Note 3 — THE EXPULSION OF THE JESUITS, 1768–1769

“It is known that the Society of Jesus was, more than a religious association, in reality a great mercantile company, from a very short time after its institution until its extinction by Clement XIV. Its vast commercial transactions in Europe, America, and Oceania furnished to it immense wealth; and, infatuated with their power and the dominion which they exercised over the minds of their ardent followers; having gained possession as they had done of the confessional and directing the consciences of kings and magnates; and strengthened by the affection (which they exploited with great ability) of women—upon whom they always have exercised, as they still do, a magnetic influence—the Jesuits considered themselves absolute masters of the world; and they devoted themselves to intervention in political affairs, managing with cautious skill political dealings in almost all countries, according to the degree in which these concerned their particular purposes. Their insolent and illegal acts, their despotism, their ambition, the iron yoke with which they oppressed both kings and peoples; their disputes with the other religious associations, who could not look with pleasure on the predominance and wealth of the new society which so audaciously gathered in the harvest from the fertile vineyard of the Lord; their dangerous maxims in regard to regicide, their demoralizing system of doctrine, their satanic pride and insatiable greed, their hypocrisy and corruption: all these raised against them a unanimous protest. Mistrust of them awoke in kings and peoples; men of sincere purpose and true Christian morals were alarmed; and on every side arose enemies of their order, and irrefutable proofs of their abominable aberrations were brought forward.” (Montero y Vidal, Hist. de Filipinas, ii, pp. 142–146.) ↑