The Jesuits
by Rit NosotroChange Over Time essay
Provide a historical overview of the rise and decline of the Jesuits.
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Summary:
The Jesuits are a group of people who belong to an organization called the Society of Jesus. This organization is a branch of the Roman Catholic Church vowed to poverty, obedience and celibacy begun by Saint Ignatius of Loyola. They were approved by a Bull issued by Paul III. The Jesuit Society is not just a religion. It is a way of life.
The founder of the Jesuits, St. Ignatius of Loyola was born Inigo de Loyola in 1491. He was the youngest of thirteen children in a noble Basque family in Spain. He was considered a favorite in the Spanish Court and a great soldier. When he was around thirty years old he was wounded in a battle against the French. He was hit with a canon ball that broke one of his legs and wounded the other. Because of his great bravery in battle, the French, instead of taking him as a prisoner or killing him, carried him to his father’s castle to recuperate. His broken leg did not heal completely the first time and it had to be broken and set again. It still was not set properly and he spent the rest of his life with one leg shorter than the other. While laid up in bed he was despairing that his life was over, no one wanted a lame man as a soldier or anything else. He began to read spiritual books as they were the only thing in the castle to chase away his boredom. After he realized the importance of spiritual matters he returned to school to study to be a priest. Due to being arrested for preaching without being ordained in a certain country he ended up attending several schools in different countries. While in school in Paris, where he finished, he made friends with several men that would later be Jesuits along side of him, one of them being Francis Xavier.
The Jesuits are community of fathers who have been ordained priests, and Brothers who are not ordained. Members of the Jesuit Society fall into four classes, first, Novices, second, formed scholastics, third, formed coadjutors, and fourth, the professed. Visions are very important to Jesuits, they are used to tell someone’s spiritual power or awareness or just facts. Such as in a vision of St. Francis of Assissi the Jesuits believe that the purple passion flower (the state flower of Tennessee), grew on the cross of Jesus. They also believe that the five petals and five sepals represent the ten disciples not including Judas for his betrayal or Peter for his denial. The Indians believed the fruit of the passion flower to cure insomnia so when the Jesuits saw some Indians eating it they interpreted it to mean that the Indians were hungry for Christianity.
The Jesuits so mission minded, that mere months after the founding of the order St. Ignatius sent his ablest associate, Francis Xavier, to the Far East as a missionary. In 1749 more than one seventh of all Jesuits, and more than one fifth of all Jesuit priest were missionaries. Chinese missions began in 1580, because of the Chinese’s closed boarders to all teachers and religious workers the Jesuits approached the Chinese as scientists and astronomers. They were welcomed and began to dress as Mandarins and use the Chinese tongue. They were looked down on by other missionaries for conforming and allowing the Chinese to continue their ancestral worship if they converted so as not to offend the Chinese. This missionary mindness has lead them into many conflicts. The most famous of which was the reductions in South America. The Jesuits had established small communities to convert, civilize, and protect the Indians there from the slave trade. Because of the wealth that these communities they were constantly under attack. In 1773 they were banished from South America causing the collapse of these systems and the abolition of the order that was not reinstated until 1814. They were also great missionaries to the slaves who came in on the slave ships. Several Jesuit priests would attempt to meet every slave ship that came in. While the slaves were on the ship they would attend to their needs by giving them food and wine. They also performed the necessary rituals of Baptism for the infants and dying slaves.
During times of persecution the Jesuits have been at both the giving and the receiving end. During the Spanish Inquisition groups such as the Jews, Moslems, Protestants, and Catholic reformers and Mystics, including St. Ignatius were persecuted. But even during their own persecution the Jesuits hated the French Huguenots. They were always searching for a way to make the French reveal whether or not they were a Huguenot. If they were they were given a chance to repent. If they did not repent they were banned from certain activities and jobs or killed.
The Jesuits are and were a mission minded group. Their main priority was to civilize and Christianize the heathens. They have attempted to do that all throughout history and even now continue to do so.
Quick Quiz:
1. Who was the founder of the Jesuits?
a. Francis Xavier
b. St. Francis of Assissi
c. St. Ignatius of Loyola
d. Paul III
2. What year was the organization abolished?
a. 1749
b. 1580
c. 1773
d. 1814
3. In what countries have the Jesuits sent missionaries?
a. China
b. South America
c. All of the above
d. None of the Above
4. Who did the Jesuits hate?
a. The Indians
b. The Protestants
c. The Huguenots
d. The Catholics
Sources
http://www.sherpaguides.com/tennessee/sidebars/purple_passion_flower.html
http://www.jezuieten.org/summary.htm
http://www.reformation.org/jesuits.html
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14081a.htm
http://www.luc.edu/jesuit/ignatius.bio.html
http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/42.html
http://www.catholicism.org/slave-of-slaves.html
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1992/2/92.02.06.x.html
http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/WestTech/evili.htm
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