Ignatius of Loyola, a Basque nobleman from the Pyrenees area of northern Spain, founded the society after discerning his spiritual vocation while recovering from a wound sustained in the Battle of Pamplona. He composed the Spiritual Exercises to help others follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. In 1534, Ignatius and six other young men, including Francis Xavier and Peter Faber, gathered and professed promises of poverty, chastity, and later obedience, including a special vow of obedience to the pope in matters of mission direction and assignment. Ignatius's plan of the order's organization was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540 by a bull containing the "Formula of the Institute".
Jesuit missions in America became controversial in Europe, especially in Spain and Portugal where they were seen as interfering with the proper colonial enterprises of the royal governments. The Jesuits were often the only force standing between the Native Americans and slavery. Together throughout South America but especially in present-day Brazil and Paraguay, they formed Christian Native American city-states, called "reductions". These were societies set up according to an idealized theocratic model. The efforts of Jesuits like Antonio Ruiz de Montoya to protect the natives from enslavement by Spanish and Portuguese colonizers would contribute to the call for the society's suppression. Jesuit priests such as Manuel da Nóbrega and José de Anchieta founded several towns in Brazil in the 16th century, including São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and were very influential in the pacification, religious conversion, and education of indigenous nations. They also built schools, organized people into villages, and created a writing system for the local languages of Brazil.[31] José de Anchieta and Manuel da Nóbrega were the first Jesuits that Ignacio de Loyola sent to America.[33]
History of the Jesuits, Vol. 1 of 3: From the Foundation of Their Society to Its Suppression by Pope
In 1604 the Lord President of Munster, Sir Henry Brouncker - at Limerick, ordered all Jesuits from the city and Province, and offered 7 to anyone willing to betray a Jesuit priest to the authorities, and 5 for a Seminarian.[59] Jesuit houses and schools throughout the Province, in the years thereafter, were subject to periodic crackdown and the occasional destruction of schools, imprisonment of teachers and the levying of heavy money penalties on parents are recorded in publications of the time. In 1615-17 the Royal Visitation Books, written up by Thomas Jones, the Anglican Archbishop of Dublin, records the suppression of Jesuit schools at Waterford, Limerick and Galway.[60] Nevertheless, spite of this occasional persecution, the Jesuits were able to exert a degree of discreet influence within the Province and city. For instance in 1606, largely through their efforts, a Catholic named Christopher Holywood was elected Mayor of the city.[61]Four years earlier the resident Jesuit had raised a sum of '200 cruzados' for the purpose of founding a hospital in the city, though the project was disrupted by a severe outbreak of plague and repression by the Lord President [62]
The Jesuit presence in Ireland, in the so-called Penal era after the Battle of the Boyne, ebbed and flowed. By 1700 they were only 6 or 7, recovering to 25 by 1750. Small Jesuit houses and schools existed at Athlone, Carrick-on-Suir, Cashel, Clonmel, Kilkenny, Waterford, New Ross, Wexford, and Drogheda, as well as Dublin and Galway. At Limerick there appears to have been a long hiatus following the defeat of the Jacobite forces and Begley states that Fr Thomas O'Gorman was the first Jesuit to return to Limerick after the siege, arriving in 1728 and he took up residence in Jail Lane, near the Castle in the Englishtown. There he opened a school to 'impart the rudiments of the classics to the better class youth of the city.[69] Fr O'Gorman left in 1737 and was succeeded by Fr John McGrath.[70] Next came Father James McMahon, who was a nephew of the Primate of Armagh, Hugh MacMahon. Fr McMahon lived at Limerick for thirteen years until his death in 1751. In 1746 Father Joseph Morony was sent from Bordeaux to join Father McMahon and the others.[71] Fr Morony remained at the Jail Lane site teaching at what Begley states was a 'high class school' until 1773 when he was ordered to close the School and Oratory following the Papal suppression of the Society of Jesus,[72] 208 years after its foundation by Wolfe. Fr Morony then went to live in Dublin and worked as a secular priest.
The suppression was carried out on political grounds in all countries except Prussia for a time, and Russia, where Catherine the Great had forbidden its promulgation. Because millions of Catholics (including many Jesuits) lived in the Polish provinces recently part-annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia, the Society was able to maintain its continuity and carry on its work all through the stormy period of suppression. Subsequently, Pope Pius VI granted formal permission for the continuation of the society in Russia and Poland, with Stanisław Czerniewicz elected superior of the province in 1782. He was followed by Gabriel Lenkiewicz, Franciszek Kareu and Gabriel Gruber until 1805, all elected locally as Temporary Vicars General. Pope Pius VII had resolved during his captivity in France to restore the Jesuits universally, and on his return to Rome he did so without much delay. On 7 August 1814, with the bull Sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum, he reversed the suppression of the society, and therewith another Polish Jesuit, Tadeusz Brzozowski, who had been elected as Superior in Russia in 1805, acquired universal jurisdiction. On his death in 1820 the Jesuits were expelled from Russia by tsar Alexander I.
In the nineteenth century, scientific and technological progress had laid the foundations for the industrial revolution that would transform modern society. In almost all fields of science, major developments had taken place in both the theory and practice of science. As a result, the Jesuit scientists of the restored Society encountered a form of science that differed from that of the previous century, with large numbers of scientists working in already established fields. This may explain why Jesuit research was more often to be found in sciences such as meteorology, seismology, and biology, which were then being developed, rather than in physics and chemistry, which were already established.
25. Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods. It represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day. Its worst impact will probably be felt by developing countries in coming decades. Many of the poor live in areas particularly affected by phenomena related to warming, and their means of subsistence are largely dependent on natural reserves and ecosystemic services such as agriculture, fishing and forestry. They have no other financial activities or resources which can enable them to adapt to climate change or to face natural disasters, and their access to social services and protection is very limited. For example, changes in climate, to which animals and plants cannot adapt, lead them to migrate; this in turn affects the livelihood of the poor, who are then forced to leave their homes, with great uncertainty for their future and that of their children. There has been a tragic rise in the number of migrants seeking to flee from the growing poverty caused by environmental degradation. They are not recognized by international conventions as refugees; they bear the loss of the lives they have left behind, without enjoying any legal protection whatsoever. Sadly, there is widespread indifference to such suffering, which is even now taking place throughout our world. Our lack of response to these tragedies involving our brothers and sisters points to the loss of that sense of responsibility for our fellow men and women upon which all civil society is founded.
143. Together with the patrimony of nature, there is also an historic, artistic and cultural patrimony which is likewise under threat. This patrimony is a part of the shared identity of each place and a foundation upon which to build a habitable city. It is not a matter of tearing down and building new cities, supposedly more respectful of the environment yet not always more attractive to live in. Rather, there is a need to incorporate the history, culture and architecture of each place, thus preserving its original identity. Ecology, then, also involves protecting the cultural treasures of humanity in the broadest sense. More specifically, it calls for greater attention to local cultures when studying environmental problems, favouring a dialogue between scientific-technical language and the language of the people. Culture is more than what we have inherited from the past; it is also, and above all, a living, dynamic and participatory present reality, which cannot be excluded as we rethink the relationship between human beings and the environment.
166. Worldwide, the ecological movement has made significant advances, thanks also to the efforts of many organizations of civil society. It is impossible here to mention them all, or to review the history of their contributions. But thanks to their efforts, environmental questions have increasingly found a place on public agendas and encouraged more far-sighted approaches. This notwithstanding, recent World Summits on the environment have not lived up to expectations because, due to lack of political will, they were unable to reach truly meaningful and effective global agreements on the environment.
Finally there came the demand from the Bourbon governments that the pope make the suppression of the Society universal. Clement refused, only to die of a heart attack a few days later, in February 1769. In the ensuing conclave, Bourbon agents brazenly lobbied the supposedly isolated cardinals. After 185 voting sessions the Bourbons finally got their man, the compliant Giovanni Vincenzo Ganganelli. The increasingly paranoid pope delayed more than three years but finally was pressured into signing the brief of suppression. The Jesuits, who in 1750 boasted a membership of 22,500, with over 700 educational institutions, had disappeared canonically.
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