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accordance with the principles of sound finance, there can be no doubt as to the fact that uncertainty as to the standard is ruinous. And this stage of uncertainty as to the standard of exchange value is precisely the condition in which this country has been for the past few years. The result has been hard times, far harder, relatively to the average condition, than the nations of Europe have been having. Nothing but the vast natural resources of the country could have enabled us to live through such a condition of things as well as we have done. It is satisfactory to know that the people are now thoroughly aroused to the desperate need of settling this question one way or the other. Macaulay's line, 'One of us two, Herminius, shall never more go home,' expresses very well the spirit by which both sides now seem to be animated; and there is good reason to hope that, when the ballots have been counted in November, the people will feel that one of the most formidable issues which this Republic has ever had to face is in a fair way of being finally settled.

WILLIAM DILLON.

CHICAGO: July 1896.

1896

THE TRAINING OF A JESUIT

ONE of the curious phenomena of the modern world is the mystery that hangs around the name of Jesuit. There is a general consent that the Jesuits are a body of men who exert a considerable influence in the world. This at least is conceded to them alike by friends and enemies, by Catholics, and by those outside the Catholic Church. But the secret of their influence, the source whence their power arises, is a matter on which the widest possible opinion prevails. While all, or nearly all, attribute to them an unlimited devotion to the cause of Rome, there is a very considerable diversity of opinion as to the means they employ to carry out the end which they have at heart. A large majority of non-Catholics impute to them an unscrupulous readiness to avail themselves of any means, good or bad, by which they think that their cause can be served. Not a few believe them to be a secret and perfectly organised society, ready to occupy any position, or to fill any office, inside or outside the Catholic Church, in which may be seen an opportunity of carrying on their work of unscrupulous propagandism. They are fully convinced that Jesuits are to be found in her Majesty's Service, in the various learned professions, in the commercial classes, among domestic servants and those who labour with their hands, and even in the ranks of the Anglican clergy. Some among the more zealous Protestants believe in the existence of female Jesuits,' who, in the garb of domestic servants, nurses, and governesses, find an opportunity of instilling into the minds of the young children committed to their charge the principles of Popery. Even educated men are not wholly free from the curious superstition that the Jesuit in disguise' is to be found everywhere, seeking with unscrupulous perseverance to undermine, by fair means or foul, the foundations of the Protestant Church, and to re-establish the dominion of Rome over the souls of

men.

This belief, like all other popular superstitions, has an element of truth in it. In the days of persecution, when Jesuits were hunted up and down the land, and were mercilessly butchered simply because they were members of the proscribed Society, their only chance of escaping the hands of the pursuivant was to be 'Jesuits in disguise.'

Although they were but a handful among the hundreds of devoted priests who laboured and laid down their lives for their religion in the reigns of Elizabeth and the Stuarts, yet they were the objects of the special hatred of the persecutors, and the search for them was carried on with relentless vigour. Even when other priests were tolerated, they were not, and in the present day they still remain an illegal corporation, who are liable at any moment to be expelled from England if the existing laws were put in force. All this engendered a certain policy of caution and concealment, the traces of which linger on even when the necessity of it has happily passed

away.

But if this accounts in some measure for their supposed system of secrecy, it does not at all account for the extraordinary influence that they are believed to exert, not in England only, but all the world over. Here the intelligent Protestant is, we think, fairly nonplussed. He cannot but know that the theory that attributes their alleged power in the world to a system of unscrupulous intrigue and deception cannot possibly be maintained. Societies, like individuals, are in due course of time discredited if they violate the fundamental laws of morality. No man of honour and integrity would look with favour on a society which taught that 'The end justifies the means,' (in the sense that means in themselves unlawful are justified by the fact that the end which they are intended to promote is a good one), or which habitually practised deceit and employed underhand means to attain its object. Still less would any man of virtue or high principle dream of belonging to such a body. No parent would think of entrusting his children to be educated by its members. No one who valued his own reputation would have anything to do with such a band of moral lepers. They would be scouted in every civilised community. If Jesuits were what the vulgar Protestant supposes them to be, they would long ago have been crushed out of existence by the just indignation of mankind.

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We may therefore dismiss without further comment the absurd supposition that Jesuits owe their influence to deceit and an unscrupulous policy of Machiavellianism, and must look elsewhere for the secret of their power in the world. If they are influential, it must needs be because they employ means that are in themselves calculated to impart influence to those who are willing to adopt them. It will be the object of the following pages to try and explain what these means are.

But first of all I must premise that as I am writing for nonCatholics as well as for Catholics, I shall omit, or pass over very lightly, the supernatural element in their success. Many of my readers will smile if I recall the prayer which their founder, St. Ignatius, used to offer continually for his children. He used to beg of God that they might always be the object of the world's hatred

and enmity. He told them that they should wish to suffer contumely, false accusations and insults, so long as they themselves gave no sort of occasion for it, and no offence is thereby committed against the Divine Majesty.' He knew from Holy Scripture and from the history of the Church that this has been an essential condition of success in all great works done for God by saints and missionaries, and a mere process of induction taught him to regard persecution and misrepresentation as a necessary accompaniment of every victory won for the sacred cause of Christianity. I should, therefore, be omitting a prominent feature in the history of my Order if I were to pass altogether unnoticed the reproach which always has been attached, and I pray God may always be attached, to the name of the Society of Jesus.

But my object in my present article is rather to dwell on the natural causes that have contributed to gain for us the place of honour which we occupy in the ranks of the Christian Church. And among these marks of honour I include not only our position as theologians, missioners, preachers, confessors, and educators of youth, but still more the invariable selection that is made of the Society as the chief object of the hatred of those who are the foes of the Catholic Church. Whether it be the courtiers of Queen Elizabeth or the sectaries of Germany, the Communists of Paris or the Revolutionary party in Italy, the Bonzes of Japan or the fanatical followers of Mohammed, all who hate the name of Catholic concentrate their deadliest animosity on the unfortunate Jesuit. Even within the pale of the Catholic Church we have sometimes found strenuous opponents. The Jansenists of France were our bitter enemies. Those who rejoice in the name of Liberal Catholics have invariably stood aloof from us. At times even bishops and archbishops have looked coldly on us. Sometimes, indeed, it may be that individual Jesuits have, by their unfaithfulness to the principles of their Order, deserved the ill feeling with which they have been regarded. But in a large majority of cases it is due either to prejudice or defective knowledge on the part of their adversaries, or else to an imperfect grasp of the Catholic system (as was the case with the Jansenists), or to a false impression that the Jesuits exercised an influence which interfered with their own lawful authority, and were a rival power in the government of the Church.

I have still left untouched what I believe to be the real secret of Jesuit influence, regarded, as I desire my readers to regard it, from a purely natural point of view. Not that it can ever be really separated from the supernatural, any more than the ivy can be separated from the oak to which it clings. But as we can consider the growth and means of cultivation of the ivy in itself, so I propose to consider the Society of Jesus in itself, as an organised system of

1 Summarium Constitutionum Soc. Jesu, R. 11.

means, adapted, in accordance with the principles that govern human society, to the end that it has in view. After a quarter of a century spent in its ranks, I can speak with great confidence from my own personal experience of the training given to its members. The study of the training of a Jesuit appears to me to throw a very clear light on the position which the Society occupies in the modern world.

But there is something preliminary to the consideration of its training. No system of education can produce a well-educated man unless the original material is good. The first requisite for those who are to do the work of the Society efficiently is that it should select as its members only those who are capable of receiving the Jesuit' form.' The statue, however deftly carved, will not be a success if the marble have serious defects. All possible care is taken to admit into the ranks of the Society only those who are naturally qualified to carry out the end that it sets before itself, and who show a capacity for imbibing its spirit and submitting to its discipline.

When any one applies for admission to the Society, he has first of all to satisfy the Head of the Province that he is a likely subject; and he is then handed over to four of the Fathers to be examined by each of them separately. This examination is no mere form; the candidate for admission has to answer the most searching questions, and is submitted to a somewhat rigorous scrutiny. He is asked about the age, health, and position of his parents in the world; whether they are Catholics; whether they are likely to need his help in their old age. He has also to give a full account of himself; whether he suffers from ill-health or other infirmity, hereditary or acquired; whether he owes money, or is under any other obligation; what studies he has made and what are his literary attainments, whether he has lived a virtuous life; how long he has been entertaining the idea of entering the Society, and what is his motive for wishing to do so; whether it has been suggested to him by any one else or springs entirely from himself. The examiner has meanwhile to try and ascertain from personal observation what talent he possesses; what is his natural disposition; whether he seems to be a man likely to persevere, and to prove a useful member of the Society. He is not to be admitted if he has any notable bodily defect or mental infirmity; if he is deficient in intelligence; if he is in debt; or if he has worn the habit of any other religious body, even for a single day. Each of the four examiners has to write out at length his report on the above points, and to state in writing his opinion as to whether it is expedient to admit him or not, with any further remarks that he may choose to add. The four reports are sent in to the Provincial, who after carefully reading them decides whether the candidate is to be accepted or rejected.

In every province of the Society of Jesus there is a day in each year on which candidates are ordinarily received, though exceptions

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