The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1889-06-15
WHAT HISTORY REVEALS.
The Jesuits and What They Have
Done for Humanity, as
Pictured by
REV. H. A. BRAUN. OF NEW YORK.
The Reasons for DEGREES of Banishment
Which They Have Suffered
Faithfully Considered.

I @>AS ~~SssSSA-~ NSS4SSS
Which They Have Suffered
Faithfully Considered.
The following is brief extract from
an eloquent and interesting discourse
delivered in st. Francis Xaviers Church
New York, by Rey. Henry A. Braun
rector Of ST. EliZabeth's Church in that
city, in commemoration of the death of
Rev. Father Thirty, a distinguished
member of the Society Of Jesus. After
referring to the early life of Rev. Faith
er Thirty and his advent into the Soci-
ETY. of Jesus, he touched upon the ban
ishment of the order shortly after the
admission of the young Frenchman,
and said:-
s'Let us pause here moment, gentle
men, to examine the reasons for this
and similar DEGREES for Punishment of
the Society to which Father Thiry be-
longed. The United States Senator has
been recently disgraced by the bigotry
of a gentleman from a section OF the
country in which two hundred years
ago they burned witches, and enacted
the following decree--"It is ordered by
the authorities Of this court that no
Jesuit shall henceforth come
within this jurisdiction, and if any per-
son shall cause or suspicion that ne is
one of such society, he shall be brought
before some of the magistrates, and il
he cannot free himself, he shall be
bound to the Court of Assistants, to be
heard and proceeded with Punishment
or otherwise; and if any such person SO
banished, shall be taken the second
time within this jurisdiction, he shall,
upon lawful trial and conviction, be
put to DEATH" This was law of the
old colony of Massachusetts Bay, pass
ed on May 26, l647. This United States
Senator in public speech and in re-
cent writing seems to regret that that
law is not yet in force. Now, what is
the argument of the Senator and other
bigots against the Jesuits ? Is it that
because they have been expelled by
nearly every government in Europe
they are not fit to live III our republicp
But do these gentlemen try to find out
the reasons for their expulsion, or the
motives OF their enemies in persecut-
ing them? No. Prejudice prevents
them. What are the facts? In the
18th century. an age OF inidellty and
materialism, conspiracy OF Bourbon
Kings and their Prime Ministers was
formed against the Jesuits because
they were the ablest champions OF
Christianity and Of the liberty Of the
Church. They were driven out Of
Portugal by Pombal because they de-
Tended the rights and liberties of the
Christian Indians of Paraguay against
the avarlce ofPortuguese merchant sand
the usurpation of the Portuguese Gov
ernment. The Jesuits had established
a Christian republic in Paraguay and
had realized the Utopia of Sir Thomas
More among their converts. The pre-
mier of Portugal wished to DESTROY
their semi-lndependence and for this
purpose exiled its champions, the Jesuit
Fathers who were fighting for The
liberties of the converted Indians. Why
were they driven out of Spain by
Amanda? Was it for favoring despot-
ism or for suoseryiency to Kings? No!
1t was for denying the Kings right to
the throne. 1t was because some Jesuit
theologians had taught that in certain
cases it. .is lawful to kill tvrant.
THERE Is NO DOUBT THAT
one Of the chief reasons for their per-
secution by all the Bourbons was this
teaching to which, however, the Jesuits
were never committed as body, and
the fact that all their theologians de-
MED the Divine right of Kings. When
James the First of England
wrote work in defense Of that right
the Jesuit Suarez refuted him IN work
remarkable for it's attacks On despot-
ism. It is notorious that they were
driven out IF France by the most licen-
tlous of Bourbon monarchs, Louis Nv.
whose orgies would disgrace Hellog-
abalus or Domltian. The intrigue of
Partisan harlot, the Kings mistress,
Madame de Pompadour, and Choiseul,
caused them to be expelled from that
country. The Jesuit confessor of Louis
XIV. refused to give him the sacraments
unless he dismissed De Pompadour,
and for this act Of Christian zeal and
fidelity to duty the whole Order was ex-
PEELED. Their expulsion from the small
er States was due to the same Bourbon
conspiracy. How absurd then to argue
against them from the mere fact Of
their expulsion, 1t is true those Gov
ernmentS were tnOminally Catholic: but