In the Catholic cantons of Switzerland we have, naturally, the
same story as in the Catholic States: a control of education, a
determination to cast into the shade the remainder of the Catholic
clergy, and a scandalous and enervating material prosperity. Here again
we have obtained a very interesting glimpse of the real condition
of the Society by the publication of secret documents which were
confiscated at the suppression. The chronicle of the Jesuit college at
Colmar from 1698 to 1750 was fortunately discovered among their papers
and published in 1872.[37] It is a most remarkable ledger or diary of
business transactions, displaying on every page that keen instinct for
commerce and high profit which the Jesuits are always so anxious to
disavow. Vineyards and estates pass steadily into the possession of
the college, indignant and disinherited relatives are fought in the
law-courts or met by compromise, and the liveliest satisfaction is
expressed when some good bargain has been made with the property or the
vines have proved fertile. A Lutheran in 1727 has been, in the words of
the secret Jesuit chronicler, "simple enough" to pay a substantial rent
for a disused cellar belonging to the college; in the same year a pious
lady's executors are not in a position to pay a legacy to the Jesuits
in cash and they take saleable goods; in 1730 three fields of small
value are let on terms which suggest that some simple Catholic tenant
was duped. The whole story tells of keenness in securing legacies,
astuteness in the profitable handling of the property they inherit or
buy, and a somewhat hypocritical readiness to appeal to public bodies
for the free grants which they make to poor individuals or communities.
The college of Colmar was a business concern of the sharpest character.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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