MANNER IN WHICH FATHERS MUST CONDUCT THEMSELVES PART VI

BANK of WISDOM

Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201

25

Secret Instructions of the Society of Jesus

7. Procuring soon, that they are removed from the exercise of the functions celebrated in the Church, such as the
sermons, confessions, publication of books, &c., &c., so that they do not win the love and applause of the people. For
this, we must come to inquire diligently upon their life and their habits; upon their occupations, &c., &c., penetrate into
their intentions, for the which, we must have particular correspondence with some of the family in whose house they live,
of those who have been expelled. In surprising something reprehensible in them or worthy of censure, which is to be
divulged by people of medium quality; giving in following the steps conducive to reach the hearing of the great, and the
prelates, who favor then, that they may be caused to fear that the infamy will relapse upon themselves. If they do
nothing that merits reprehension, and conduct themselves well, we must curtail them by subtle propositions and
captious phrases, their virtues and meritorious actions, causing that the idea that has been formed of them, and the
faith that is had in them, may little by little be made to disappear; this is of great interest for the Society, that those
whom we repel, and more principally those who by their own will abandon us, shall be sunk in obscurity and oblivion.

8. We must divulge without ceasing the disgraces and sinister accidents that they bring upon them, notwithstanding
the faithful, who entreat for them in their prayers, that they may not believe that we work from impulses of passion. In
our houses we must exaggerate by every method these calamities, that they may serve to hinder others.



CHAPTER XII.

WHO MAY COME THAT THEY MAY BE SUSTAINED

AND PRESERVED IN THE SOCIETY.

1. The first place in the Society pertains to the good operators; that is to say, those who cannot procure less for the
temporal than for the spiritual good of the Society; such as the confessors of princes, of the powerful, of the widows, of
the rich pious women, the preachers and the professors who know all these secrets.

2. Those who have already failed in strength or advanced in years; conforming to the use they have made of their
talents in and for the temporal good of the Society; of the manner which has attended them in days that are passed;
and further, are yet convenient instruments to give part to the Superiors of the ordinary defects which are to be noted in
ourselves, for they are always in the house.

3. We must never expel but in case of extreme necessity, for fear of the Society acquiring a bad reputation.

4. Furthermore, it will be necessary to favor those who excel by their talent, their nobleness and their fortune;
particularly if they have powerful friends attached to the Society; and if they themselves have for it a sincere
appreciation, as we have already said before. They must be sent to Rome, or to the universities of





BANK of WISDOM

Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201

26

Secret Instructions of the Society of Jesus

greater reputation to study there; or in case of having studied in some province, it will be very convenient that the
professors attend to them with special care and affection. Meanwhile, they not having conveyed their property to the
Society, we must not refuse them anything; for after confirming the cession, they will be disappointed as the others,
notwithstanding guarding some consideration for the past.

5. Having also especial consideration on the part of the Superiors, for those that have brought to the Society, a
young notable, placed so that they are given to know the affection made to it; but if they have not professed, it is
necessary to take care of not having too much indulgence with them, for fear that they may return at another time, to
carry away those whom they have brought to the Society.

CHAPTER XIII.

OF THE YOUTH WHO MAY BE ELECTED TO BE ADMITTED

INTO THE SOCIETY,

AND OF THE MODE OF RETAINING THEM.

1. It is necessary that much prudence shall be exercised, respecting the election of the Youth; having to be sprightly,
noble, well liked, or at the least excellent in some of these qualities.

2. To attract them with greater facility to our institute, it is necessary in the meanwhile, to study that the rectors and
professors of colleges shall exhibit an especial affection; and outside the time of the classes, to make them comprehend
how great is God, and that some one should consecrate to his service all that he possesses; and particularly if he is in
the Society of his Son.

3. Whenever the opportunity may arrive, conducive in the college and in the garden, and yet at times to the country
houses, that in the company of ourselves, during the recreations, that we may familiarize with them, little by little, being
careful, notwithstanding, that the familiarity does not engender disgust.

4. We cannot consent that we shall punish them, nor oblige them to assemble at their tasks among those who are
the most educated.

5. We must congratulate them with gifts and privileges conforming to their age and encouraging above all others with
moral discourses.

6. We must inculcate them, that it is for one divine disposition, that they are favorites among so many who frequent
the same college.

7. On other occasions, especially in the exhortations, we must aim to terrify them with menaces of the eternal
condemnation, if they refuse the divine vocation.









BANK of WISDOM

Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201

27

Secret Instructions of the Society of Jesus

8. Meanwhile frequently expressing the anxiety to enter the

Society, we must always defer their admission, that they may remain constant; but if for these, they are undecided, then
we must encourage them incessantly by other methods.

9. If we admonish effectively, that none of their friends, nor yet the fathers, nor the mothers discover their vocation
before being admitted; because then, if then, they come to the temptation of withdrawing; so many as the Society
desires to give full liberty of doing that which may be the most convenient; and in case of succeeding to conquer the
temptation, we must never lose occasions to make them recover spirit; remembering that which we have said, always
that this will succeed during the time of the novitiate, or after having made their simple vows.

10. With respect to the sons of the great, nobles, and senators, as it is supremely difficult to attract them, meanwhile
living with their fathers, who are having them educated to the end, that they may succeed in their destinies, we must
persuade, vigorously, of the better influences of friends that are persons of the same Society; that they are ordered to
other provinces, or to distant universities in which there are our teachers; careful to remit to the respective professors
the necessary instructions, appropriate to their quality and condition, that they may gain their friendship for the Society
with greater facility and certainty.

11. When having arrived at a more advanced age, they will be induced to practice some spiritual exercises, that they
may have so good an exit in Germany and Poland.

12. We must console them in their sadness and afflictions, according to the quality and dispositions of each one,
making use of private reprimands and exhortations appropriate to the bad use of riches; inculcating upon them that
they should depreciate the felicity of a vocation, menacing them with the pains of hell for the things they do.

13. It will be necessary to make patent to the fathers and the mothers, that they may condescend more easily to the
desire of their sons of entering the Society, the excellence of its institute in comparison with those of other orders; the
sanctity and the science of our fathers; its reputation in all the world; the honor and distinctions of the different great
and small. We must make enumeration of the princes and the magnates, that, with great content, have lived until their
death, and yet living in the Society. We must show how agreeable it is to God, that the youth consecrate themselves to
Him, particularly in the Society of his Son: and what thing is there so sublime as that of a man carrying the yoke of the
Lord from his youth. That if they oppose any objections because of their extreme youth, then we must present the
facility of our institute, the which not having anything to molest, with the exception of the three vows, and that which is
most notable, that we do not have any obligatory rule, nor yet under penalty of venial sin.









BANK of WISDOM

Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201

28

Secret Instructions of the Society of Jesus

CHAPTER XIV.

UPON RESERVED CASES AND MOTIVES THAT NECESSITATE

EXPULSION FROM THE SOCIETY.

1. To most of the cases expressed in the Constitutions, and of which only the Superior or the ordinary confessor,
with permission of this, can absolve them, where there is sodomy, unnatural crime, formication, adultery, of the
unchaste touch of a man, or of a woman; also if under the pretext of Zeal, or whatever motive, they have done some
grave thing against the Society; against its honors and its gains; these will be just causes for reason of the expulsion of
the guilty.

2. If anyone confesses in the confessional of having committed some similar act, he will not be promised absolution,
until he has promised to reveal to the Superior, outside of the confessional, the same or by his confessor. The Superior
will operate the better for it, in the general interests of the Society; further, if there is founded hope of the careful hiding
of the crime, it will be necessary to impose upon the guilty a convenient punishment; if otherwise he can be expelled
much before. With all the care that is possible, the confessor will give the penitent to understand that he runs the
danger of being expelled.

3. If any one of our confessors, having heard a strange person say, that he had committed a shameful thing with one
of the Society, he will not absolve such a person, without his having said, outside of his confession, the name of the one
with whom he has sinned; and if he so says, he will be made to swear that he will not divulge the same, without the
consent of the Society.

4. If two of ourselves have sinned carnally, he who first avows it will be retained in the Society; and the other will be
expelled; but he who remains permanent, will be after such mortification and bad treatment, of sorrow, and by his
impatience, and if we have occasion for his expulsion, it will be necessary for the future of it that it be done directly.

5. The Society being a noble corporation and preeminent in the

Church, it can dismiss those that will not be apt for the execution of our object, although giving satisfaction in the
beginning; and the opportunity does not delay in presenting itself; if it procures continuous maltreatment; and if he is
obliged to do contrary to his inclination; if they are gathered under the orders of gloomy Superiors; if he is separated
from his studies and from the honorable functions, &c., &c., until be gets to murmuring.

6. In no manner must we retain in the Society, those that openly reveal against their Superiors, or that will complain
publicly, or reservedly, of their companions, or particularly if they make them to strangers; nor to those who are among
ourselves, or among persons who are on the outside, censure the conduct of the Society in regard to the acquisition or
administration of temporal properties, or whatever acts of the same; for example, of crushing or oppressing many of
those whom we do not wish well, or that they







BANK of WISDOM

Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201

29

Secret Instructions of the Society of Jesus

the same having been expelled, &c., &c. Nor yet those, that in conversation, who tolerate, or defend the Venetians, the
French and others, that have driven the Society away from the territories, or that have occasioned great prejudices.

7. Before the expulsion of any we must vex and harass them in the extreme; depriving them of the functions that they
have been accustomed to discharge, dedicating them to others. Although they may do well, it will be necessary to
censure them, and with this pretext, apply them to another thing. Imposing by a trifling fault that they have committed
the most severe penalties, that they blush in public, until they have lost all patience; and at last will be expelled as
pernicious to all, for which a future opportunity will present itself when they will think less.

8. When some one of the Society has a certain hope of obtaining a bishopric, or whatever other ecclesiastical
dignity, to most of the ordinary vows of the Society he will be obliged to take another; and that is, that he will always
preserve good sentiments towards the Society; that he will always speak favorably of it; that he will not have a confessor
that will not be to its bosom; that he will do nothing of entity without having heard the justice of the same. Because in
consequence of not having observed this, the Cardinal Tolet the Society had obtained of the Holy See, that no swinish
descendants of Jews or Mahometans were admitted, that he did not desire to take such vows; and that for celebrity that
is out, he was expelled as a firm enemy of the Society.



CHAPTER XV.

HOW THE SOCIETY MUST BE CONDUCTED

WITH THE MONKS AND NUNS.

1. The confessors and preachers must guard well against offending the nuns and occasioning temptations contrary
to their vocation; but on the contrary, having conciliated the love of the Lady Superiors, that we obtain to hear, when
less, their extraordinary confessions, and that it is predicted that we may hope soon to receive some gratitude from
them; because the abbesses, principally the rich and noble, can be of much utility to the Society, by themselves, and by
their relatives and friends; of the manner with which we treat with them and influence of the principal monasteries, the
Society will little by little arrive to obtain the knowledge of all the corporation and increase its friendship.

2. It will be necessary, notwithstanding, to prohibit our nuns from frequenting the monasteries of women, for fear that
their mode of life may be more agreeable, and that the Society will see itself frustrated in the hopes of possessing all
their properties. We must induce them to take the vow of chastity and obedience, at the hands of their confessors; and
to show them that this mode of life will conform with the uses of the Primitive Church, placed as a light to shine in the
house, and that it cannot be hidden under a measure, without the edification of their neighbor, and without fruit for the
souls; furthermore, that in imitation of the widows of the Gospel, doing well by giving themselves to Jesus Christ and to
his





BANK of WISDOM

Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201

30

Secret Instructions of the Society of Jesus

Society. If they were to know how evil it can possibly be, of the life of the cloisters; but these instructions must be given
under the seal of inviolable secrecy that they do not come to the ears of the monks.

CHAPTER XVI.

HOW WE MUST MAKE PROFESSION OF DESPISING RICHES.

["How we must pretend to despise wealth."]

1. With the end of preventing the seculars from directing attention to our itching for riches, it will be useful to repel at
times alms of little amount, by which we can allow them to do services for our Society; though we must accept the
smallest amounts from people attached to us, for fear that we may be accused of avarice, if we only receive those that
are most numerous.

2. We must refuse sepulture to persons of the lowest class in our churches, though they may have been very
attached to our Society; for we do not believe that we must seek riches by the number of interments, and we must hold
firmly the gains that we have made with the dead.

3. In regard to the widows and other persons who have left their properties to the Society, we must labor with
resolution and greater vigor than with the others; things being equal, and not to be made apparent, that we favor some
more than others, in consideration of their temporal properties. The same must be observed with those that pertain to
the Society, after that they have made cession of their property; and if it be necessary to expel them from the Society, it
must be done with discretion, to the end that they leave to the Society a part for the less of that which they have given,
or that which they have bequeathed at the time of their death.



CHAPTER XVII.

METHODS TO EXALT THE COMPANY.

1. Treating principally all, though in things of little consequence, we must have the same opinion, or at least exterior
dignity; for by this manner we may augment and strengthen the Society more and more; to overthrow the barrier we
have overcome in the business of the world.

2. Thus strengthening all, it will shine by its wisdom and good example, that we shall excel all the other fathers, and
particularly the pastors, &c., &c., until the people desire us to all. Publicly divulging that the pastors do not need to
possess so much knowledge; with such they can discharge well their duties, stating that they can assist them with the
counsels of the Society; that for this motive they can dedicate themselves to all classes of studies.













BANK of WISDOM

Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201

31

Secret Instructions of the Society of Jesus

3. We must inculcate this doctrine with kings and princes, THAT THE CATHOLIC FAITH CANNOT SUBSIST IN THE
PRESENT STATE, WITHOUT POLITICS; but that in this, it is necessary to proceed with much certainty. Of this mode,
we must share the affection of the great, and BE ADMITTED TO THE MOST SECRET COUNSELS.

4. We must entertain their good will, by writing from all parts interesting facts and notices.

5. It will be no little advantage that will result, by secretly and prudently fomenting dissensions between the great,
ruining or augmenting their power. But if we perceive some appearance of reconciliation between them, then we of the
Society will treat and act as pacificators; that it shall not be that any others shall anticipate to obtain it.

6. As much to the magnates as to the people, we must persuade them by all possible means, that the Society has
not been, but by especial Divine Providence, conforming to the prophecies of the Abbot Joachim, for to return and raise
up the Church, humbled by the heretics.

7. Having acquired the favor of the great and of the bishops, it will be an entire necessity, of empowering the curates
and prebendaries to more exactly reform the clergy, that in other times lived under certain rule with the bishops, and
tending to perfection; also it will be necessary to inspire the abbeys and prefaces; the which it will not be difficult to
obtain; calling attention to the indolence and stupidity of the monks as if they were cattle; because it will be very
advantageous for the Church, if all the bishoprics were occupied by members of the Society; and yet, as if it was the
same apostolic chair, particularly if the Pope should return as temporal prince of all the properties; for as much as it is
very necessary to extend little by little, with much secrecy and skill, the temporalities of the Society; and not having any
doubt that the world will enter the golden age, to enjoy a perfect universal peace, for following the divine benediction
that will descend upon the Church.

8. But if we do not hope that we can obtain this, supposing that it is necessary that scandals shall come in the world,
WE MUST BE CAREFUL TO CHANGE OUR POLITICS, CONFORMING TO THE TIMES, AND EXCITE THE PRINCES,
FRIENDS OF OURS TO mutually make terrible wars THAT EVERYWHERE THE MEDIATION OF THE SOCIETY WILL BE
IMPLORED; that we may be employed in the public reconciliation, for it will be the cause of the common good; and we
shall be recompensed by the PRINCIPAL ECCLESIASTICAL DIGNITIES; and the BETTER BENEFICIARIES.

9. In fine, that the Society afterwards can yet count upon the favor and authority of the princes, procuring THAT
THOSE WHO DO NOT LOVE US SHALL FEAR US.





**** ****