Founding and Growth of the Society of Jesus:
The Society of Jesus, founded by St Ignatius of Loyola, in 1540 flourished in the realm of education. Ignatius and his companions saw learning as related to religious piety. In 1537 Diego Laynez and Peter Faber lectured on theology at Rome University. In 1543-44 Claude de Jay occupied the chair of theology at Ingolstadt, Germany. In 1545 Ignatius allowed Simon Rodrigues to become a tutor to the son of John III of Portugal. One of Akbar’s sons was tutored by the Jesuit Antony de Montserrat.
Jesuits involvement in running educational institutions began in Goa. Since 1543 a few Jesuits had been teaching reading, writing, grammar, and catechism for about 600 male students in St Paul’s College, Goa. Jesuit schools in Europe began in 1547. Then the officials from Messina city in Italy formally asked Ignatius to send Jesuit teachers to teach and also Jesuits scholastics to study there. In 1548 Ignatius agreed to the petition. They depended on the wealthy for the endowment for their schools; and founded the schools for all and improved the social status through education. Schools focused on holistic formation of the students, giving importance to spiritual activities and promoting plays, dance, and music. Jesuits came to be known soon as a “teaching order” because of their contribution to education.
Roman College, which was founded in 1551, emerged as the model Jesuit educational institution. The College was renamed in 1584 as the Gregorian University in honour of its greatest patron, Pope Gregory XIII. This university had great astronomers and scientists. The Jesuits, through developing Ratio Studiorum, paved the way for systematic education for the formation of people in Europe. Within a decade of founding the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits founded nearly 30 colleges in Europe.
The Society of Jesus, popularly known as the Jesuit Order (or the Jesuits), had astonishing growth. The numbers of Jesuits grew from 7 in 1540, to 1,000 within 15 years. The number swelled up to 5,000 in 40 years and by 1700 there were over 25,000 Jesuits active, mainly in education, in all the five continents of the globe.
Twin Jubilee:
The Jesuit Order was suppressed in 1773 (by Pope Clement XIV) and was restored (by Pope Pius VII), after 41 years, in 1814. After the restoration, the French Jesuits came to Tamilnadu, via Puducherry, in 1838. So globally the Jesuits celebrate the 200 years of restoration of the Society (1814-2014) and locally the Jesuits celebrate the 175 years of New Madurai Mission (1838-2013), which is the twin jubilee.
Reasons leading to Suppression:
There were many reasons for the suppression, but the primary cause seems to be political. The following are some of the major reasons that led to the suppression of the Jesuit Order:
- The Pope was the spiritual and political head of Western Christendem. The Jesuits were seen as papists since they stood in support of the Pope. The opposing political forces against the Pope tried to weaken the position of the Jesuits.
- Martin Luther, who protested against the Catholic Church, started off with Reformation. The Jesuits felt that the best way of Counter Reformation was education – If people are helped to think for themselves, through education, it would be effective to face Luther. This is seen from the Roman College founded by St Ignatius of Loyola in 1551 which has transformed into Gregorian University of today in Rome. The Jesuits became the target of the Protestants. The Protestants, especially the Lutherans, were not happy with the Jesuits.
- The discovery of new worlds accelerated founding of Spanish and Portuguese colonies in South America, which put the Jesuits in confrontation with power and might. In order to work in the colonies, slaves from Africa were traded with horses in Verde Islands. The Jesuits could not tolerate slaves being treated as commodities. They argued that they were also human beings. To prove the point, they also founded colonies, known as Jesuit Republics (Jesuit Reductions) in the present countries of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. They not only set the slaves free but also taught them corporate management and trained them in western music, sculpture, and embroidery. They founded schools for the children. This created problems and uprising in the neighbouring colonies as the demand for freedom grew stronger. The colonial powers, in particular Spanish and Portuguese Crowns and Feudal Lords, turned against the Jesuits.
- Shusaku Endo in his novels repeatedly stressed that the reason why Christianity did not take root in Japan was: The missionaries carried from Europe to Japan the sapling of faith, but they never tested the soil nor did they adopt the faith. But the Jesuits tried to make Christian faith take root in the local culture. Mateo Ricci in China and Roberto de Nobili and Joseph Beschi in India (Tamilnadu) tried to adapt themselves to the local culture. This was faced with stiff opposition, especially from Rome, and they were not encouraged to proceed in the process of inculturation. This was one more area of opposition that the Jesuits faced.
- In Europe the Jesuits were advisers to Kings and Feudal Lords and they were also very close to the Pope and defined Catholic teachings. The opposition factions, both in political and at Church levels, tried to nullify the Jesuit influence.
- The investment in business, attempted by a few Jesuits, in order to support the missions in China and Japan, met with opposition due to rivalry leading to business loss. This has also added trouble to the Jesuits.
Finally, due to weak papacy, Pope Clement XIV was forced, due to demand from monarchies of Spain, France, and Portugal to ban the Jesuits, and to suppress the Jesuit Order. It was promulgated that whichever King or ruler would read the papal order in his country, the Jesuit Order would be banned and the Jesuits should leave the country.
Suppression Process:
The suppression process was very bitter and heart moving. In 1759, the Jesuits were banned in Portugal. They were allowed to carry along only a small bag. The French parliament banned them in 1762. In Spain about 5,000 Jesuits were displaced overnight in 1767. The Jesuit General, Fr Lorenzo Ricci, was imprisoned in Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome and he died in prison on 24th November 1775.
By 1773 the Jesuits were banned in all Catholic countries. The Jesuits survived in the Protestant Prussia and in the orthodox Russia. Prince Catherine refused to suppress the Jesuit Order in her kingdom. And in India, the King of Mysore, Hyder Ali, protected the Jesuits in his Kingdom and he extended his invitation to Jesuits from other parts of India to work in his Kingdom.
Impact of the Suppression:
About 22,000 Jesuits lost their identity overnight and they had to fend for themselves. During the suppression, the Jesuit Republics and their overseas missions were closed and all Jesuit properties were confiscated. All their universities and schools were nationalized – About 700 Jesuit Schools were closed. And their libraries and Churches were taken over by others. But even during the period of suppression the Jesuits were committed to education. Fr Joseph Pignatelli navigated the scattered Jesuits from Italy.
Restoration of the Society:
There was change of tide in the air. Thirst for freedom from monarchy or suppressing political power was coming up. The American Independence war paved the way for people’s democracy. The French revolution in 1789 put the monarchical rulers to the guillotine. Napoleon dethroned Kings of Portugal and Spain and imprisoned the Pope in 1799. And in 1814 Pope Pius VII restored the Jesuit Order. The First General, after restoration, was Fr Tadeusz Brzozowski (August 1844).
Aftermath of Restoration:
After restoration, the remaining Jesuits had a new start – Their initial investment and focus was on education. As soon as the Society was restored in 1814, they moved into France, Spain, England, and Ireland the very next year (1815). They came into Belgium in 1832; into Canada in 1834; and they were permitted into Italy in 1836. In 1838 they set foot in Austria and India – The French Jesuits of Toulouse Province landed in Puducherry and moved onto Tamilnadu.
Reaching the USA in 1843 they established the College of Holy Cross (in Massachusetts); and they landed in Mexico in 1854. All along, the Jesuits engaged themselves in the field of intellectual mission, such as founding universities and making advances in research such as astronomy and they looked forward to do their best. As Fr Adolfo Nicholas, the present General of the Jesuits said: “We do not wish our attention to be focused solely on the past. We wish to understand and appreciate our past better so that we may go forward into the future with ‘renewed fervor and zeal’.”(GC 35, Decree 1).
In India, the first college was founded in Goa in 1542 but it was mainly for the formation of Jesuits. But the actual first university college of India was founded in Trichy in 1844, St Joseph’s College. It was founded first in Nagapattinam and later shifted to Trichy. Today, the Jesuits are working in about 110 countries of the globe in about 2,000 institutions. Over 3,000 Jesuits are engaged in about 200 institutions of higher learning (Cf 34 GC 405).
Faith that does Justice:
What one could learn from the Suppression and Restoration of the Jesuit Order is:
- No earthly power could stop permanently any good work that is rendered for the good of the society at large;
- One might stumble along the path of service but one should be able to stand up and walk further with renewed vigour and conviction; and
- The Jesuits all along kept in focus education as the key to empowering the marginalized and the disadvantaged.
In the 1970s, after the General Congregation 32, the Jesuits sharpened their focus on the education of the marginalized. They considered education as the key to empowerment. In the beginning of the Jesuit Order, when people could not afford to have education, St Ignatius of Loyola founded Roman College and offered education for all. It was a road less travelled. Now, again the Jesuits are treading along the road less travelled, namely ‘road of education empowering the marginalized’. In the founding of LICET, the Jesuits have made it a policy that 30% of the admissions are foreseen for the economically and socially marginalized – the rural poor, the first generation learners, and the Dalits. But no compromise would be made with academic excellence. Though LICET was founded in August 2010, within a short span of four years, LICET stands at the 8th rank from among about 570 engineering colleges affiliated to Anna University in Tamilnadu. LICET is ever striving to reach newer heights in academic excellence and in forming engineers, with social responsibility, who would engineer a just society.
The goal of such education is:
* the common to become eminent and brilliant;
* the marginalized to become empowered;
* the downtrodden to become leaders in the society; and
* the receiving end to become the commanding centre.
The basic assumption is that each one is a potential leader who is capable of transforming the society for the better.
LICET students of the first batch (2010-2014) have gone out as engineers with social responsibilities and they would take the road less travelled, namely they would be men and women for and with others, especially the needy and the marginalized. As they take the road less travelled, they would let their light of creativity, competence, commitment, compassion, and consciousness shine all along.
Cf Magis (2014), LICET Annual Magazine
Francis P Xavier SJ
Director, LICET