Many secrets are kept by the history of the Jesuit Order - one of the most odious Catholic orders. Intrigue, espionage, murder, blackmail, political games, manipulation of everything and everyone, and so on, and so on …
The story of the secret history of the Jesuits should begin with the story of the one who was called the "General of the Pope" - the Spanish hidalgo Don Ignazio (Inigo) Lopez de Rscaldo Loyola, who was born in 1491 into a wealthy family in Loyola Castle in the Basque Country of Spain. In his youth, he visited the Spanish court and, having received a decent education at that time, chose a military career and entered the service of the Viceroy of Navarre. He became a brilliant officer, it seemed that the life of the hidalgo was predetermined, but fate decreed otherwise.
Thirty years old, Don Ignazio was seriously wounded in a fierce battle during the siege of Pamplona on March 28, 1521, after which he was transported to the ancestral castle. Thanks to his natural health and thirst for life, he escaped from the clutches of death. But the recovery was slow, and Loyola had time to reflect on what he believed to be a very important question: why, despite all the efforts of the Inquisition, the Catholic faith and the power of the pope had significantly weakened, and the Reformation was gaining strength? So, reading the book "The Life of Christ", Loyola decided to go to Jerusalem as a mendicant pilgrim.
Having recovered from his wounds, he left military service and decided to devote himself entirely to religious asceticism and service to the Pope. In 1523, the hidalgo made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where he tried his hand at converting Muslims to Christianity, but failed and, much annoyed by the failure, left the Holy Land.
Returning to his homeland, de Recaldo studied theology for some time in Salamanca, and then went to Paris, where he continued his theological education. There he met and became quite close friends with prominent religious figures Lainez and Bovadilla. Little by little, a group of students gathered around this man with an almost magnetic will and radiating enthusiasm and faith. They were Pierre Favre from Savoy, Francis Xavier from Navarre, Portuguese Simon Rodriguez, several Spaniards. They met often, they were worried about the affairs of the church and various ideological movements. The students talked about the "divine" and often prayed together. Two things seemed to them necessary and urgent in the situation that had developed then: "to know Jesus Christ, to imitate him and follow him" and to return to genuine gospel poverty. Friends made a planwhich they intended to carry out immediately after graduation: go to Jerusalem together, but if they fail to do so, go to Rome to put themselves at the disposal of the pope - for "any mission among the faithful or the unbelievers."
On August 15, 1534, early in the morning, seven companions ascended the Montmartre hill overlooking Paris, and in the Chapel of the Martyrs took personal vows to fulfill their plan. This happened during the Mass celebrated by Pierre Favre, who had been ordained a priest a few months earlier.
At the end of 1536, the companions, of whom there were already ten, set off from Paris to Venice. However, due to the war with the Turks, the ships did not sail to the Holy Land. Then the friends went to Rome and in November 1537, received by Pope Paul III, entered the service of the church - to carry out any missions.
Now that they knew they could be sent out “all over the world,” they were faced with the question of how to make sure that nothing could destroy their union. The obvious solution was obvious: since the Lord gathered them, people of such a different way of thinking, from different countries, then “it would be better for us to be thus united and tied into a single body so that no physical separation, no matter how great it may be, could divide us. With the participation of theologians Lainez and Bovadilla and the support of like-minded people who appeared at the retired officer, Don Ignazio Lopez de Recaldo Loyola developed a draft of the monastic order of the Society of Jesus, later called the Order of the Jesuits (from the Latin form of the name Jesus - Jesus).
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Experienced in military affairs, court intrigue and theology, Don Ignazio believed that the main goal of the new order should be to protect and spread the power of the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope. Soon the draft charter was finalized and presented to Pope Paul III. On September 27, 1540, the order was created. The Pope gives him extraordinary privileges, despite the fact that at that time the attitude towards the monastic orders was very ambiguous: they were assigned a significant part of the responsibility for the decline in the church. Nevertheless, after long deliberation, the Pope finally decided to found a new monastic order.
The following year, Ignazio Loyola became the first general of the order. Pay attention to the general, as in the army! Of all the Catholic monastic orders, only the Jesuits had a general as their head. Fifteen years later, on July 31, 1556, the founder of the order will end and already in 1622 he was canonized by the Catholic Church.
What was the Jesuit order and what tasks did it set for itself?
The founder of the order believed that in order to fight the Reformation, it is necessary to educate special - the chosen - people who would be fanatically devoted to the Catholic Church.
Loyola realized that the best way to educate a person according to a certain ideal is to conquer his imagination. He does not stop at wishes and sermons - he requires action: choosing the goal of life. To achieve this, a skillfully designed set of exercises was needed, ideally suited to the set goal. And Loyola creates his Spiritual Exercises. To improve himself, every Jesuit must do the spiritual exercises for forty days twice in his life - upon joining the Society of Jesus and after graduation. To maintain fortitude, the Jesuits repeat these exercises for eight days each year. The place for the procedure is a secluded cell. The initiate must stay in it throughout the entire period in silent concentration, communicating only with the spiritual mentor and confessing to him. It is necessary to withdraw into oneself, living only with thoughts and imaginary images … According to researchers of Loyola's activity, the main feature of "Spiritual Exercises" is that they "should not be read, but experienced." “A person, whatever his convictions, from the very beginning of the“exercises”is turned inside out, his life is turned upside down; he now rejects what he used to read,”notes A. Tondi, who was among the Jesuits for sixteen years and“lived”the book of Loyola. In such a “forge of personnel” unique personalities were really forged.from the very beginning of the "exercises" it turns inside out, his life turns upside down; he now rejects what he used to read,”notes A. Tondi, who was among the Jesuits for sixteen years and“lived”the book of Loyola. In such a “forge of personnel” unique personalities were really forged.from the very beginning of the "exercises" it turns inside out, his life turns upside down; he now rejects what he used to read,”notes A. Tondi, who was among the Jesuits for sixteen years and“lived”the book of Loyola. In such a “forge of personnel” unique personalities were really forged.
If you look at the history of the origin of the order, then questions arise: why did the pope immediately give the new order extraordinary privileges and why was a general put at the head of the monks? For what outstanding service, just sixty years after his death, Loyola was canonized? After all, any church usually approaches such decisions quite carefully and carefully.
This is one of the main mysteries of the Society of Jesus. The fact is that, having developed a project for a new monastic order, Loyola suggested that the Pope create … a Catholic political intelligence service! Moreover, in the form of a paramilitary organization with strict discipline.
Loyola was convinced that the inquisitors could not effectively carry out intelligence and counterintelligence functions - they were just crude butchers, and their spies and informers did not know how to correct the course of political processes in the right direction. Surely a trip to the East, where the Ismaili sect (the so-called Assassins) was strong, which later was not without reason called "Muslim Jesuits" by many authors, had a considerable influence on the founder of the order.
Having risen at the head of the order, the monk-general began to create an army of spies and spies who professed not at all Christian mercy, their motto became the words: "The end justifies the means." This completely untied the hands of the Jesuits, especially in relation to pagans and heretics, which were for Loyola and non-Catholics (for example, Orthodox Christians).
For the remaining fifteen years of his life, Ignazio leads the society (he maintains an impressive correspondence: 6,800 letters) and drafts the Constitution of the new institution. By the day of his death, it is almost complete. The first congregation to elect his successor will put the finishing touches on this work and formally approve it.
Members of the society, whose number is growing rapidly, are sent all over the world: to Christian Europe, excited by various movements of the Reformation, as well as to the lands discovered by the Spanish and Portuguese. Francis Xavier travels to India, then to Japan and dies at the borders of China. Nobrega in Brazil, others in Congo and Mauritania serve churches. Four members of the Society participate in the Council of Trent, which is engaged in the reform of the Catholic Church.
The first century of the society's existence was marked by remarkable development, in particular in the field of science. Colleges are multiplying. This is a heavy burden for the order, but they contribute to the numerical growth of the Society and to its social influence: in 1565 the order had 2,000 members, and in 1615, when the fifth general of the order died, 13,112.
The successes of the Society of Jesus during its first century have fueled rivalry, jealousy, and intrigue in other religious communities. In many cases, the struggle was so fierce that the order almost ceased to exist. In an era overwhelmed by the birth of the most controversial ideas such as Jansenism, quietism, enlightenment, the Jesuits took part in all the controversies.
At the same time, the missionary activity of the order continued. The Jesuits appeared in Florida, Mexico, Peru, Madagascar, the Philippines, Tibet … In Asia, they achieved great success. In 1614, over a million Japanese became Christians (before the persecution of society in that country). In China, the Jesuits received the right to missionary work from the emperor due to their knowledge of astronomy, mathematics and other sciences.
After the death of Loyola, his follower Jacob Linesz reorganized the order somewhat in accordance with the plans and behests of his "teacher". This is how the structure of society looked after that from the point of view of modern special services.
As a military organization, the order was divided into ranks. The first consisted of the subjects. For two years, they went through a harsh school of order discipline, which did not allow even mental doubts and the slightest hesitation when fulfilling the order of a higher Jesuit chief: it does not matter whether it was about delivering a secret message or killing an unwanted person.
Scholastics belonged to the second, higher category in the Jesuit hierarchy. For five years, they studied general sciences and theology. Moreover, not all subjects, but only those who were especially trusted and capable, became scholastics and received a very solid education for those times. During training, they had to hide from each other and engage in denunciations. In addition, they were trained in conspiratorial work, as well as given the practical knowledge necessary to become “soul fishers,” that is, recruiters of agents.
The third category was made up of coadjutors who took monastic vows and led an appropriate lifestyle. The subjects and scholastics, although they were members of the order, could, without standing out, live freely in the world. It was from such conspiratorial Jesuits that the vast espionage network of the Society of Jesus consisted.
In turn, the coadjutors were also divided into two categories. Some became spiritual coadjutors, took holy orders and were engaged in the education of youth, missionary work and preaching. Well, and in the line of secret activities, their duties included the secret search for suitable candidates for recruiting into the ranks of the members of the order, as well as finding out all kinds of secrets and spreading the information and rumors needed by the Jesuits.
Sometimes coadjutors were also used to perform important tasks, although more often scholastics were involved for this.
For example, the famous French spy-adventurer Chevalier Eon de Beaumont was a secret Jesuit and had a scholastic degree.
Disguised as a woman, bound by Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws, he delivered secret messages from the French king Louis XV to the Russian Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. In the corset of this "lady" the powers to conduct negotiations were sewn up, and the key to the encrypted correspondence was hidden in the sole of the shoe. Later, as secretary to the French ambassador in London, de Beaumont managed to stealthily steal the portfolio of the British Deputy Foreign Secretary Wood while he was being treated to dinner. The clever Jesuit managed to copy the important documents that were in the briefcase and, just as imperceptibly, returned the briefcase to the diplomat. Naturally, he informed his order superiors in detail about everything.
In general, the Society of Jesus paid great attention to the recruitment of agents and the training of their own spies. It was not without reason that the fifth general of the order, Claudius Aquaviva (1582-1616), himself drew up a curriculum for them and in every possible way contributed to the opening of new Jesuit educational institutions where it would be possible to secretly teach devoted people.
In addition to the spiritual, there were also secular coadjutors who worked as housekeepers, cooks, stewards, etc. At first glance, it seems strange that people who received practically a university education, so rare in Europe at that time, then went into the service. However, this oddity can be easily explained: after all, in the hands of economists and managers, over time, huge funds turned out to be, and the life of politicians depended on the Jesuit chefs. So the Society of Jesus could have control over both.
The highest degree of initiation in the order was represented by the so-called professors who, in addition to the three usual monastic vows, also took the fourth - the vow of unconditional obedience to the paw. Or rather, the general of the order. Professors, as a rule, were appointed as missionaries to some country, that is, they were, in fact, professional resident intelligence officers who led the entire agent network in this country, and even in the whole region. In "countries of heretics" - such as, for example, Russia - the professors became confessors at the courts of influential princes, where they recruited supporters, that is, in the language of modern special services, they acquired agents of influence.
The head of the professions was chosen from among his circle by the general of the order. And he, in turn, appointed the rest of the professions to positions and directed the activities of the entire order. Pay attention: the head of the "Society of Jesus" was not appointed by the Pope, the Jesuits themselves nominated him from their midst and were accountable only to him! This was explained by the fact that in intelligence, and this is what the order was primarily engaged in, they try not to admit anyone to professional secrets.
By 1616, the order had more than eighteen thousand members - a huge army at that time! - and managed to entangle many countries of the world with an agent network. The Jesuits were active in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Catholic Germany, Bavaria, penetrated the West Indies, Japan, China, Brazil and Paraguay.
The list of crimes committed by the Jesuits and their spies would take more than one volume. For example, in France, they in every possible way kindled a war between Catholics and Huguenots, acting under the auspices of the Dukes of Guise. It is believed that it was the Jesuits who organized the assassination attempt on King Henry IV, after which they were expelled from France for the first time. But in 1603, the order managed to return, which was aided by the agents of influence acquired earlier. In Germany, through the efforts of the Jesuits, the Thirty Years' War did not stop, ravaging the country and claiming many lives. However, they did not succeed in drowning the Reformation in blood.
Sophisticated intrigues, espionage, poisoning, murder, blackmail, bribery and other very unseemly deeds of the Jesuits eventually provoked indignation in many countries. In 1759, the order was expelled from the fanatically believing Catholic Portugal, in 1764 - a second time from France, and in 1767 the Jesuits were literally thrown out of the citadel of Spanish Catholicism. Finally, opposition to the "Society of Jesus" of the courts, the great Catholic monarchs of Europe, forced Pope Clement XIV to abolish the order with the bull of June 21, 1773, and it was liquidated everywhere. The last general of the order was imprisoned in a Roman prison, where he died two years later.
Collegia, missions were closed, various undertakings were stopped. The Jesuits are affiliated with the parish clergy.
But it was precisely this blow that was the starting point for new victories of the Jesuits. With the help of 358 fathers expelled from Russia, the order was able to resume its activities in Italy, England and America. Soon, Portugal also allowed the order to operate on its territory (1829), then Belgium (1831), Holland (1832). Even in the old Protestant countries, the Jesuits began to work again among the population.
Since that time, throughout almost the entire 19th century, the Jesuit Order exerted a tremendous influence on the life of the Catholic Church, especially on theology, which ultimately contributed to the strengthening of the unlimited power of the pope in the Catholic world - the doctrine of the primacy of the pope and papal infallibility, raised into dogma.
In the 20th century, the Jesuits continued their activities, actively intervening not only in church, but also in worldly affairs throughout the world.
Today the number of Jesuits is 19,573 people (data for 2006), of which 13,736 are priests. About 8.5 thousand Jesuits live in the United States, and in total they work in 122 countries of the world, serve in 1536 parishes. This largest order of the Catholic Church allows its members to lead a secular lifestyle. Their work focuses mainly on education and intellectual development, primarily in colleges and universities.
So, the brainchild of Ignazio Loyola turned out to be wonderfully viable. The Jesuit Order experienced a flourishing and persecution and to this day plays an active role in the religious and social life of many countries. Source: "50 famous mysteries of the Middle Ages"
