IN FRANCE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 326, 18 July 1879, Page 7

IN FRANCE.

It was a solemn hour for our ancestors when the lame beggar of the College of Sainte-Barbe climbed the hill of Montmartre before daylight. France, baptised under Clovis, glorified under Charlemagne, beautified under St. Louis, was deeply Christian ; but she likewise was deeply agitated by the religious and already political revolution which was overturning Germany, Switzerland and England. Beyond our frontiers desolation was at its height ; within, Calvin was sharpening his weapons. Between the vow of Montmartre and Paul Ill's bull, Calvin published his "Christian Institute," and thus founded a sect from which was to come the Huguenots, f that is to say, ciyil war, and what was a worse calamity, religious war, plus quavi oivilia bella. Sparks were already flying through the smoke that rose above the hidden fire. A few years later and the conspiracy of Amboise % unmasked the fanatical aspirations of the self-styled " Beformed." In these times of peril, the growing Company's place could not be doubtful : it accomplished precisely the purpose for which its founder had created it ; it took up the Catholic cause, which at that time was the national cause. At the solicitation of Cardinal de Lorraine and of seveial other wise and learned prelates, Henry 11. had, in 1550, decreed letters patent to the Company of Jesus. But the open or secret enemies of the Catholic Chwrch had too much dread of the new comers Hot to use every power and every means to prevent their establishment in France. The Huguenots and the politicians worked so well that the Parliament, whose opposition began with the birth of the Order, refused to register the royal letters. Two years later, a new edict commanded the magistrates to act, but there was new opposition favoured by the king's death. Francis 11. three times reiterated his injunctions.|| Charles IX. returns to the charge with no more success, § so great was the spirit of rebellion and of dislike for anything frankly Catholic, among the higher members of the magistracy. At last, on the 15th of September, 1561, the Colloquy of Poissy to which the Parliament, by one of its subterfuges, had referred the case, solemnly received the Jesuiti into France, but under restrictive clauses, which were later removed by Charles IX. in 1565, and by Hanry 111. in 1580. From the very first they had deserved this confidence by their zeal in preaching and in defending the true faith. As a prelude to the long series of successes that were to attend the Order's efforts in education, Maldonat drew a brilliant audience of prelates, nobles, and learned men to his lectures in the College of Clermont at Paris ; the colleges of the institute were scarcely opened than they were filled with pupils, and " the Protestants themselves recalled their children from far-off colleges to entrust them to the Jesuits," says Eanke. At this time Edmund Auger was struggling with the Calvinists of the south. Having fallen into the hands of the Baron des Adrets at Valence, he continued to x>reach from the scaffold and his executioners were so moved by his eloquence that they spared his life. He was no sooner free than he hastened to Lyons, where a contagious malady was raging, which had carried of sixty thousand people in a short time ; he cares for the dying and the poor, revives confidence and saves the city, which follows him in a body to the feet of Mary. Calvin could not have found a single partisan ia all Lyons on that day. The heretics had nothing but violence and calumny to oppose to that zeal and devotion, but they had the help of the University of Paris, alarmed at a rivalry which it thought dangerous. The antagonism was beginning. The University tried to exclude the Company of Jesus from the schools, as it had done some centuries before with those great religious orders which have given the Church such men as Thomas of Aquin, Albertus Magnus, Duns Scotus. The University's case must have been very suspicious, and its struggles against free education devoid of all reason, when the Parliament, with all itg prejudice, having taken cognizance of the matter, twice decided in favour of the Jesuits.

ttehfrffiS^wr^™^™ 01 da Boullft y and o£ Oi«vier' a feebl? Z-J hS U 2™^ «* course of instruction was then in with* fftS t ge vf tbe Jesnifcs were fc^y opened to all ; and along wJ^^S^ ne^f auMmM^ £or faith and fOT tb * VSS «iS nf Xl an !d! d c i and . we can ** of tbose teachers what raSL?^S^»" liadfth6 "« tt of makin * their leeitiWt^fn l^^ 6 WM That ««»* movement, which was mfiSZZifiiZ™* lte ftim was *° defend the re^ on of fcbe ffiIJSSJiJSfiT*? 1?^1 ?^ a feW £* natic8 ' brought many ills condSt of?hl A ' *H lying u P° n hißtor y» we can Point to the Stecon'a nC ?urT ny ° f " * model ° f *™ d *™ in that LeaeS SSKS^L a^ nIt J ed tbc . correctness of the principles of the a Pw&sS, i^ 88 ™ 1 ! 7 ♦* r ! siß^ ance of the national Catholicity to efferve^n^of^l J0D ' b^ at the flame fcime h strove to calm the fn tW?™ ? P 8 ? 810 " and to reconcile interests. Far from meddling Se end tn! g i^°H S rtfa * the * were > from the beginning to action w2 of Sft- 8 and mediat o rs of peace. Outside of Paris their thei^^l^ °^ 0I^ nce VfoTtheV foTthe fi fty «ties which adhered to HgenttXSJSP** 7a "h**** ofth ° •**•**». In Paris, Father had not ™ ?«? Rreat devotion ' bnt ifc was altogether platonic and ™re tost L™ f encouragement of possible success. His efforts the f,,^ '^r, M - *? ** »mid the noise of the tempest, while Wofti?J?M£ Xt ? en * bicbb e had undertaken to control tothe S^ m *« £ Wlßf inCTeaaeA in madneßß » although he and S M?*? 1 *& !? more tban once at the risk of his liberty more uift.l ii a / c ' bat o ther , membereof the Societ y» accepting £ SSSSS^KWMffiiL te arrange confereDces lookiD * to awav^bv thri???i °S tbe e^tement in Paris, a few preachers, carried SL? MS"? *' de P«ted from the reserve imposed upon them by eneSraS?SSi ?*& WCTe BOon recalled to themselves by the SRSiSTw^ the .S ene^ Claude Aquaviva. " Tell the Sfin,,! 7 ?S to *?e? c Pf ovincial of France, « how strongly the Conahtafaotu forbid us to take part in temporal affairs." * * was SSfnS! ll i^5 c , iemoilßtrated ver y firml y with Sixtus v » wb ° th^OrdS? 7 P tothC LeagUG ' 011 the neceßsar y neutrality of of th? X 7^ n l On^ On ° f Heni7 IV ' to Catholicity removed the need 2 to th?Krf i Bella J mme ' who ™»s then at Paris, being questioned Urf?Jl /i ■ ?*:t S ofan ear surrender of the Capital to the king, lav fl «1^ ! *. the Pl ? ion . of the University) that it was lawful to thPr 8 1 fß ' and that . if; was " a duty to cease to struggle when Ke w?r P ?I° Dg - r °^ Ct> " At the Bame time ' the J^uits in Sn^TSE labour l n g t0 brin e about a reconciliation between the mos g t £h? ncean d the Church. It is a remarkable thing that the Eali J ?% T e f , and dev oted of these benevolent negotiators were an 52.. ■ Possevm ; a Spaniard, Cardinal Toledo ; and two and GuSet' UD3UStIy banisDed b 7b 7 the Parliament, Fathers Commolet r.r^^ la f was ( n ot tmgrateful. '• My cousin," wrote Henry IV. to toSi S* Oi # I know that after God and our Ho] y Father > v is to the integrity of your conscience that I owe the absolution" (that is, the removal of the excommunication,) « which it has pleased His ilohness to decree in my favour." infJSJ 8 1 "^ condHct of the Jesuits, joined to great zeal for the 2S °f J* c faith > was not calculated to disarm the hatred that surrounded them Better things had been expected from them ; the raniament and the University were unanimously disappointed. Ih* rIT? 16 with which the Holy See. the episcopate and ent?nf tw Pe ° ple lavißhed u P°n them, all united to exasperate the PvZvS- it numerous enemies. The same fanatics who had armed of W tt^l ere i Of the Duke de Guise ' and Clement, the assassin OhaaS7 tbou g ht to involve the Jesuits in the punishment of «,« 8 U ? * easy *° d ,° tbi8 ' on amount of the evidence of facts, 2b11.°2 bll .° eßte . em : a nd the acknowledged sympathy of the king ; but C + f m lS ha ü ble to Mraver ' and «m king had a great deal to do. SSgS eP °° astonishing examples of parUamentary John Chastel had during ten years followed the course of the university ; he was studying law there under Marcellus at the time SfcSi S £ nt he "^"P* on Heni 7 IV. But, formerly, he had a !S the °S Ueg . c of Vermont for a few months a£ an extern pupil, and this sorry detail eerved as a point of departure for an accusation! But how develop it ? The Parliament attended to that. Something else was needful, to be sure, but as the Parliament was not exacting, it was satisfied with the few months' externate. "Huguenots and Met tines, says the historian Dupleix, « launched a thousand execrations, curses, and imprecations against the Jesuits ; but neither proof nor presumption against them couJd be forced from the assassin's mouth .dj the agony of torture." L'Etoile, an enemy of the Jesuits, bully likewise, as well as de Thou, Mathieu, Cayet, the Mimoiret de to JAftte, and all the chroniclers, unanimously acknowledge that Cbastel exonerated the Jesuits, and to his last breath declared them unjustly suspected." Nevertheless, during those months of the externate, the Jesuits might have taught Chastel, in addition to the art of assassination, that of silence. Besides, why so many roundabout ways ? "Ifit is not tnou, it is thy brother," the " Jesuits must have been guilty " and the Parliament disgraced itself, for the first time, by creating a precedent for the great iniquity of the XVIIIth century. The Parliament condemned in spite of every appearance and in spite of common sense. That great body, so often worthy of the respect of history, listening only to its blind passion, did not hesitate at the most hateful of crimes, judicial assassination. An inoffensive old man, who, it is likely, had never seen Chastel, Father Guienard was living buried in his books in the library of the college. He was* arrested, condemned, and hanged ia the place de Grevc, and thejonly

unScky'hoS.^ ll7 ° f ' "*■ L ' Btoile ' was ' Uh& ™B **** *™ •* an sentence 7^ W&S the CXC " Be for this snmma *y judgment and cruel his '"mSS« SffifPSS?** de 9"™^' chancellor of France, in nis jaemoires d Etat," "the enemies of the Jesuits found or ver. aeatn ot the late Kmg Henry 111. in Guignard's room " Now " tho the J^uit aV^ re S- redtoqU ? te T riters and chroniclers inimical to tne Jesmts, and this was natural ; not one honourable writer has failed to condemn this act of repulsive iniquity, but it is curious to wo d k y o h S ef v t^ n^ books 0? modem "ufcSta." I TaTe^ SSLwn the f kl ? d ' c&l )e* P°P U I«. under my eyes, one that enjoys an by Dulur? £% wlfl S f « rtd " P e °P^ iit is the' « Histoire deParis? ttn i t,t ,Z J ? lte ' my wonder. This Dulaure isinot really a bad man ; he would have been better pleased if they had not hanged f,Xf CT H U »! gnai ?' and above i£ tbe y bad not burned his body and SS&SSJ ■?"♦? tbe Wind ' Whicll he thinkß unnecessaryT fo has iSSSfif^sasst" 1^ while be insuitß the man ' - d i.i.anS'Jf 8 h w rti i y - and open^ dttests tbe Jesuits ' Considering the chaplet of unblushing calumnies he weaves against the Jesuits in regard to this hideous murder of a Jesuit, it seems as though h£ Jeluite afirr* 1106 P^ament was that it had left so many His paragraph referrißf to the decree condemning ali, Jbbuits as corrvptontftinth, •» dhtmrUr, of the public peace, etc., to leave Pans withm throe d«ve, ie full of joy, and he gives a good many pages to the de«nptio« of the grotesque column, " a monument to commemorate the diigrece d the Jesuits." This column would rather hare perpetuated the imftmiy of the Parliament had not Henry IV., out of consideration for hie amiable presidents and counsellors, thrown it dovn e»d swept it evej.* At the same time that the excellent Dulaure good-naturedly ncolds the judicial assassins of Father Guignard, who after all, was only one Jesuit, he approves of the exile of five hundred Jesuit., who, perhaps, hare not poniarded Henry Henryin ! undfmbtedl y vonld poinard him as they had poinarded oil r Ravaillac was a Jesuit, as Jacques ' Clement was a Jesuit, as all the assassins of kings, from Brutus to Damiens, have been Jesuits. Beranger 8 mmcd in a slee W tone to a false air » badly imitated from u^rS™ lO^ k \ ead s Dalaure lived J ußt before tbe "me of "enlightened" wo?i t L m hl l day there was onl y tbe liberalism of mud. Every well brought-up bourgeois peacefully helped himself to his meal of Jesuit as was proper, and after finishing Father Guignard, would add witn the malicious smile of the Voltaires of Yvetot : "If Henry IV efct l d tbe Jesuits - tb ere were ten thousand who would have stabbed him by turns. It's a well-known fact 1" AYA V to be sure ; hurrah for light ! Of course I have no desire to deprive people of so much "enlightenmeot" of their Dulaures ! (To be continued.)

1866 Sd th^\ ■ ™. onument erecte(l in London in roomory of the great fire in "Pamsts" TW* ™ nptl ° n ?n? n Whi ?, b dlM » ed tlmt dreadful calamity upon the owntm^snnrn^ U ? en i WM .«»«owed to remain until the intelligence^ our own nmes spurned the slander and ordered its removal.— (Translator.)