The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1906-09-28
THE BLACK POPE
How the General Of the Jesuits
Is Elected.

However great may be the charm
which attaches to the novels OF Alex
andre Dumas pere, the most devoted
of his admirers would hardly suggest
that fidelity to the details of history
was one of his strong points. When,
therefore, in the first part Of the wi
comte de Bragelonne" he gives an &C
count of the demise of the General of
the Jesuits and the appointment OF
Aramis as his successor, the novelist
description cannot safely be accepted
as a guide to the proceedings or the
Reverend Fathers electors, who are
now sweltering in Rome in the neat
of an exceptional September. Accord
ing to Dumas, the candidates for the
office-who included an Austrian brig
adler, a Spanish Cardinal, merchant
Of Bremen. a Scotch lard with seven
Highlanders in his train. venetian
Senator and a Flemish lady-met at
the inn of the Beau Paon OF Foutaine-
petitive examination, in which the COW
eted dignity was to- be the prize OF
him who revealed the most important
nolitical secret to the dying General
With this last alone the choice rested
and by the simple act of transferring
tn Aramis his ring of Office in the pres
ence of two witnesses the moribund
prelate constituted him his successor
and made him, apparently without
question or dispute, "the master OF
monarchs and the equal of Popes."
All this does not sound very probable,
and the Jesuits must practice blind
obedience in an even greater degree
than is commonly believed II an as
sociation so governed should have been
able to hold together for some hun
dreds of years, amid all the disintegra-
ting influences to which it is exposed.
In point of fact, the election OF the
General of the Jesuits is safeguarded
from arbitrary or unconstitutional ac'
tion by an elaborate procedure, every
detail of which is carefully regulated
There was a time, no doubt, when, to
all save the initiated, these things
were wrapped in mystery, but since
the days of the impressions Oh the
: order and the consequent confiscatior
Of nuniberless Jesnits libraries tins
: 'Institutum Societatis Jesu" has De
come no rare book. There are
, dozen copies of the work in all III
various editions, ancient and modern
to be found in the British Museum
and 1t is often to be met with n
: booksellers catalogues.
Now this institution contains tn
4 whole official legislation OF the Societ'
/ of Jesus. and among other document
l. Incorporated in it there is includes
y a special section headed "Formul
e CONGREGATIONS Generals" in othe
= words. a code of procedure for tn
r General Assembly which elects tn
II superior of the order. This code wa
n drawn up in 1851, come 40 years ate
e. the foundation of the society, but
II is merely an elaboration of the pre-
k visions already existing in the "coI
d stitutions" which we're drafted
It Spanish by the hand Of the founde
ID himself. 1t may consequently be sal
RI that the method Of electing Tn
" General, though it has been develope
ID in certain details, dates from the yer
rs beginning of the Jesuit organization.
a. In particular-the essential featur
III which enjoins that the electoral bod
should consist Of three representative
j. from each of the various province