- trine that it is lawful for any one under any pretext of tyranny to attempt the life of any ruler. On other points of ethics members of the order have been accused of unsound prin- ciples even by certain Catholic writers, and some of the writings of Jesuits have been on this account censured by Rome. Concerning this point the defence presents the same argu- ments as on the preceding, viz., that none of the censured doctrines were peculiar to the or- der or shared by all its members. The follow- ing passage in the constitution of the order has often been and is still construed by some wri- ters as if it gave to the superiors of the order the right of obliging their inferiors to commit a sin : Visum eat noliis in Domino, excepto ex- presso tioto quo societas summo pontifici pro tempore existenti tenetur, ac trifivs aliis essen- tialibus paupertatii, castitatis,^ et obedientia, nullas constitutions, declarationes, tel ordi- nem ullum vivendi posse obligationem adpeeca- tum mortale vel teniale inducere, nisi superior ea in nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi, vel in virtute obedientias juberet. But the Jesuits have proved this to be a mistranslation of the Latin and in conflict with others of their rules ; the true sense of the passage being, that none of the rules of the order so bind the members that the non-observance by itself involves a sin, but that a sin is committed only when a member violates a special order of the superior. Several Protestant historians of note, as Ranke (" History of the Popes ") and Reuchlin (" His- tory of Port Royal "), who in the first editions of their works had followed the former inter- pretation, have changed their view in subse- quent editions, and pronounced the interpreta- tion which the order itself gives of it the true one. Among the most important works on the history of the Jesuits are : Historia Societatis Jesu, from 1540 to 1625, by Orlandini, Sac- chini, Passinus, and other members of the so- ciety ; Wolf (adverse to the Jesuits), A llge- meine Geschichte der Jesuiten (4 vols., Leipsic, 1803), valuable for its complete bibliography ; Cretineau-Joli, Histoire religieuse, politique et litteraire de la compagnie de Jesus (6 vols., Paris, 1844-'6) ; Gioberti (adverse to the Jesu- its), II Gesuita, moderno (5 vols., Lausanne, 18i7) ; A. Steinmetz, " History of the Jesuits " (3 vols., London, 1848); Abbe Guettee (Gal- lican), Histoire des Jesuites (2 vols., Paris, 1858-'9) ; Huber (Old Catholic), Der Jesuiten- Orden (Berlin, 1873). See also the " Institute of. the Society of Jesus, approved by the Holy See," " Decrees of the General Congregations," and " Ordinances of the Superiors General," all which have been published ; " Life and Institute of St. Ignatius Loyola," by Bartoli ; Documents authentiques, &c., by Carie de la Charie (Paris, 1827) ; and Ravignan's IS Existence et Finntitut des Jesuites (Paris, 1844), and Clement XIII. et Clement XIV. (2 vols. 8vo, 1854). JESCITS' BARK. See CINCHONA. JESUS CHRIST ('Itfcroif, the Greek form of the Hebrew Jeshua or Joshua, help of Jehovah, saviour; Xptar6c, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah, the anointed), the founder of the Christian religion, born in Bethlehem, a city of Judea, during the reign of the empe- ror Augustus, probably in the fourth year (or perhaps the sixth) before the Christian era, crucified in a locality of or near Jerusalem