The Jesuits, 1534-1921: A History of the Society of Jesus from Its Foundation to the Present TimeCampbell, Thomas J. (Thomas Joseph)
History
The Jesuits, 1534-1921: A History of the Society of Jesus from Its Foundation to the Present Time
Campbell, Thomas J. (Thomas Joseph)
Jesuits -- History
Of course the founder of this terrible Society had to be presented to
the public as properly equipped for the malignant task to which he had
set himself; so writers have vied with each other in expatiating on what
they call his complex individuality. Thus a German psychologist insists
that the Order established by this Spaniard was in reality a Teutonic
creation. The Frenchman Drumont holds that "it is anti-semitic in its
character," though Polanco, Loyola's life-long secretary, was of Jewish
origin, as were Laínez, the second General, and the great Cardinal
Toletus. A third enthusiast, Chamberlain, who is English-born, dismisses
all other views and insists that, as Loyola was a Basque and an Iberian,
he could not have been of Germanic or even Aryan descent, and he
maintains that the primitive traits of the Stone Age continually assert
themselves in his character. In reading the Spiritual Exercises, he
says, "I hear that mighty roar of the cave bear and I shudder as did the
men of the diluvial age, when poor, naked and defenceless, surrounded by
danger day and night, they trembled at that voice." (Foundations of the
Nineteenth Century, I, 570.) "If this be true," says Brou in "Les
Jésuites et la légende," "then, by following the same process of
reasoning, one must conclude that as Xavier was a Basque, his voice also
was ursine and troglodytic; and as Faber was a Savoyard, he will have to
be classified as a brachycephalous _homo alpinus_." Herman Müller, in
"Les Origines de la Compagnie de Jésus" claims the honor of having
launched an entirely novel theory about Loyola's personality. "The
'Exercises' are an amalgam of Islamic gnosticism and militant
Catholicism," he tells us; "but where did Ignatius become acquainted
with these Mussulmanic congregations? We have nothing positive on that
score, though we know that one day he met a Moor on the road and was
going to run him through with his sword. Then too, there were a great
many Moors and Moriscos in Catalonia, and we must not forget that
Ignatius intended to go to Palestine to convert the Turks. He must,
therefore, have known them and so have been subject to their influence."
Strange to say, Müller feels aggrieved that the Jesuits do not accept
this very illogical theory, which he insists has nothing discreditable
or dishonoring in it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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