Jesuit Education/Chapter 5

by Robert Schwickerath

 

Chapter V.

Jesuit Colleges and their Work before the Suppression
of the Society (1540-1773).

Within fifty years from the solemn approbation of the Society of Jesus, the Order had spread all over the world, from Europe to the Indies, from China and Japan in the East, to Mexico and Brazil in the West. Wherever the Church was not actually persecuted, as in England, there sprang up educational institutions. Shortly after the death of the fifth General, Father Aquaviva, in 1615, the Society possessed three hundred and seventy-three colleges; in 1706 the number of collegiate and university establishments was seven hundred and sixty-nine, and in 1756, shortly before the suppression, the number was seven hundred and twenty-eight.^[1] In 1584 the classes of the Roman College were attended by two thousand, one hundred and eight students. At Rouen, in France, there were regularly two thousand. Throughout the seventeenth century the numbers at the College of Louis-le-Grand, in Paris, varied between eighteen hundred and three thousand. In 1627, the one Province of Paris had in its fourteen colleges 13,195 students, which would give an average of nearly one thousand to each college. In the same year Rouen had 1,968, Rennes 1,485, Amiens 1,430. In 1675 there were in Louis-le-Grand 3,000, in Rennes 2,500, in Toulouse 2,000.^[2] Cologne began its roll in 1558 with almost 800 students; Dillingen in Bavaria had 760 in 1607. At Utrecht in Holland there were 1000; at Antwerp and Brussels each 600 scholars. Münster in 1625 had 1300, Munich had 900 in 1602. The absolute average is not known, three hundred seems, however, the very lowest. This would give to the seven hundred and more institutions a sum total of two hundred and ten thousand students, all trained under one system. That thus the Jesuits exercised a great influence on the minds of men, is undeniable. The question is only, was their influence for good or evil? Was their teaching a benefit to the individuals, and more so, was it advantageous to the communities? Was their method considered as productive of good results? Let us listen to contemporaneous writers in high positions, to men known for their intellectual achievements, to men who, owing to their religious tenets, cannot be suspected of partiality to the Jesuits.

The testimony of Lord Bacon, the English philosopher and statesman, is well known: "Of the Jesuit colleges, although in regard of their superstition I may say, 'Quo meliores eo deteriores,' yet in regard of this and some other points of learning and moral matters, I may say, as Agesilaus said to his enemy Pharnabaces, 'Talis cum sis, utinam noster esses'."^[3] Our American historian Bancroft does not hesitate to say of the Jesuits: "Their colleges became the best schools in the world."^[4] And Ranke writes: "It was found that young people gained more with them in six months than with other teachers in two years. Even Protestants removed their children from distant gymnasia to confide them to the care of the Jesuits."^[5] – This last fact was more than once lamented by Protestants.

In 1625 a report of the Gymnasium in Brieg, Silesia, complains bitterly of the lamentable condition of this school. This condition is ascribed chiefly to the theological wranglings of the Lutherans and the Reformed, and to the inability of the teachers, who frequently were engaged in trades, or as inn-keepers, or acted as lawyers, and thus neglected their duties as teachers. The report then adds: "If the teachers knew how to preserve the confidence of the parents, then an interest in the school would soon be manifested by those who now prefer to send their children to the Jesuits. For these Jesuits know better how to treat boys according to their nature, and to keep alive a zeal for studies."^[6]

Also in the Protestant Margravate of Brandenburg the condition of the schools induced parents, noblemen, state officials, and citizens, to send their sons to foreign Jesuit colleges. But then the preachers started a violent campaign against this practice, although they had to admit that the Jesuit pupils were better trained than those educated in the Margravate. Consequently, the Elector John George issued severe decrees against sending children to foreign schools (1564 and 1572).^[7] Professors and preachers in Lemgo, Danzig, Königsberg, and in other cities, denounced the "godless practice of Protestants who sacrificed their children to the monstrous Moloch of Jesuit schools."^[8]

Wilhelm Roding, Professor in Heidelberg, in a book: Against the impious schools of the Jesuits, dedicated to Frederick III., Elector of the Palatinate, gives expression to the following complaint: "Very many who want to be counted as Christians send their children to the schools of the Jesuits. This is a most dangerous thing, as the Jesuits are excellent and subtle philosophers, above everything intent on applying all their learning to the education of youth. They are the finest and most dexterous of teachers, and know how to accommodate themselves to the natural gifts of every pupil." Another Protestant, Andrew Dudith of Breslau, wrote: "I am not surprised if I hear that one goes to the Jesuits. They possess varied learning, teach, preach, write, dispute, instruct youth without taking money, and all this they do with indefatigable zeal; moreover, they are distinguished for moral integrity, and modest behaviour."^[9] A Protestant preacher attributed the popularity of the Jesuit schools to magical practices of these wicked men: "These Jesuits have diabolical practices; they anoint their pupils with secret salves of the devil, by which they so attract and attach the children to themselves that they can only with difficulty be separated from these wizards, and always long to go back to them. Therefore, the Jesuits ought not only to be expelled but to be burnt, otherwise they can never be gotten rid of." Of the Hildesheim Jesuits it was said that they used some secret charms to hasten the progress of their pupils.^[10]

A most remarkable testimony to the ability of the Jesuits as teachers was rendered by the words and actions of two non-Catholic rulers, at the time of the suppression of the Society in 1773, namely by King Frederick of Prussia and Empress Catharine of Russia; we shall revert to their testimony further on in this chapter.

In a history of the Jesuit colleges mention must be made of the literary and scientific works published by Jesuits. The colleges of the Society were as many colonies of writers. It is impossible to give here an adequate description of this work of the Society; the Bibliography of the Order comprises nine folio volumes, and contains the names of thirteen thousand Jesuit authors – many, if not most of them, professors – who published works on almost every branch of learning.^[11] Even Dr. Huber admires the literary and scientific activity of the Order: "More than three hundred Jesuits have written grammars on living and dead languages, and more than ninety-five languages have been taught by members of the Order. In mathematics and natural sciences there are among them first class scientists. Many astronomical observatories were erected by them, and directed with great success."^[12] Still more striking is the testimony of the bitterest enemy of the Jesuits, d'Alembert. He writes: "Let us add – for we must be just – that no religious society whatever can boast of so many members distinguished in science and literature. The Jesuits have successfully cultivated eloquence, history, archaeology, geometry, and literature. There is scarcely a class of writers in which they have no representatives of the first rank; they have even good French writers, a distinction of which no other religious order can boast."^[13]

Some of the linguistic works of the Jesuits are of the greatest importance and even celebrity in the history of the science of language. The first, not in time but in importance, is that of the Spanish Jesuit Hervas. Professor Max Müller of Oxford speaks of this Jesuit in the highest terms, and says that he wishes to point out his real merits, which other historians have overlooked.^[14] While working among the polyglottous tribes of South America, the attention of Father Hervas was drawn to a systematic study of languages. After the expulsion of the Jesuits from South America in 1767, he lived in Rome amidst the numerous Jesuit missionaries who assisted him greatly in his researches.

His works are of a most comprehensive character; the most important is his Catalogue of Languages, in six volumes. "If we compare the work of Hervas with a similar work which excited much attention towards the end of the last century, and is even now more widely known than Hervas' – I mean Court de Gebelin's Monde primitif – we shall see at once how far superior the Spanish Jesuit is to the French philosopher. Gebelin treats Persian, Armenian, Malay, and Coptic as dialects of Hebrew; he speaks of Bask as a dialect of Celtic, and he tries to discover Hebrew, Greek, English, and French words in the idioms of America. Hervas, on the contrary, though embracing in his catalogue five times the number of languages that were known to Gebelin, is most careful not to allow himself to be carried away by theories not warranted by the evidence before him. It is easy now to point out mistakes and inaccuracies in Hervas, but I think that those who have blamed him most are those who ought most to have acknowledged their obligations to him. To have collected specimens and notices of more than three hundred languages, is no small matter. But Hervas did more. He himself composed grammars of more than forty languages. He was one of the first to point out that the true affinity of languages must be determined chiefly by grammatical evidence, not by mere similarity of words. He proved, by a comparative list of declensions and conjugations, that Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic, and Aramaic are all but dialects of one original language, and constitute one family of speech, the Semitic. He scouted the idea of deriving all languages of mankind from Hebrew. He had perceived clear traces of affinity between Chinese and Indo-Chinese dialects; also between Hungarian, Lapponian, and Finnish, three dialects now classed as members of the Turanian family. He had proved that Bask was not, as was commonly supposed, a Celtic dialect, but an independent language... Nay, one of the most brilliant discoveries in the history of the science of language, the establishment of the Malay and Polynesian family of speech... was made by Hervas long before it was worked out, and announced to the world by Humboldt."^[15]

Great are also the merits of Jesuits in regard to the study of Sanskrit. "The first European Sanskrit scholar was the Jesuit Robert de Nobili,"^[16] a nephew of the famous Cardinal Robert Bellarmine. According to the words of Max Müller, he must have been far advanced in the knowledge of the sacred language and literature of the Brahmans.^[17] The first Sanskrit grammar written by a European is commonly said to be that of the German Jesuit Hanxleden († 1732). However, this honor belongs to another German Jesuit, Heinrich Roth († 1668), who wrote a Sanskrit grammar almost a century before Hanxleden.^[18] Father Du Pons, in 1740, published a comprehensive and, in general, a very accurate description of the various branches of Sanskrit literature.^[19] Of Father Coeurdoux Max Müller writes that he anticipated the most important results of comparative philology by at least fifty years; at the same time the Oxford Professor expresses his astonishment that the work of this humble missionary has attracted so little attention, and only very lately received the credit that belongs to it.^[20] Father Calmette wrote a poetical work in excellent Sanskrit, the Ezour Veda, which gave rise to an interesting literary discussion. Voltaire declared it to be four centuries older than Alexander the Great, and pronounced it the most precious gift which the West had received from the East. On account of the Christian ideas contained in the poem, the atheistic philosophers of France thought they had found in it a most effective weapon for attacking Christianity. Unfortunately for these philosophers, an English traveler discovered Father Calmette's manuscript in Pondichery.^[21]

Various important works on the dialects of India were written by Jesuits, among others several grammars and dictionaries of the Tamil language, for which the first types were made by the Spanish lay brother Gonsalves. The works written in the Tamil language by Father Beschi († 1740) have received the most flattering criticism by modern Protestant writers. The Anglican Bishop Caldwell, in his Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages (London 1875), styles them the best productions in modern Tamil, and other scholars, as Babington, Hunter, Pope, and Benfey, concur in this eulogy.^[22] Beschi's grammar and dictionary are praised as masterpieces. Father Stephens' grammar of the Konkani language is called an admirable achievement.^[23] It was republished as late as 1857, and was used extensively in the nineteenth century.

Not less noteworthy were the labors of the Jesuits in the Chinese language. In the fourth International Congress of Orientalists, Father Matteo Ricci was called "the first Sinologue".^[24] When not long ago the Protestant missionaries in Shanghai published an edition of Euclid, they took as the basis of their work the translation made by Ricci. His works were written in the best Chinese, and, according to the eminent Orientalist Rémusat, were even in the nineteenth century highly esteemed by Chinese scholars, for their elegance of diction and purity of language.^[25] Father Prémare († 1736) is called by Morrison the most thorough and profound grammarian of the Chinese language. And Rémusat asserts that the two Jesuits Prémare and Gaubil have not been surpassed or equalled by any European in sound and comprehensive knowledge of Chinese, and that both belong to the number of great literary luminaries that form the pride of France.^[26] Prémare's most important work, the Notitia Linguae Sinicae, was published in 1831, by the Protestant Collegium Anglo-Sinicum in Malakka. Rémusat styles this work the best ever produced by a European in the field of Chinese grammar.^[27] And a German scholar writes: "We possess no work on Chinese grammar which, in comprehensive and judicious treatment of the subject, can be compared to that of Prémare's Notitia. Some may acquire a better understanding of the Chinese language than the French Father, but it may be said that not easily will any European so fully and so thoroughly master the spirit and taste of the Chinese language; nor will there soon be found an equally capable teacher of Chinese rhetoric. In this I recognize the imperishable value of this work, a value which in some quarters is recognized more in deeds than in words."^[28] By the last remark the author seems to imply what another German writer has stated more explicitly, namely, that "several of the best works of these Jesuits have been published by another firm,"^[29] i. e., they have been largely used by other writers without receiving the credit due to them. Other distinguished Chinese scholars were the Fathers Noel, Gerbillon, Parrenin, de Maillac, and Amyot.^[30]

Great praise has also been bestowed on works of Jesuit authors on the languages of Japan, South America, etc.^[31] Thus we read in the Narrative and Critical History of America, by Justin Winsor: "The most voluminous work on the language of the Incas has for its author the Jesuit Diego Gonzales Holguin... He resided for several years in the Jesuit College at Juli, near the banks of Lake Titicaca, where the Fathers had established a printing-press, and here he studied the Quichua language... He died as Rector of the College at Asuncion. His Quichua dictionary was published at Lima in 1586, and a second edition appeared in 1607, the same year in which the grammar first saw the light. The Quichua grammar of Holguin is the most complete and elaborate that has been written, and his dictionary is also the best."^[32] – Similar commendations have been bestowed on the linguistic works of the Fathers Rubio, de Acosta, Barzena, Bertonio, Bayer, Febres (whose grammar and dictionary of the Auracanian dialect were republished for practical use in 1882 and 1884 at Buenos Ayres and Rio de Janeiro), Anchieta, Figueira, Ruiz, and others. Ruiz' grammar and dictionary of Guarani, in the words of Mulhall, are a lasting monument to his study and learning.^[33] Many most valuable books and manuscripts of the Jesuits were ruthlessly destroyed, when the Fathers were expelled from their colleges and missions in South America. Protestant writers, as Bach and Kriegk, lament that this vandalism of the enemies of the Society has destroyed for ever most valuable literary treasures.

In the field of mathematics and natural sciences several Jesuit professors have attained to high distinction. We mention the names of a few. Clavius († 1610), who was called the "Euclid of his age", was the leading man in the reformation of the calendar under Pope Gregory XIII. Professor Cajori says with reference to this work: "The Gregorian calendar met with a great deal of opposition both among scientists and among Protestants. Clavius, who ranked high as a geometer, met the objections of the former most ably and effectively; the prejudices of the latter passed away with time."^[34] One of his pupils was Gregory of Saint-Vincent († 1667), whom Leibnitz places on an equality with Descartes as a geometrician. "Although a circle-squarer, he is worthy of mention for the numerous theorems of interest which he discovered in his search after the impossible, and Montucla ingeniously remarks that no one ever squared the circle with so much ability, or (except for his principal object) with so much success."^[35]

Another disciple of Clavius was Matthew Ricci († 1610), the illustrious mathematician and apostle of China, who published also a vast number of valuable observations on the geography and history of China. Father Schall of Cologne († 1669), a prominent mathematician and astronomer, was appointed director of the "Mathematical Tribunal" in Pekin, and revised the Chinese calendar.

Within the last few years the attention of mathematicians has been drawn to the Jesuit Father Saccheri, Professor of mathematics at Pavia. Non-Euclidean mathematics is now recognized as an important branch of mathematics. The beginnings of this system have sometimes been ascribed to Gauss, the "Nestor of German mathematicians". But recent research has proved that as early as 1733 Father Saccheri had published a book which gives a complete system of Non-Euclidean geometry. Beltrami, in 1889, and Staeckel and Engel in 1895, pointed out the great importance of the work of Saccheri.^[36]

Father Grimaldi († 1663), professor of mathematics in the College at Bologna, gave an accurate description of the moon spots, discovered the diffraction of light, and, in his work Physico-Mathesis de Lumine, Coloribus et Iride, advanced the first attempt of a theory of undulation. This work was the basis of Newton's theory of light.^[37] Father Scheiner († 1650) was one of the first observers of the sun spots; it is disputed whether he or Galileo discovered them first. Scheiner also invented the pantograph, and, in his work Oculus, hoc est Fundamentum Opticum, laid down opinions of lasting value (especially on the accommodation of the eye).^[38]

More famous than these was Athanasius Kircher († 1680), a man of most extensive and varied learning who wrote on mathematics, physics, history, philology, and archaeology. He is the inventor of the magic lantern and other scientific instruments. He was the first who successfully studied the Coptic language and deciphered the Egyptian hieroglyphics. The very variety and universality of his learning was naturally a danger, to which he not unfrequently succumbed. He often betrays a lack of critical spirit, and proposes phantastic theories. Still, in spite of these defects, his works are of the greatest importance, and his Lingua Aegyptiaca Restituta, has been styled indispensable even at the present day for the study of the Egyptian language.^[39] Father Kircher founded also the famous Museo Kircheriano in the Roman College, and if he had done nothing else, this alone would secure him a place of honor in the world of science. The services rendered to mathematics, astronomy, physics, and geography, by the Jesuits in China, especially by Ricci, Schall, Verbiest, Koegler, Hallerstein, Herdtrich, Gaubil, have been generously acknowledged by Lalande, Montucla, and more recently by the Protestant scholars Maedler,^[40] and Baron von Richthofen.^[41] On the astronomical observatories of the Jesuits a few words will be said when we come to speak of the suppression of the Order.

Of the geographical works of the Jesuits in China Baron von Richthofen writes: "If the Jesuits had not applied their scientifically trained minds to practical subjects, we would not possess the great cartographic work on China, and that country would still be a terra incognita for us, and the time would be very far off in which it would become possible to obtain as much as that picture of China which the Jesuits have given us, and which is now well known to everybody. ... It is the most important cartographic work ever executed in so short a time, the grandest scientific achievement of the most brilliant period of Catholic missions in China." The same author says of the Tyrolese Father Martini († 1661): "He is the best geographer of all the missionaries, and by his great work, the Novus Atlas Sinensis, the best and most complete description which we possess of China, he has become the 'Father of Chinese geography.'" Father Du Halde gave an accurate description of Mongolia, and his great work on China (1735) is still one of the most important sources available on the geography, history, religion, industry, political organization, customs, etc., of that country.^[42] Some of the geographical labors of the Jesuits in America have been mentioned previously.^[43] Justin Winsor states that the Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias of Father de Acosta, "the Pliny of the New World," is much relied on as an authority by Robertson, and quoted 19 times by Prescott in his Conquest of Peru, thus taking the fourth place as an authority with regard to that work.^[44]

All these works are as many testimonies to the efficiency and the practical character of the system under which these men had been trained; most of them had entered the Society at a very early age. How could they have produced such works, if what Compayré says, were true, that the Society devotes itself exclusively to "purely formal studies, to exercises which give a training in the use of elegant language, and leaves real and concrete studies in entire neglect"?^[45]

In history the Society must yield the palm to the Order of St. Benedict, particularly to the celebrated Congregation of St. Maur. Still, some Jesuits produced works of lasting value. We mention first the De Doctrina Temporum by Father Petavius († 1652), of which a great authority on chronology said that it was superior to the work of Scaliger, and an invaluable mine of information for later chronologists.^[46] Father Labbe († 1667) began the Collection of the Councils which is much used up to the present day. A more complete Collection of the Councils, in fact the most complete that exists, was published by Father Hardouin († 1729). He wrote also a most valuable work on numismatics, in which six hundred ancient coins were, for the first time, described and with wonderful sagacity used for solving intricate historical problems. In other historical and critical works he proceeded with an almost incredible boldness and arbitrariness, denying the authenticity of a great number of the works of the classical writers and the Fathers of the Church. In many questions of criticism he was far in advance of his age, but some of his hyper-critical and eccentric hypotheses have, to a great extent, obscured his reputation.^[47] The greatest historical work of the Jesuits is the collection of documents called Acta Sanctorum, or the Bollandists, so named after the first editor, Father Bolland († 1668). The most distinguished of the Bollandist writers was Father Papenbroeck († 1714). Fifty-three folio volumes appeared before the suppression of the Society. This gigantic collection is a work of prime importance for the history of the whole Christian era, a monumentum aere perennius. Leibnitz said of it: "If the Jesuits had produced nothing but this work, they would have deserved to be brought into existence, and would have just claims upon the good wishes and esteem of the whole world."^[48]

In literature we find the names of several distinguished Jesuits. The odes of Matthew Sarbiewski († 1640) were praised as successful rivals of the best lyrics of the ancients; Hugo Grotius even preferred them to the odes of Horace,^[49] although we must call this an exaggerated estimate. Sarbiewski was surpassed by James Balde († 1668), who for many years taught rhetoric in Ingolstadt and Munich, and was styled not only the "Modern Quintilian", but also the "Horace of Germany". His Latin poems manifest a variety, beauty, warmth of feeling, and glowing patriotism unrivalled in that period. He was, however, not altogether free from the mannerisms of his age. Protestant critics, as Goethe and others, have admired the productions of this highly gifted poet, and Herder,^[50] who translated a selection of Balde's lyrics into classical German, speaks of him in enthusiastic terms.^[51]

The classical German writings of Denis and Spe have been mentioned previously. We may add here the name of Father Robert Southwell, who was executed for his faith in 1595. Saintsbury says of him that he belonged to a distinguished family, was stolen by a gipsy in youth, but was recovered; "a much worse misfortune befell him in being sent for education not to Oxford or Cambridge but to Douay, where he fell into the hands of the Jesuits, and joined their order."^[52] Yet notwithstanding this terrible misfortune, he must have greatly profited from this education; for the same critic admits that Southwell produced not inconsiderable work both in prose and poetry; that his works possess genuine poetic worth; that his religious fervor is of the simplest and most genuine kind, and that his poems are a natural and unforced expression of it.

Father Perpinian wrote most eloquent Latin discourses, which, as the philologian Ruhnken affirms, compare favorably with those of Muretus, the greatest Neo-Latinist. The philological works of Pontanus, Vernulaeus, La Cerda (the famous commentator of the works of Virgil), and others, were held in high repute. Sacchini, Jouvancy, Perpinian, Possevin, Bonifacio, and Kropf wrote valuable treatises on education.^[53]

We have purposely abstained from mentioning any writer on theology or scholastic philosophy. For it is admitted on all sides that the Society produced a great number of most distinguished writers in scholastic philosophy and in the various branches of theology: dogmatics, apologetics, exegesis, moral theology, etc.

Many good schoolbooks were written by Jesuits.^[54] The number of grammars, readers, books on style, on poetics, rhetoric, editions of classics, etc., is very great. De la Cerda published one of the best editions of Virgil. The editions of La Rue (Ruaeus) were famous; of course, they are not what we now consider standard works on the classics. Father Tursellini's book De Particulis Linguae Latinae appeared in fifty editions; the last edition was prepared by Professor Hand, the philologist of Jena. The celebrated Gottfried Hermann, of Leipsic, published a revised edition of Father Viger's De Idiotismis Linguae Graecae.^[55] This is an honor which not many old books have received at the hand of German scholars, who boast of such achievements in the field of philology. It is needless to add that the two works of the Jesuit philologians thus singled out must be of considerable excellence.

One department of the activity of the Order deserves a more detailed treatment: the Jesuit school-drama.^[56] At present there is no need of defending the usefulness of dramatic performances, given by students, provided the subject and the whole tone of the play are morally sound and elevating. Still, there were times, when the Jesuits had to defend their practice, especially against the rigorists of Port Royal, the Jansenists in general, and in the eighteenth century against several governments, which were swayed by a prosaic bureaucratic spirit of utilitarianism.^[57] The principles according to which the drama in Jesuit schools was to be conducted are laid down by Jouvancy in his Ratio Docendi, and by Father Masen; a book on the technique of the drama was composed by Father Lang.^[58] The Institute of the Society had taken precautions that the school dramas should neither interfere with the regular work, nor do the least harm to the morals of the pupils. The fifty-eighth rule of the Provincial reads: "He shall only rarely allow the performance of comedies and tragedies; they must be becoming^[59] and written in Latin." The vast majority of plays were consequently given in Latin, – the language, in those times, understood by every man of culture. Many Protestant educators and preachers were altogether opposed to dramas in the vernacular "which, as they said, were good enough for the common people and apprentices, but unbecoming students." In Jesuit colleges plays were occasionally, and after 1700 more frequently, performed in the vernacular.^[60] Of Latin plays a programme and synopsis in the vernacular was, at least in Germany, distributed amongst those who did not know Latin.

In many Protestant schools of this period, for instance in the celebrated schools of Sturm and Rollenhagen, and also in a few Catholic schools, the comedies of Plautus and Terence were exhibited, not, however, without strong opposition of earnest men, who rightly considered some of these plays as dangerous for young people. Von Raumer says: "It seems incredible that the learning by heart and acting of comedies, so lascivious as those of Terence, could have remained without evil influence on the morality of youth, and we find it unintelligible that a religious-minded man like Sturm did not consider Terence really seductive. If the mere reading of an author like Terence is risky, how much more risky must it be, if pupils perform such pieces and have to familiarize themselves altogether with the persons and situations."^[61] No wonder that serious complaints were made against such pernicious practices.^[62] The biblical and historical plays performed in Protestant schools were mostly directed against "Popish idolatry".^[63]

The drama of the Jesuits stood in sharp contrast to that of the Protestants. As their whole literary education, so also their drama was subordinate to the religious and moral training. The Ratio Studiorum prohibited the reading of any classical books which contained obscenities; they had first to be expurgated; expressly mentioned were Terence and Plautus. This must reflect most favorably on the Jesuits, in a time when vulgarity and obscenity reigned supreme in literature and drama.

As the nature and function of the theatre the Jesuits considered the stirring up of the pious emotions, the guardianship of youth against the corrupting influence of evil society, the portrayal of vice as something intrinsically despicable, the rousing up of the inner man to a zealous crusade for virtue, and the imitation of the Saints. Even in the treatment of purely secular subjects, the plot was always of a spiritually serious, deeply tragic, and morally important nature. The aim of the comic drama was to strike at the puerilities and ineptitudes, which could be treated on the stage without any detriment to the moral conscience. Vulgar jokes and low comedy were once and for all excluded, and the Jesuit authorities were indefatigable in thus guarding the moral prestige of the plays. In general, only such plays were written and produced as were in harmony with the moral ends and moral limits of dramatic art itself: a meritorious achievement in an age when every sentiment of moral delicacy, every prescription of social decorum, every dictate of ordinary modesty – both in the school and on the stage – was being outraged. Arid this fact produced a healthy reaction in favor of all the fine arts in general. The intermittent efforts of Jesuit dramatists could not, it is true, completely stem the tide of public degeneracy, could not even remain altogether unscathed by the time-serving fashions and foibles of the age: from the grosser and more revolting aberrations they were happily preserved.^[64]

The subjects of Jesuit dramas were frequently biblical or allegorical: as "The Prodigal Son" (Heiligenstadt 1582), "Joseph in Egypt" (Munich 1583), "Christ as Judge", "Saul and David" (Graz 1589-1600), "Naboth" (Ratisbon 1609), "Elias" (Prague 1610). Or historical subjects were chosen: "Julian the Apostate" (Ingolstadt 1608), "Belisarius" (Munich 1607), "Godfrey de Bouillon" (Munich 1596), "St. Ambrose", "St. Benno", "St. Henry the Emperor", etc.^[65] Favorite subjects were the lives of the Saints with their rich, beautiful, touching and morally ennobling elements, and the Christian legends. In these the Catholic Church has preserved, as Professor Paulsen aptly remarks, a poetical treasure which in many respects surpasses the stories of the Old Testament, both in purity and dramatic applicability.^[66]

Many of their dramas were exhibited with all possible splendor, as for instance those given at La Flèche in 1614 before Louis XIII. and his court.^[67] But it seems that nowhere was greater pomp displayed than in Munich, where the Court liberally contributed to make the performances as brilliant as possible. In 1574 the tragedy "Constantine" was played on two successive days. The whole city was beautifully decorated. More than one thousand persons took part in the play. Constantine, after his victory over Maxentius, entered the city on a triumphal chariot, surrounded by 400 horsemen in glittering armor. At the performance of the tragedy "Esther" in 1577, the most splendid costumes, gems, etc. were furnished from the treasury of the duke; at the banquet of King Assuerus 160 precious dishes of gold and silver were used.^[68]

We may now understand the following assertions of a German writer. "The Jesuits, as Richard Wag

 

1. See Hughes, Loyola, pp. 69—77; and especially Hamy, S. J., Documents pour servir a l'histoire des domiciles de la Compagnie de Jésus, Paris, Alphonse Picard.
2. Du Lac, Jésuites, p. 297.
3. Advancement of Learning, book 1.
4. History of the United States, vol. III, page 120 (18th edition, Boston 1864).
5. History of the Papacy, vol. I, book V, sec. 3 (Ed. London 1896, p. 416).
6. Döllinger, Die Reformation, vol. I, p. 447 (note 55).
7. Döllinger, l. c., p. 543.
8. Ib., pp. 544-545.
9. Further testimonies see Janssen, vol. IV (16th ed.), pp. 473-476; vol. VII, pp. 80-82.
10. Janssen, vol. VIII, p. 650.
11. Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, par Carlos Sommervogel. Brussels, 1890-1900. On the writers of the old Society see Crétineau-Joly, Histoire de la Compagnie de Jésus, vol. IV, ch. IV (3rd ed., pp. 214-296).
12. Huber, Der Jesuiten-Orden, pp. 418-420.
13. La destruction des Jésuites, p. 43; quoted by De Badts de Cugnac, Les Jésuites et l'éducation, p. 9.
14. Lectures on the Science of Language (6th ed, 1871), vol. I, p. 157, note 40.
15. Ib., pp. 154-157.
16. Ib., p. 174.
17. Ib., p. 174.
18. Max Müller, l. c., p. 175. Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, XV, 1901, pp. 313-320. Father Roth's grammar was extant in the Roman College, when Hervas wrote his Catalogue.
19. Max Müller, l. c., p. 179.
20. Ib., p. 183.
21. Dahlmann, Die Sprachkunde und die Missionen (Herder, 1891), p. 19.
22. Dahlmann, l. c., pp. 12-15.
23. Truebner's American and Oriental Literary Record, London 1872, p. 258. (Dahlmann, l. c., p. 15.)
24. Dahlmann, l. c., p. 27.
25. Mélanges Asiatiques, vol. II, p. 11. (Dahlmann, l. c., p. 28.)
26. Dahlmann, l. c., pp. 40-41.
27. Ib., page 42.
28. Zeitschrift der deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, XXXII, p. 604. (Dahlmann, l. c., p. 45.)
29. Neumann, quoted by Dahlmann, p. 25; a specimen of such plagiarism which occurred quite recently, shall be mentioned in chapter VII.
30. Ib., pp. 29-56.
31. Ib., pp. 57-144.
32. Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, Boston, 1889, vol. I, p. 279. See also pp. 262-264.
33. Mulhall, Between the Amazon and Andes, London, 1881, p. 263. (Dahlmann, l. c., p. 85.)
34. A History of Mathematics, by Florian Cajori, Professor in Colorado College. Macmillan, 1894, p. 155.
35. Ball, A Short Account of the History of Mathematics, Macmillan, 1888, p. 275.
36. Professor Halsted of the University of Texas published a translation of Saccheri's work in the American Mathematical Monthly, and Professor Manning of Brown University states that he has taken Saccheri's method of treatment as the basis of the first chapter of his recent book Non-Euclidean Geometry, Boston, Ginn and Company, 1901, p. 92. See also Cajori, A History of Mathematics, p. 303. – Hagen, Synopsis der höheren Mathematik, vol. II, p. 4.
37. Meyer's Conversations-Lexicon (1895), vol. VII, p. 983. Cajori, A History of Physics, Macmillan, 1899, pp. 88-89.
38. Ib., vol. XV, p. 400; XVI, p. 475; and Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, vol. XXX, p. 718.
39. Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, vol. XVI.
40. Mädler, Geschichte der Himmelskunde.
41. Ferdinand von Richthofen, China, Berlin, 1877.
42. China, vol. I, pp. 650-692. – See Dahlmann, l. c., pp. 35-37. – Huonder, Deutsche Jesuiten-Missionare des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts (Herder, 1899), pp. 86-89.
43. Chapter IV, pp. 127-129.
44. Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. I, pp. 262-263. On the works of Father Clavigero on Mexico see ib., p. 158.
45. History of Pedagogy, p. 144.
46. Ideler, Handbuch der Chronologie, vol. II, pp. 602-604. See Weiss, Weltgeschichte (2nd ed.), vol. V, II, pp.544-552.
47. It is a rather curious fact that some have blamed the Jesuit Superiors for allowing the publication of several of Father Hardouin's works, curious I say, because it is said again and again that the severe censorship of the Order suppresses all original and independent works of its subjects. "Do what you may, we shall find fault with you," seems to be the principle guiding some critics of the Order.
48. Quoted by De Badts de Cugnac, Les Jésuites et l'éducation, p. 34.
49. See Baumgartner, Geschichte der Weltliteratur, vol. IV, pp. 642-644.
50. Of Herder's works, the whole twelfth volume (Cotta, 1829), "Terpsichore", is devoted to Balde.
51. The extensive literature on Balde's works is given by Baumgartner, l. c., p. 645. A most flattering estimate of this Jesuit is to be found in Herzog's Real-Encyclopädie für protestantische Theologie, vol. II. (3. edition, 1897), article "Balde", by List, where it is said that "one always likes to return to the perusal of the lyrics of this God-inspired man."
52. Saintsbury, A History of Elizabethan Literature, London, 1887, pp. 119-120.
53. Compayré asserts: "The Jesuits have never written anything on the principles and objects of education. We must not demand of them an exposition of general views or a confession of their educational faith." L. c., p. 142. Voltaire called Jouvaucy's Method of Learning and Teaching the best work written since Quintilian's famous Institutes. – Sacchini, Jouvancy and Kropf were published again in 1896, as vol. X of Herder's Bibliothek der katholischen Pädagogik; selections from the works of Perpiniau, Bonifacio and Possevin in 1901 as vol. XI.
54. Quick, Educational Reformers, p. 40. That also in the nineteenth century the Jesuits were able to write good text-books may be seen from a statement of Thomas Arnold, son of Dr. Arnold of Rugby. During his sojourn in New Zealand, he used to borrow books from Frederick Weld, a Jesuit pupil of Fribourg (afterwards Governor of Western Australia.) "One of his text-books," says Arnold, "which he had brought with him from Fribourg, was a history of philosophy by the Jesuit professor Freudenfelt [the name is Freudenfeld, died at Stonyhurst 1850]. This book seemed to me more genially and lucidly written than similar works that had been put in my hands at Oxford." Passages in a Wandering Life, London, 1900, p. 99.
55. See Professor Dr. Lotholz, Pädagogik, der Neuzeit, 1897, p. 323.
56. On this subject see Baumgartner, Geschichte der Weltliteratur, vol. IV, pp. 623-637.
57. Paulsen, Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts, vol. I, p. 358.
58. Jouvancy, l. c., ch. II, art. II, §3, §6. – Masen, Palaestra Eloquentiae Ligatae Dramatica, Cologne, 1664. – Lang, Dissertatio de Actione Scenica etc., Munich, 1727.
59. That is, "the subject should be pious and edifying", as the 13th Rule of the Rector has it.
60. Duhr, pp. 136 foll. – In France many dramas were given in French since 1679. Rochemonteix, l. c., vol. III, p. 189. – The report of 1832 says dramas should be in the vernacular. Pachtler, op. cit., vol. IV, p. 479.
61. History of Pedagogy, vol. I, p. 272. (Janssen's History of the German People, vol. VII, p. 108.)
62. Ibid., p. 113 sq.
63. Ibid., p. 117.
64. Janssen, vol. VII, pp. 120-121.
65. Titles and programmes of dramas in French colleges by Rochemonteix, l. c., vol. III, pp. 189-195 and 215-353. The names of the best Jesuit dramatists are given by Baumgartner, l. c., vol. IV, pp. 627-637. Janssen, l. c., pp. 130-134.
66. Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts, vol. I, p. 418.
67. Rochemonteix, l. c., pp. 96-99.
68. Janssen, vol. VII, pp. 128-129.