BOOK V.

CONFLICT OF CATHOLICISM AND PROTESTANTISM, 1576-86.

CHAPTER II.

THE JESUITS AXD THE CATHOLIC REACTION.

 

We must turn our attention from these political struggles to consider the shape which the antagonism between Catholicism and Protestantism had assumed, and the means by which Catholicism was aiming at its re-establishment.

The most powerful weapon for effecting the Catholic restoration was the Order of the Jesuits. This Order owed its origin to a young Spanish knight, Don Inigo Lopez de Recalde, known as Ignatius Loyola. As a young man his mind was filled with the aspirations of Spanish chivalry, which still bore a strong crusading color from the recent wars against the Moors. At the siege of Pampeluna, in 1521, Ignatius was wounded in both legs. After a long and tedious illness he recovered, but was lamed for life. During the weeks spent in bed his chivalrous fancies had received a religious tinge, which went on deepening afterwards. His mind gradually passed from the idea of worldly to that of spiritual warfare, and he transferred to his new quest the visions and feelings which had moved him in his first pursuit of arms. His imaginative mind was filled with fancies and apparitions, and the fervor of his enthusiasm kindled the minds of others. He found in Paris, where he went to study, two men of remarkable powers of mind who shared his own mystic beliefs, Peter Faber, a Savoyard, and a Spaniard, Francesco Xavier. They formed themselves into a little band, bound by the vows of chastity and poverty; they swore to devote themselves to the spread of Christianity and to go where the Pope bade them. In 1537 they went to Rome, and called themselves by the military name of Jesuits,—the Company of Jesus. They added to their previous vows the vow of absolute obedience to their general, whom they elected for life; and they placed themselves entirely at the disposal of the Pope. While the papacy was being shattered by defection on every side, this new society arose, bound by a vow of the most absolute devotion to the papal commands.

This new Order was formed for active work, not for the cultivation of contemplative virtues. Its members wore no monastic habit, and accepted no clerical office. They devoted themselves to practical pursuits,—to preaching, to hearing confessions, and to the education of the young. The Order at once became powerful and rapidly spread; it appealed to the chivalrous feeling which the struggle against Protestantism had awakened in the minds of those who clung to the old faith. Its internal organization was most rigid; the principle of obedience was used to separate the Jesuit from every tie which binds the ordinary man to his fellows. The Jesuit gave away all his possessions, cut himself off from his relations, laid aside all right of individual judgment, and obeyed his superiors without enquiring the reason or object of their orders.

The power of the Jesuits over society in general was founded chiefly on their efforts to promote education and their development of the system of the confessional. They worked together with order and arrangement. They were good and careful teachers and got into their hands the instruction of the young, as they took no money for their teaching. They also formed minute rules for the direction of men’s consciences, in an age when men’s consciences were singularly awakened. We cannot wonder that such a society spread rapidly in the Catholic countries, and that its organization gave great strength to the Catholic reaction. A new spirit of zeal and earnestness was infused into the old ecclesiastical system, which had seemed to be crumbling away before the onslaughts of Luther and Calvin.

Under this new impulse Catholicism exchanged its attitude of repression for one of aggression. The papacy again became a power which had forces at its command. In the Netherlands the influence of the Jesuits in the Walloon provinces, which remained devoutly Catholic, had been greatly instrumental in bringing them back to Spain.

The growing strength of the papacy also encouraged it to attack England more boldly. We have seen how the excommunication of Elizabeth by Pius V failed to move the English Catholics as a body from their loyalty. His successor, Pope Gregory XIII, saw that it was necessary to secure foreign help against England; his hopes were first fixed upon Don John of Austria, and we have seen how they were doomed to disappointment. The next hope of the Pope was to strike a blow through Ireland, where the people still remained Catholic and refused to accept the English Prayer Book. It does not seem that any vigorous attempts were made to enforce its use; but the Irish were represented to the Pope as groaning under religious oppression. Gregory XIII believed that the Irish would rise at once in behalf of Catholicism, if only they received any small encouragement. An English exile, Thomas Stukely, received money from the Pope for the conquest of Ireland; he was, however, diverted to an enterprise against the Moors, where he met his death. But his confederate, James Fitzmaurice, brother of the Earl of Desmond, was resolved to try his fortunes alone. In June 1579 he landed with a few Spanish troops in Ireland, and took possession of the fort of Smerwick, near Kerry. The Irish, however, did not join him as he expected, and in a skirmish Fitzmaurice was killed. His brother, the Earl of Desmond, openly revolted, and, as the rising seemed to be gathering in force, a reinforcement of Spanish and Italian soldiers was sent to Smerwick in 1580. But the new deputy of Ireland, Lord Grey de Wilton, directed a vigorous siege against the fort, which was compelled to yield unconditionally. The English were embarrassed by the number of their prisoners, which equaled that of their own force. They were, moreover, savagely determined to give a lesson against foreign intervention. Already a fierce hatred of the Spaniards as Catholic oppressors had begun to rouse the hearts of Englishmen. The garrison of Smerwick was disarmed, and then butchered. The Earl of Desmond had no further hopes after this. The rebellion was crushed and severely punished. The papal attempt on Ireland had resulted only in failure.

At the same time also a Catholic attempt of a more insidious kind was made upon Scotland. Esme Stewart, lord of Aubigny came from France to Scotland. He was a nephew of the late Earl of Lennox, and so cousin to the young king James VI, with whom he rapidly became a great favorite. D’Aubigny had been a member of the Guise party in France. The Scots saw with dismay his influence over James, who created him first Earl, then Duke of Lennox. The favorite put himself at the head of the faction opposed to the Regent Morton, who had made many enemies. In 1581 Morton was accused of having been a confederate in the murder of Darnley, and was beheaded in spite of Elizabeth’s attempts to interfere in his favor. Lennox now seemed supreme in Scotland and it was suspected that he would again unite the Catholic parties in Scotland and France against Elizabeth. The Protestant feeling of the country was alarmed, and the hatred of favorites on the part of the old nobles again found its expression in a bond. The Earl of Gowrie invited the young king to a hunt at his castle of Ruthven, where James found himself a prisoner in the hands of his nobles (August 1582). Lennox was banished from the kingdom, and died next year in France. The fear of Catholic influence in Scotland was for a time dispelled.

Meanwhile an attempt had been made to establish the influence of Catholicism in England itself. The zeal of the Jesuits had been contagious, and amongst other institutions to which it had given rise was the English seminary at Douay. This was a college for the training of the young English Catholics who went to study abroad. It was founded in 1568, but, owing to the troubles in the Netherlands, was transferred from Douay to Rheims. In 1579 Pope Gregory XIII founded an English college at Rome. Its members were pledged to return to England and preach the faith which they believed. We cannot wonder that the Jesuit enthusiasm seized these young Englishmen, and that they were determined to do and suffer anything, provided they might further their great object.

In 1580 the first of these Jesuit missionaries, Parsons and Campion, set foot in England. Their success was at once very great. The English Catholics, who up to this time had given a kind of passive conformity to the new services, plucked up fresh courage. Numbers flocked to the secret services of these bold priests, who in different disguises, and under changing names, travelled from place to place throughout the land. Persecution lent a zest to their preaching, and the words of men who spoke at the peril of their lives were then, as always, powerful. A printing press was also set up, from which proceeded books in defence of Catholicism, written by trained controversialists among the Jesuits. The Catholics awoke from their torpor and became conscious of their wrongs. They no longer could consent to attend the reformed services, or to recognize the validity of Elizabeth’s ecclesiastical laws. If this organization had been carried out before the rising of 1570, it is impossible to say what might have been the result.

The government was thoroughly alarmed, and acts of parliament were passed, subjecting these missionaries to the penalties of high treason and increasing the punishments for recusancy. Anyone being absent from church was liable to a fine of twenty pounds a month. The Catholics were subjected to severe persecution, and their houses were ransacked in search of concealed priests. Campion and other Jesuits were taken prisoners and condemned to death on the charge of conspiring against Elizabeth. It was believed in England that secret plots were on foot against the queen’s life. The Catholic countries of the Continent rang with stories of the martyrs’ deaths and of the cruelty of the English queen.

The fears of England were soon increased by the death of the Prince of Orange. The reward offered by Philip and the fanaticism inspired by the Jesuits combined to afford two powerful motives for his removal. In 1582, immediately after the installation of the Duke of Anjou, a Biscayan, Joureguy, had fired at the prince, and wounded him in the neck. The assassin had amongst his papers a written vow to offer to the Virgin of Bayonne a robe, a crown, and a lamp, to the Lord Jesus a rich curtain, if his attempt succeeded. For awhile Orange’s life was despaired of; but he gradually recovered, ft was not long, however, before a more successful attempt was made. A Burgundian, Balthasar Gerard, found admittance to the prince, and shot him as he was descending the staircase of his house at Delft (July 1584).

The death of Orange was a severe blow to the cause of Netherlandish freedom. He had given himself up heart and soul to the struggle against Philip, without any thought of his own aggrandizement, with entire devotion to the cause he had undertaken. Cautious and prudent, he yet shrank from no risks. On his own side he had to contend with the jealousy of the other Netherland nobles, who could not endure a chief. He was matched against the most skilful warriors and the ablest politicians of Europe. Yet William, ‘the Silent’ as he was called, moved cautiously among the dangers of his position, intent only on keeping the provinces united and determined in spite of reverses to persevere in their resistance against Spain. When he died his presence was particularly needed, as Alexander of Parma had been gaining over the cities of Brabant; Ypres, Bruges, and Ghent had all fallen into his hands, and he had laid siege to Antwerp, which was anxiously looking to the Prince of Orange for succors.

About the same time also another conspiracy was discovered in England against Elizabeth. Its principal agent was Francis Throgmorton, whose plan was to remove Elizabeth by assassination, and set Mary on the English throne by the aid of Spain and the French Catholics. Throgmorton was executed, and as his papers inculpated the Spanish ambassador, Don Bernardino de Mendoza, he was called to account before the council; on refusing to answer he was ordered to leave the country. It was an open defiance to Philip; but Philip was too busy with other schemes to take any notice of it at the time.

These constant plots against Elizabeth, and the deep impression of horror caused by the death of William of Orange, made loyal Englishmen combine in defence of their queen. A voluntary association was formed, the members of which solemnly undertook to prosecute to the death all who should make an attempt against the queen, and all in whose behalf such an attempt should be made. This was a threat against the imprisoned Mary, a warning to her party that her death would follow on the success of any plot against Elizabeth. The Catholic assassinations were met in England by a stern threat of vengeance. The two parties stood in undisguised hostility the one to the other.