THE JESUITS AND THEIR WORKS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 183, 29 September 1876, Page 7

THE JESUITS AND THEIR WORKS.

(From the ' Chicago Pilot.') Hunted from one comer of the earth to another, persecuted and reviled, till the veiy first name of their Order has become a term of reproach, yet the fact remains that the world owes to the renowned Company of Jesus a debt of gratitude which it can never repay, even if it would. Notwithstanding all that is said and written just now about education, how little do we hear of the educational labors of the Jesuits — the men who were the pioneers of the revival of learning in Europe, who published more books, founded more colleges and schools, and show a prouder roll of illustrious names than any society that ever existed. We hear so much from time to time, of what is called the " vaulting ambition," and " unscrupulous designs" of the Jesuits, and so little of the splendid services they have rendered to mankind, that we propose to take a brief glance at the reverse side of the medal — the side which is so seldom presented to us. The Order was established in 1540. Two years afterwards, Lainez, one of the five companions of St. Ignatius, founded a college at Venice. During the sixteen years upwards of one hundred colleges were opened in various parts of Europe. Eef erring to this subject, Hallam, in hi 3 " History of Literature in Europe," says : — " They (the Jesuits) taught gratuitously, which threw, however unreasonably, a sort of discredit on salaried professors : it was found that boys learned more from them in six months than in two years under masters and probably for both of these reasons, even Protestants sometimes withdrew their children from the ordinary gymnasia and placed them in Jesuit colleges. No one will deny that in their classical knowledge, and in the elegance with which they wrote, the Order might stand in competition with any scholars in Europe." From this it would appear that "free education" was not such a novelty after all. Eanke writes in a somewhat similar strain. " The education of that time being a purely learned one, rested exclusively on the study of the languages of antiquity. These the Jesuits cultivated with great ardor, and in a short time they" had teachers among them who might claim to be ranked with

the restorers of classic learning. They likewise addicted them, selves to the strict sciences. The whole course of instruction was given in that enthusiastic, devout spirit, which had characterised them from their earliest institution. Above all, they labored at the improvement of the Univerities." (" History of the Popes," 1., 397.) Bacon pronounced their mode of instruction " the best yet known in the world, and warmly expressed his regret that so admirable a system of intellectual and moral discipline should be employed on the side of error." (" Macaulay's History of England," 11., 355 ) A. recent writer on Eome (Wey) thus alludes to their most famous educational institution, the Eoman College : " This unique establishment, which is attended by a thousand students, may specially be described as Catholic — that is to say, universal, for here may be acquired, without external succour, the sum of human knowledge. A large cabinet for physics, a renowned astronomical observatory, pictures, statues, and one of the most precious libraries in Eome, provides the means of study and application. Numismatics may even be followed there in the collection of Etruscan, Oscan, Latin, and Eoman coins of the primitive ages, collected by the learned librarian of the Vatican, Cardinal Zelada. Finally, and here is the principal interest of the college, for the curious, it possesses what is, without doubt, the strongest and the moat instructive historical museums that exist." The elements were collected in the seventeenth century by one of the most learned Fathers -of the Order, Athanasius Kircher. He professed in turn the Oriental languages, philosophy, and mathematics in the Eoman College. He was amongst the first to study Coptic ; he was the first to interpret hieroglyphics, a hundred years before the Utopians of the last century ; he explained a host of facts by magnetism, and applied it to the treatment of certain disorders. It is he who invented the magic lantern. He published twenty-two folio volumes in Latin. Since his death, th« Jesuits have continued the collection. It is usually considered the "correct thing" to accuse the Catholic Church of being inimical to scientific knowledge, yet strange to say, the first college in the United Kingdom to possess a chair of science was Stonyhurst, the head-quarters of the Jesuits in England. ( To he continued. ,)