The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-01-30
ELECTION Of JESUIT GENERAI
PERSONNEL OF THE ELECTORS
MANNER OF CONDUCTING THE
ELECTION.

BY the death of Father Francis
Xavier Wernz, which occurred on Au.
gust 20, the Office of Superior General
of the Society of Jesus has become
vacant and now new General of the
Order is about to be elected, writes
Rev. B. Guldner, S. j., in America. !"
No doubt, many of our readers will
be interested to learn something about
the mode of choosing Jesuit General.
The laws and rules which must be fol.
lowed in the election are laid down
in the Institute, the corpus juris of the
Society of Jesus. The Institute" now.
adays is an open book to scholars, and
may be read and studied in any of
the large libraries of the learned
world. The most important part of
the Institute" are the Constitutions =
in the writing of which st. Ignatius
spent more than ten years, and they
have been extolled by scholars and
even by statesmen as a work of sur
passing genius. The Constitutions
of st. Ignatius contain much of orig
inality, for the saint was in advance
of his time as regards the government
of a religious Order. The Church has
set the seal of her approval upon the
work, and many of the later religious
Orders or Congregations have profited
by his bold initiative.
The Society of Jesus is monarchy,
from the nature of the case an elective
monarchy, and 1t is ruled by one SUI
preme head called tho Provost General
(Praepositus Generalis). He is the on.
ly superior holding Office by election,
as we'll as the only one elected for life.
All other superiors derive their au-
thority from him. He is not an abso-
lutte monarch, but what we may call a
constitutional monarch. His will is
not law; he is bound to rule in accord
ance with the Constitutions" and he
has official advisers and an admonitor
given to him by the Society. He is
the chief executive and has vast adj
ministrative powers, but he is not a
law-giver. He is the one man above
all others in the Society of Jesus who
is bound to enforce the law. The
Legislative power and function belong
to the Society itself as represented in
the General Congregation. The Gen
eral Congregation not only makes
laws, but also elects the Superhero Gen
eral, and has even the power of depos-
ing him from Office.
The General, before he dies. leaves,
in a sealed document, the same of a
distinguished Protested Father who is
to govern the Society as Vicar-Gener-
al pending the election of successor.
Should we have omitted to do so, the
Protested Fathers in the neighborhood
of where he has died meet, and by a
majority of votes elect the Vicar.
The Vicar gives official notice to the
Society of the death of the Father
General and calls General Congrega-
ton for the election of new head of
the Order, naming the time and place
of the meeting. The place, usually,
but not necessarily, is Rome. and the
time five or six months after the no
tice has been sent out The time, if
necessary, may be extended. During
this period Provincials and Rectors of
Colleges are not removed from Office.
The notice is sent to the Provincials
of the various provinces and by them
promulgated. As soon as this notice
has been promulgated all members are
strictly forbidden to seek votes for
themselves or others, and no member
of the Society is ever permitted to cast
a vote for himself. In due time the
Provincial Congregation meets for the
purpose of choosing electors. This
Provincial Congregation consists OF
fifty members made up of the Provin-
cial who presides: the Rectors of the
Colleges and the senior Protested ia
theirs, also the Procurator (treasurerl
of the Province. Their chief business
is to choose by majority of votes and
by secret ballot two distinguished
Professed Fathers who, together with
the Provincial, who Is always an ON.
cial elector. are to so to Rome for the
election of the new General. They
also elect three substitutes who viii
take the place of the electors in case
any or all of them should be prevent,
ed, by death or any tother cause, from
fulfilling their mission.
The Society of Jesus at present is
divided into FIVE "Assistancies' the
Italian with five provinces: the Ger
man with six provinces austria, Bel
GUM. Galicia, Germany, Hungary, Hol
land); the French with four provinces;
the Spanish with FIVE provinces; the
English with seven provinces Eng
land, California. Canada. ireland
Maryland-New York, Missouri. New Or
leans).
The twenty-seyen provinces send
each, three electors to the General Con
gregation. The Vicar-General, who
presides, and the five Assistants
LOT the late Father General also