SOCIETY
81
SOCIETY
missionariea has been established at Hong-Kong on
the coast of China; another in India among the
Nilgiri mountains, of radiant appearance and in-
vigorating chmate, and a third in France. In think-
ing of the welfare of the body, that of the soul was
not lost sight of, and a house of spiritual retreat was
founded at Hong-Kong, whither all the priests of the
society may repair to renew their priestly and apos-
tolic fervour. To this house was added a printing
establishment, whence i-ssue the most beautiful works
of the Far East, dictionaries, grammars, books of
theology, piety, Christian doctrine, and pedagogy.
Houses of correspondence, or agencies, were estab-
lished in the Far East at Shanghai, Hong-Kong,
Saigon, Singapore, and one at ^ia^seilles, France.
The Seminary of the Foreign Missions which long
had only one section, has for twenty years had two.
LuQDET, Leitres a I'^viquc de Langres sur la cong. des Missions- Etranghes (Paris, 1842); Launay, Hist. g^nSrale de la Societe des Missiona-Etranghres (Paris. 1894) ; Docum. hist, sur la Sod. desMii- sions-Etrangires (Paris, 1904); Hist, des missions de I'Inde (Paris, 1898); Hist, de la mission du Thibet (Paris, 1903); Hist, des mis- sions de Chine 8 (Paris, 1903-8) : Louvet. La Cochinchine reli- gieuse (Paris. 1885); Dallet, Hist, de I'iglise de Corie (Paris, 1874) ; Marnas. La religion de Jesus ressrtscitS au Japon (Paris, 1896).
A. Launay.
Society of Jesus (Company of Jesus, Jesuits), a religious order founded by Saint Ignatius Loyola (q. v.). Designated by him "The Company of Jesus" to indicate its true leader and its soldier spirit, the title was latinized into "Societas Je.su" in the Bull of Paul III approving its formation and the first formula of its Institute ("Regiraini mihtantis ecclesia;", 27 Sept., 1540). The term "Jesuit" (of fifteenth-cen- tury origin, meaning one who used too freely or appro- priated the name of Je.sus), was first applied to the Society in reproach (1.5-i4-.52l. and was never em- ployed by its fovmder, though members and friends of the Society in time accepted the name in its good sense. The Society ranks among religious institutes as a mendicant order of clerks regular, that is, a body of priests organized for apostolic work, following a religious rule, and relying on alms for their support [Bulls of Pius V, "Dum indefessas", 7 July, 1.571; Gregory XIII, ".\scendente Domino" (q. v.), 25 May, 15S4].
As has been explained under the title "Ignatius Loyola", the founder began his self -reform, and the enlistment of followers, entirely prepossessed with the idea of the imitation of Christ, and without any plan for a rehgious order or purpose of attending to the needs of the days. Unexpectedly prevented from carrying out this original idea, he offered his services and those of his followers to the pope, "Christ U])on Earth", who at once employed them in such works as were most pressing at the moment. It was only after this and just before the first companions broke up to go at the pope's command to various countries, that the resolution to found an order was taken, and that Ignatius was commissioned to draw up Constitu- tions. This he did slowly and methodically; first introducing rules and customs, anri .seeing how they worked. He did not codify them for the first six years. Then three years w-ere given to formulating laws, the wisdom of which had been ])roved by ex|ieri- ment. In the last .six years of the saint's life the Con- stitutions so composed were finally revised and put into practice everywhere. This sequence of events explains at once how the Society, though devoted to the following of Christ, as though there were nothing else in the world to care for, is also so excellently adapted to the needs of the day. It began to attend to them before it began to legislate; and its legisla- tion was the codification of those measures which had been proved by experience to be apt to preserve its preUminary religious principle among men actu- ally devoted to the requirements of the Church in days not unUke our own. XIV.— 6
The Society was not founded with the avowed
intention of opposing Protestantism. Neither the
papal letters of approbation, nor the Constitutions of
the order mention this as the object of the new founda-
tion. When Ignatius began to devote himself to the
service of the Church, he had probably not heard even
the names of the Protestant Reformers. His early
plan was rather the conversion of Mohammedans, an
idea which, a few decades after the final triumph of
the Christians over the Moors in Spain, must have
strongly appealed to the chivalrous Spaniard. The
name "Societas Jesu" had been borne by a military
order approved and recommended by Pius II in 1459,
the purpose of which was to fight against the Turks
and aid in spreading the Christian faith. The early
Jesuits were sent by Ignatius first to pagan lands or to
Cathohc countries; to Protestant countries only at the
special request of the ])oi)e, and to Germany, the
cradle-land of the Reformation, at the urgent solici-
tation of the imperial ambassador. From the very
beginning the missionary labours of Jesuits among the
pagans of India, Japan, China, Canada, Central and
South America were as important as their activity
in Christian countries. As the object of the Society
was the propagation and strengthening of the Catholic
Faith everywliere, the Jesuits naturally endeavoured
to counteract the spread of Protestantism. They
became the main instruments of the Counter-Refor-
mation; the reconquest of southern and western
Germany and Austria for the Church, and the pres-
ervation of the Cathohc faith in France and other
countries were due chiefly to their exertions.
Institute, Constitittions, Legislation. — The official publication which conipri.scs all the regula- tions of the Society, its codex legiim, is entitled "Insti- tutum Socictatis Je.su", of which the latest edition was issued at Rome and Florence, 1869-91 (for fuU bibliography see Sommervogel, V, 75-115; IX, 609- 611 ; for commentators see X, 705-710). The Institute contains: (1) The special Bulls and other pontifical documents approving the Society and canonically determining or regulating its various works, and its ecclesiastical standing and relations. — Besides those already mentioned, other important Bulls are those of: Paul III, "Injunctum nobis", 14 March, 1543; Julius III, "Exposcit dcbituin", 21 July, 1550; Pius V, "^quum reputamus", 17 January, 1565; Pius VII, "Sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum", 7 Au- gust, 1814; Leo XIII, "Dolemus inter alia", 13 July, 1880. (2) The Examen Generale and Constitu- tions. — The Examen contains subjects to be ex- plained to postulants and points on which they are to be examined. The Constitutions are divided into ten parts: (a) admis.sion; (b) dismissal; (c) novitiate; (d) scholastic training; (e) profession and other grades of membership; (f) religious vows and other obliga- tions as observed in the Society; (g) missions and other ministries; (h) congregations, local and general assemblies as a means of union and uniformity; (i) the general and chief superiors; (j) preservation of the spirit of the Society. Thus far in the Institute all is by St. Ignatius, who has also addcil "Declara- tions" of various obscure parts. Then come: (3) Decrees of Cieneral Congregations, which have equal authority with the Constitutions; (4) Rules, gen- eral and particular, etc.; (5) Formuhe or order of business for the congregations; (6) Ordinations of gen- erals, which have the same authority as the rules;
(7) Instructions, some for superiors, others for those engaged in the missions or other works of the Society;
(8) Industrite, or special counsels for superiors; (9) The Book of the Spiritual Exercises; and (10) the Ratio Studiorum (q. v.), which have directive force only.
The Constitutions as drafted by Ignatius and adopted finally by the first congreg;it inn nf the Society, 1.5.58, have never been altered. Ill-informed writers have stated that Lainez, the second general, made
