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
There is one of their pupils who, at this time, though a man of unusual
ability, brought sorrow not only on the Society but also on the
universal Church: Marc Antonio de Dominis. He was a Dalmatian, whose
family had given a Pope and many illustrious prelates to the Church. He
followed the course of the Jesuit college in Illyria, and amazed his
masters by the brilliancy of his talents. He entered the novitiate, and
contrary to the practice of the Society was immediately made a professor
of sacred eloquence, philosophy and mathematics. Crowds flocked to hear
him; meantime he distinguished himself in the pulpit. Apparently he was
a priest when he became a novice. The fame he acquired, however, turned
his head and he left the Society to become a bishop, and later an
archbishop, in Dalmatia. But his utterances soon showed that he was at
odds with the Church. He was with Venice in its quarrel with the Pope,
and then relinquishing his archbishopric, he fled to England, where he
was received with enthusiasm by James I, who kept him at court, showered
rich benefices on him and made him Dean of Windsor. There he wrote a
book entitled "De republica christiana" (1620), which denied the primacy
of the Pope. Pursued by remorse he went to Rome and at the feet of
Gregory XV implored forgiveness for his apostasy. But his repentance was
feigned. His letters to certain individuals showed that he was still a
heretic, and he was imprisoned in Sant' Angelo, where he died in 1624,
giving signs at the last moment of genuine repentance.
The long Generalate of Vitelleschi was clouded by one disaster: the
expulsion of the Jesuits from the Duchy of Lorraine. They had opposed
the bigamous marriage of the duke, but his confessor, Father Cheminot,
claimed that there were sufficient grounds for invalidating the first
marriage, and took the opposite side. He was expelled from the Society
or left it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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