CHAPTER XXIII.

EXPULSION OF THE JESUITS.

1720-1810.

THE SOCIETY OF JESUS IN MEXICO-LAST SERVICES-MORAL CONDITIONSQUABBLES ABOUT TITHES, AND THE CONSEQUENCES-THE SITUATION IN MEXICO AND THE WORLD IN 1750-MEMBERS, HOUSES, AND MISSIONS IN MEXICO IN 1767-CONVERTS MADE-UNSUCCESSFUL RENUNCIATION OF MISSIONS-CLOUDS PORTENTOUS OF DISASTER-PERSECUTION IN PORTUGAL AND FRANCE-OBLOQUY AND REFUTATION-EXPULSION FROM SPANISH DOMINIONS AND OTHER NATIONS-CAUSES THEREFOR-How EFFECTED IN MEXICO-SUFFERINGS OF THE EXILES-HARSH TREATMENT-MEANS OF SUPPORT-REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN MEXICO QUELLED-RELENTLESS PUNISHMENT OF THE LEADERS-PAPAL SUPPRESSION OF THE SOCIETY-LATER MODERATION-THE ORDER RESTORED AND READMITTED IN MEXICO TO BE AGAIN EXPELLED.

WE come now to one of those episodes in the history of intellectual development which occasionally startle us from our contemplation of the more usual monotony of facts; in this instance an episode which causes us to wonder at a state of human society that could evolve such phenomena. There are few events in the annals of the race, very few upon its later pages, wherein is so displayed the mighty power of one over the many, not of one mind over the will of the many, as frequently occurs in the great currents of superstition, but the arbitrary and unjust domination, the iron tyranny of one will over the minds and bodies of millions. In the midst of its palmiest days, at a time when its wealth and influence are almost limitless, the church throws a faint, almost imperceptible scowl at the state, and instantly one of her most powerful divisions is hurled hence, and dissipated to the winds; and this in a Catholic country, by a Catholic monarch,

and in defiance of the pope of Rome. It was during the administration of the marqués de Croix that New Spain, as well as the other dominions of the Spanish crown, was subjected by Cárlos III., their king, to this catastrophe which brought to thousands humiliation and distress.

I have given, with sufficient detail, the origin and progress in Mexico of the society of Jesus to the end of the seventeenth century. The order continued to spread during the next hundred years, and its hold on the country was such that, to all appearances, no power could shake it so long as it pursued its established policy. In 1732 the Jesuits entered the field of Guanajuato, and took initiatory steps toward founding a college in the city of that name. The site was determined, and the appurtenances received in September, but it was not until 1744 that the royal authorization was obtained. The corner-stone was laid in 1747, fifty thousand pesos having been secured, besides four haciendas valued at double that sum.* The church of the college was consecrated in 1765. There was at Leon in Guanajuato a beaterio of Jesuit women for the education of girls, the only one in America. In Michoacan the order had a mission in San Juan Puruándiro of the district of Patzcuaro.5 The college of San Javier was given to the society by the bishop of Michoacan. In Jalisco, the conversion of the natives of Nayarit was taken in hand by the Jesuits in 1720. They labored in that barren field

'The society's extraordinary privileges had been at various periods--1708 to 1757-renewed by the papal court, the last extension being for twenty years. Morelli, Fast. Nov. Orb., 518-625.

2 It is stated that as early as 1616 the people there had asked for Jesuits; and there was a tradition that for fifteen days before a priest named Vidal visited the place, the form of a Jesuit was seen in the pulpit of the parish church. Vidal vanquished and drove out the devil, who had declared that he would prevent the Jesuit entry. Lazcano, Vida del P. Oviedo, 270-5. Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, iii. 241-3, 284–6.

As many as 500 miners helped at the work on certain days without wages, and yet the college and its magnificent temple cost over half a million pesos. Romero, Mich., 160-1.

Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, ii. 28.

6 When these people earnestly asked for them. They had since 1635 re

amidst difficulties and hardships. Much of the trouble arose from the conduct of the whites, including the troops of the presidio, whose captain could not control them.7

The moral condition of the province seems to have been satisfactory to the general of the order in 1747, as he so expressed himself to the provincial in Mexico, who in his turn made it known to his subjects, in his letter enjoining the strictest discipline, in order that the general's words should be sustained. The question of payment of tithes by the society on its estates had been for several years a cause of contention between it and the archbishop, in which the real audiencia sided with the latter. In December, 1734, the jueces hacedores of the archdiocese passed a decree, wherein, after noticing the decrease in the amount paid by the managers of the haciendas owned by the society in New Spain and the Philippines, the collection was provided of the full tithes due for that year by the aforesaid estates. The judges also published censuras against their managers and several other members of the society, even though it had an appeal pending before the audiencia. The provincial refused to accede to the demand, and pretended to pay little or no heed to the censuras. However, in Oc

fused christianity, and in 1713 declined to listen to the Franciscan friar Antonio Margil, and even struck his face with a fox. Arlegui, Chrón. Zac., 173.

7 The troops were made up of bad men who countenanced the Indians in their idolatrous and other evil practices, to gain their good-will, and thereby get them to work on their farms, and to show them where the good mines were. Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, iii. 238-9. It is said that in the Nayarit missions, whilst the Jesuits had them the Indians were confessed only in articulo mor tis, frequently through an interpreter. Maséres, Informe, in Pinart, Col. Doc. Mex., 209.

8Y que si ay, como en comunidad de hombres, sv mal necessario, se corrigen, y se dan las penitencias.' Papeles de Jesuitas, MS., no. 43, 1-11.

"It was claimed that the censuras had no value whatever in foro conscientiæ; that they had no power over members of the order of Jesus, because it was not subject to the authority decreeing them, but directly to that of the holy see; that as they were null and void in foro interno et externo, they imposed no obligation of asking for or accepting absolution ad huc ad cautelam. It was also alleged that a royal order of October 4, 1705, pursuant to a papal bull of October 10, 1704, had forbidden the ordinaries of Mexico, Central America, and the Philippines from issuing excommunications against mem

THE QUESTION OF TITHES.

429

tober 1735, the provincial proposed to the audiencia a temporary arrangement, which was rejected May 12, 1736, on two grounds: first, that the provincial had insulted the archbishop-viceroy and the members of the audiencia; and second, that he had paid no respect to the censuras issued against the priests administering the haciendas of the society. It was ordered that the collection of the whole tithes for 1734 should be made, and that a copy of the proceedings should be forwarded to the royal council at Madrid.10 The provincial had objected to the second order to pay the decimal tax, entering a solemn protest against it, and adding that as it would not be decent for his people to use other weapons than those of reason, the collector of tithes would need no armed force to effect his purpose, but only assistants to measure, count, and weigh.i

The subject having been duly considered in the king's council, it was decreed that the payment of the tithes should be enforced, and censures, if necessary, applied. The society was required, under that decree, to produce sworn statements of the produce of its estates subject to tithes; afterward, if it had any exceptions to make, to send them to the royal

bers of the regular orders, except in such cases as the council of Trent and certain papal bulls then in force, authorized them. Segura, Defensa Canónica, MS., 1-203. The author of this work, Father Nicolás de Segura, being the præpositus of the casa profesa in Mexico, in 1743, was discovered dead by strangulation, upon his bed, the morning of the 8th of March. The lay brother who acted as door-keeper said, 'En el monte está quien el monte quema.' Five days later, on the 13th, at daybreak, the sententious brother was also found dead by strangulation. Some time after it was reported that the author of those deeds, another lay-brother, had been discovered, confined, and afterward taken to Rome. The affair was hushed up and remained a mystery ever after. Dicc. Univ. Ilist. Geog., x. 376-7.

10 Auttos Secrettos, in Mex. Doc. Ecles., MS., no. 1, 1-82. See also Diezmos de Ind., nos. iv., ix., xii.-xiv.

11 The concluding words of the document are characteristic, conveying as they do malignancy under the garb of humble submission. It was to be understood, he said, that the assent by the manager of an estate to the demand for one out of every ten, would be like that of a peaceable unarmed traveller patiently submitting to necessity when stopped on his way, and forced to surrender his goods. Barba, Respuesta, in Segura, Defensa Canónica, MS., 211-14.

12 June 16, 1736. Diezmos, Real Cédula, official copy, 1--15.

council. The audiencia in Mexico decreed October 8, 1736, the fulfilment of the royal order.

The matter did not stop here. The Jesuits were showing a marked disposition toward the acquisition of worldly wealth, and no more fondness for paying taxes than have most corporations. But finding that they could not escape the infliction, they did the next best thing: they paid as little as possible. Iu the reign of Fernando VI., through Father Pedro Ignacio Altamirano, they made with that sovereign in January 1750 a contract of compromise for the tithes, under which they acquired privileges and facilities denied to other religious orders. They were thereby privileged to pay one out of every thirty-one, instead of one out of every ten. This concession was not only an unfair discrimination against the other religiosos, and in fact against all other producers, but had been actually obtained under a false representation of the quality and quantity of the crops. As a natural consequence, the ecclesiastical chapters of other religious orders in due time represented the facts to Fernando's successor, Cárlos III., who referred them to his council; and though the pleas of the attorney of the society of Jesus were duly weighed, the crown's fiscales found them wanting, and asked that the socalled transaccion, having been obtained on false pretences, should be declared null, whether it was looked upon as a compromise or as a favor, for the right of the crown to the tithes recognized no privileges either anterior or posterior granted by the holy see. Thereupon they insisted that the Jesuits should be in future compelled to pay tithes like other producers. The attention of the council was also called to the studied policy of the Jesuit society in delaying the conclusion of this tithes question for over a century, to the injury of the royal treasury. The council, composed of eleven members, stood six to five in favor of submitting the case to the supreme court of justice. The king then called a council of members drawn from