The Ubiquitous Presence of Jesuitism

The Jesuit order was characterized by an admirable ability: it could personalize each person's task according to their natural inclinations and abilities, and place everyone in the role where they could be most useful. This virtuoso technique of human resource management is the reason why vastly different opinions about the Jesuits have emerged over time.

The Jesuits were the cause and instigators of many wrongs and many good deeds, and their path is marked by both noble and wicked actions. But whatever they did, they did it in the best, most perfect way possible, given the circumstances. They could be the most brilliant gentlemen and the most extreme ascetics, the most self-sacrificing missionaries and the most cunning brokers, the most devoted servants and the grandest statesmen, the wisest spiritual leaders and the most tasteful theater directors, the noblest doctors and the most skillful killers. They built churches and factories, organized pilgrimages and conspiracies, expanded the basic principles of mathematics just as much as those of dogmatics, suppressed free research, while proudly showcasing a series of important discoveries of their own. In some of their writings, they promoted the purest form of Christ's teachings, but they allowed Hindus to continue worshiping their gods under the name of Christ, rescued the Paraguayan Indians from the clutches of the wild and cruel Spaniards, and yet, in Paris, they were the instigators of the mass murder known as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. They were capable of anything.

But even more terrifying than their ability to transform was their ubiquitous presence. They were literally everywhere. No one could be said with absolute certainty not to be a Jesuit or not to be under Jesuit influence. They were most skilled at using the three most fundamental intellectual tools of their era: the pulpit, the confessional, and every school desk. In their sermons, dignity combined with the desire to please, seriousness with relevance; their textbooks outshone all other educational materials in clarity, vividness, and liveliness. Their schools were famous worldwide: nowhere else could such understanding, patient, knowledgeable, and highly motivating teachers be found; they were also well represented in universities. As confessors, they proved their extraordinary abilities by meeting every wish and need. They were devout and morally strict, but in the name of all-encompassing forgiveness, they sometimes overlooked even the gravest sins, if that was the only way to maintain their position at the very center of a person's soul. Their practice of confession gave rise to a system based on concealment, obfuscation, and rectification; all that is now associated with the term "Jesuitism" earned a rather dubious reputation.

"The end justifies the means" – this principle is not found in their writings, yet many of their teachings came dangerously close to this concept. In their first rule, they stated that no member of the order should be compelled to engage in actions that would result in mortal sin, but they left room for exceptions: "unless His Majesty commands it in the name of Christ." This exception effectively nullified the previous statement. In every action, only the intent matters, and therefore even forbidden acts can be justified if they were motivated by a good principle. This doctrine laid the foundation for a secular Christianity characterized by audacity and sophistry, culminating in the belief that anything is permissible if the given act is supported by plausible reasons. Jesuitism was created by the most noble and selfless devotion to a great idea; yet deep down, from the very beginning, there was a "poisonous seed," deadly to the order's enemies, but also fatal to Jesuitism itself. The order forgot that one should never lie, not even for the glory of God, and indeed, especially not then.

Egon Friedell "Az újkori kultúra története III." Holnap Kiadó, Budapest, 1989