himself had envisioned. The proportion of spiritual coadjutors rose steadily from eight per
cent under Ignatius to forty-six per cent under the fourth General. The number was still
over forty per cent under General Aquaviva (1581 – 1615) and remained at about thirty
per cent over the next half century.
Jesuits seemed to excel in whatever they did and to lead almost everywhere that
they went. That, at any rate, is what they themselves usually claimed. But they were
rarely bashful about singing their praises, not least in order to hearten patrons and
encourage recruitment. Ignatius had insisted on good communications between centre and
provinces, and was eager to record and publish accounts of the Company s progress.
Before long, publications like the Annual Letters edited accounts of Jesuit successes and
heroism, were being widely circulated. Jesuit self-appreciation was often confirmed by
enemies of the Society who exaggerated its power and achievements.
Jesuits made their largest contribution to the Couter Reformation in the
Rhineland, Franconia and Bavaria, the Austrian Habsburg lands, the Spanish Netherlands
during the rule of the Archduke Albert and Isabella (1598 – 1633) and Poland-Lithuania
(Broderick). They were the dominant religions in these places and a key to Catholic
recovery, but they were not alone. Older orders, especially friars, and other newcomers
(Capuchins) were often conspicuous and collectively more numerous. In Poland where
the Society enjoyed a dominant role, Piarists, Vincentians and eventually two native Polish
orders began to rival them, especially in schooling.
In some other important parts of Europe, Jesuits were not the leading religious
group. In Catholic Switzerland Capuchins were the dominant group; in Ireland there
were as many Dominicans as Jesuits and five times as many Fransiscans by the early
1620 s; and it is easy to be so dazzled by the heroes of the Jesuit mission in England that
the contributions of other orders and, above all, of the secular priests from the English
seminaries in Europe are seriously undervalued (Broderick).
Perhaps the most intriguing of all is the story of the Society in France. Jesuits
established themselves there quickly, as they were zealous in the rich and diverse renewal
of French Catholicism during the seventeenth century. But they never really flourished in
Gallic soil, though they always had many good French friends and patrons like Descartes,
Moliere and Voltaire. They were too Roman and above all, too Spanish for many tastes
most of the time. Initially a large proportion of the Jesuits in France were not French, the
largest single national group in the Society was Spanish. The first five generals of the
order were subjects of Philip II of Spain and the Austrian Hapsburgs were eventually the
Jesuit s best friends. Much of this helps to explain why, in 1595, the Society had its first
taste of what would become an all too familiar experience by the end, expulsion. It was
not that the Jesuits had played a conspicuous part in the French Wars of Religion, that is,
in the Catholic League, and were now being punished for their misdeeds. Contrary to
what has sometimes been thought, they had not. Friar and secular clergy had been much
more active in stirring and leading with pen and processions. No, parliament and the
Sorbonne, traditional homes of Gallicanism and now political loyalty to Henry IV, saw
Jesuits as agents of Spain, the enemy of France (Mitchell). In fact no royal edict ensued,
some other parliaments failed to follow Paris s lead and, before long, Jesuits were
reinstated. But what had happened left, or exposed a wound that never really healed.
Though most numerous in Spain and Portugal, the Society was not always the
most important force in these countries, and in Italy it was often overshadowed by
Barnabites, Theatines and Capuchins. Not all popes were enamored of the Society,
despite the fourth vow. Paul IV nearly wrecked it by trying to force it into a monastic
mold. Other pontiffs often kept Jesuits at arms length. The greatest bishop of the
Catholic Reformation, Carle Borromeo of Milan, had reservations about them. He took
his seminary out of their control and patronized other orders, including his own Oblates of
St. Ambrose.
Rivalries between orders and friction between religious and secular clergy had long
been a feature of Church history. So there was nothing new about the animosity that
Jesuits aroused among many fellow clergy. But that ill-will was often deplorably intense
and doused sores that never healed. Jealousy was partly to blame for this. The Jesuits
successes, their privileges, patronage and property brought about the worst in other
orders. So too did their novelty, that is, the fact that they were religious but neither liked
nor behaved like them. From early times, critics, especially Spanish Dominicans, were
remarking that Jesuits were neither fish nor fowl. Paul IV, not least because he personally
disliked Ignatius, pounced on this fact and tried to make them accept the daily discipline
of office in choir. Some of these same opponents were deeply suspicious of Jesuit
spirituality, scenting illuminism in Ignatius s appeal to sense and imagination, and heresy in
Jesuit sermons. On the other hand Jesuit devotion to Rome, exemplified in the fourth
vow and the strong papalist line taken by Lainez and others at Trent, made them suspect
in Gallican circles, while their international character and apparent solidarity as an order
were often as unpalatable as their Romanities (O Malley). So conservatives disliked their
novelty, others their conservatism. Even before Ignatius died they had been formally
censured by the Sorbonne, that bastion of Gallicanism, for all these reasons.
Since the inception of the idea that bore the Jesuit religion, there have always been
skeptics. However, there have also been many followers of this religion. To say that
being Jesuit is good or bad would be wrong, as it is not possible to rate how effective any
particular religion is in achieving its goals. Ignatius tried to remain true to his original
formula, but as the popularity increased passed a point he had never imagined, he was
forced to make changes to ensure that the faith could survive the ultimate test of time. It
was these changes that brought about the official training and education made available in
private colleges that were funded, solely for the purpose of recruiting and developing the
Jesuit faith. As the numbers of participation continued to grow primarily due to these
colleges, the Jesuits were met with more and more opposition.
Broderick, James S.J. The Origin of the Jesuits. Great Britain: Longmans, Green and
Company, 1940.
Dalton, Roy C. The Jesuits Estate Question 1760-1888: A Study of the Background for
the Agitation of 1889. Great Britain: University of Toronto Press, 1968.
Lacouture, Jean. Jesuits, A Multibiography. Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint, 1995.
Mitchell, David. The Jesuits, A History. New York, N.Y.: Franklin Watts, 1980.
O Malley, John W. The First Jesuits. London, England: Harvard University Press, 1993