Okay, so one makes jokes about how terrible the Jesuits are. Did I tell you (this is an anecdote, not a joke) about my friend who was looking at orders a couple of years ago and spent Easter with the Jesuits somewhere in England? They had massage on Good Friday. He joined the Capuchins. But then you get priests like the late Fr Senespleda, who are devout, hard-working and kind. I am finding it hard to believe, but it must all have been a front!
Yes, kind readers, you, like me, thought the terribliness of the Jesuits stemmed partly from a dubious voluntarism in their spirituality and partly from trauma caused by seeing how terrible the situtation of the poor in South America is. However, it now seems clear to me that this must have been a giant camuoflage (?sp.?) exercise, to make them more establishment-friendly. I have, thanks to the good offices of the European Institute of Protestant Studies, read the terrible oath sworn when “a Jesuit of the minor rank [elsewhere in the text described as “the postulant”] is to be elevated to command”. Here’s the bloodiest bit:
I do further promise and declare that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage relentless war, secretly and openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Masons, as I am directed to do, to extirpate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare neither age, sex nor condition, and that will hang, burn, waste, boil, flay, strangle, and bury alive these infamous heretics; rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women, and crush their infants’ heads against the walls in order to annihilate their execrable race. That when the same cannot be done openly I will secretly use the poisonous cup, the strangulation cord, the steel of the poniard, or the leaden bullet, regardless of the honour, rank, dignity or authority of the persons, whatever may be their condition in life, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agents of the Pope or Superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Father of the Society of Jesus. In confirmation of which I hereby dedicate my life, soul, and all corporal powers, and with the dagger which I now receive I will subscribe my name written in my blood in testimony thereof; and should I prove false, or weaken in my determination, may my brethren and fellow soldiers of the militia of the Pope cut off my hands and feet and my throat from ear to ear, my belly be opened and sulphur burned therein with all the punishment that can be inflicted upon me on earth, and my soul shall be tortured by demons in eternal hell forever.
I do hope the Rev. Paisley is blissfully ignorant of the crap being published under his name (did you notice the Institute’s domain name?). Otherwise he’s fallen rather in my estimation.
Laodicea 
November 24, 2008 at 2:18 pm
This is sooo good! And I always benightedly thought they were lax…
November 24, 2008 at 2:28 pm
What I can’t understand is whether the people posting this stuff actually believe it. Do they? Is it possible? Do you remember the story about when the Oratorians were building their house in Birmingham and some local chap came to inspect the building works, and wrote a horrified article informing the world at large of the dungeons being constructed? The dungeons being the cellars the architect had suggested could easily and usefully be incorporated given that the plot of land sloped somewhat!
November 24, 2008 at 2:33 pm
In many ways I prefer passionate Protestants like Dr Paisley to the wishy-washy liberal ecumenical types.
And why anyone would want to join the Jesuits (no choir office, loads of “progressive” theology) beats me completely.
November 24, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Yes, but if the passionate types are mendacious or thick, then in what, other than they object of their passion, do they differ from Tony Blair?
November 24, 2008 at 3:15 pm
You are (as always) right. The website in question does (knowingly?) misrepresent Catholic teaching and practice instead of refuting genuine Catholic teaching and practice. As, of course, do many Catholic “liberals” with their dishonest caricatures of pre-Vatican 2 Catholicism.
November 24, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Actually it most reminds me of those crazed sedevacantist (or sympathising) sites. So I should probably just get my giggle fix and not take it so seriously! Next up, then, mad sedevacantist sites. Alternatively, I could get some work done…
November 24, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Huh, the Jesuits.
They do make me despair. The dissipations of recent decades (at least) seem to have shown up a flaw in their pre-existing ability to compromise excessively with the powers of this world.
The old ones are the best, and still ring true.
What’s the difference between the Dominicans and the Jesuits?
One was founded to combat the Albigensian heresy, one to combat Protestantism. When did you last meet an Albigenisian?
A man walked up to a Franciscan and a Jesuit and asked, “How many novenas must you say to get a Mercedes Benz?”
The Francisican said, “What’s a Mercedes Benz?”. The Jesuit said, “What’s a novena?”
And, personally, I was at a meeting run by the Farm Street Jesuits in London earlier in the year discussing the issue of women priests. Needless to say, the most vocal support for such a notion came from some of the Jesuits there: the (mainly fairly young – 20s and 30s) audience were…much less impressed at the idea (The great Joanna Bogle, who was guest speaker that night, briefly mentions it on her website: search for “jesuits”)
Maybe it’s the stubborn Ulsterman in me (tho’ from the other side of the Border: not the bit of Ulster in the UK), but, despite obviously strongly disagreeing with the man on all manner of narrowly religious matters (and indeed thinking him guilty of blatant ignorance and bigotry in such regard), I’ve always had a fair amount of respect for the Revd Dr: I think he is, at least, a man of integrity.
(I used to know the son of the new head of the “church” he established, too: he shared a flat at university with someone who is now not only a Catholic priest, but is described elsewhere on the web as “hosting the most reverent mass in the Glasgow area” – on quite a broad definition of what constitutes the Glasgow area too): I think this fairly much sums up the people around Paisley well – they may be blinkered in some regards, but they are not personally bigoted, and do in practice demonstrate the Christian love that they promote, even if they way they do so might look pretty bizarre to many with no connection to Ireland’s most beautiful province
November 25, 2008 at 10:12 am
I always esteemed the passionate Protestants higher than the wishy-washy liberal ones – until I came to the website of Chick Tracts, where I also asked myself in despair if those who wrote some of the stuff there could actually believe it.
November 25, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Wow! I hadn’t heard of Chick Tracts.
According to “Are Roman Catholics Christians?”, we’re all really Babylonian sun-worshippers. The Babylonians invented the confessional for the purposes of control and blackmail. The Mass is a revival of Babylonian worship of Baal (the sun-god), and also of Egyptian worship of Osiris (also the sun-god). The (disc-shaped) Blessed Sacrament represents the sun, and the design of the monstance emphasises the fact that it’s the sun we’re worshipping. Meanwhile, veneration of Mary is worship of Isis.
Mind you, I once read an interview with a Greek Orthodox monk who said that the Pope worships the effigy of a naked woman with the head of a goat, so maybe worshipping Isis and Osiris isn’t so bad by comparison.
November 25, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Unbelievable! – “The Death Cookie”
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0074/0074_01.asp
November 8, 2010 at 11:18 pm
Interestingly enough the title is quit adequate when you look at the Inquisition and how the Roman Church killed so many martyrs because they denied this, for me false, doctrine of transubstantiation. “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many”. What is wrong with thinking that he was talking symbolic? He is the Door, Way, Bread, Blood… all symbolic – not like mana in the desert which was litteral and not sufficient to give the people eternal life. Why does the Roman Church says that you must eat this cookie to live if Christ and Father came and inhabited the believer? This is so wrong in my perspective. People are putting their faith in observance of Mass rather in the finished work of Christ on the Cross. So I guess this tract is not wrong in everything.
November 25, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Yet when you read it, knowing what utter and absolute nonsense it is, it somehow poisons you with its venom and it takes a while to get it out of the system again.
November 25, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Yes, I know what you mean. Reading these tracts leaves more than just a nasty taste in the mouth. I certainly won’t be visiting that website again, not even in a spirit of idle curiosity.
November 8, 2010 at 10:59 pm
Can anyone tell me the real Jesuit oath if this one is false? Is there a record of wrong deeds committed by the Jesuit order? Are there any?
Jesus said that his kingdom is NOT of these world and that His followers will NOT fight for him with swords… so I would ask if someone does so what the fruits of his works shows him to be?
November 8, 2010 at 11:33 pm
Here you go:
poverty, chastity, obedience, and the Fourth vow, unique to Jesuits, of special obedience to the pope in matters regarding mission, promising to undertake any mission laid out in the Formula of the Institute the pope may choose.
The professed of the four vows take, in addition to these solemn perpetual vows five additional Simple Vows: not to consent to any mitigation of the Society’s observance of poverty; not to “ambition” or seek any prelacies (ecclesiastical offices) outside the Society; not to ambition any offices within the Society; a commitment to report any Jesuit who does so ambition; and, if a Jesuit does become a bishop, to permit the general to continue to provide advice to that bishop, though the vow of obedience to Jesuit superiors is not operative over matters the man undertakes as bishop. Under these vows, no Jesuit may “campaign” or even offer his name for appointment or election to any office, and if chosen for one must remind the appointing authority (even the Pope) of these Vows—if the Pope commands that the Jesuit accept ordination as a bishop anyway, the Jesuit must keep an open ear to the Jesuit general as an influence.
November 8, 2010 at 11:41 pm
Are you trying to make some point about the Jesuits being a wicked armed order who went around killing people “in the name of Jesus”, and are therefore not True Believers?
November 8, 2010 at 11:52 pm
Is that your answer?
November 9, 2010 at 12:04 am
No, it’s my question! 🙂
Anyway, Google Is Your Friend. Or go and ask Seraphic – she’s a Jesuit sympathiser 🙂 we’re more monasticky-mendicant round here. Though I’m sure Aelianus will drop in at some point, and he will be happy to answer your q’s as best as he can.
November 9, 2010 at 2:07 am
Ho ho ho! Jesuit collaborator here. Discernment! Consolaion! Desolation! Andales, Andales, Arrupe, Arrupe! Ad multos annos! If nobody is killed, the liturgy is a success!
November 9, 2010 at 10:16 am
snigger 😀
November 9, 2010 at 8:12 am
Thanks. Are there any former Jesuits to confirm or deny the texts written about their alleged oaths?
November 9, 2010 at 10:14 am
Ivan, since we’re answering your questions (and questions that you could easily have answered yourself with a miniscule amount of google-effort), could you answer mine?
What is it you really want to know about the Jesuits? What have you heard that has made you interested in them, rather than, say, the Dominicans or the Camaldolese?
November 8, 2010 at 11:56 pm
The above is not what I wanted. Is there any oath that a Jesuit has to say when pledging to observe what you stated above?
November 9, 2010 at 12:11 am
Google Is Your Friend.
Formula of First Vows.
Formula of Solemn Vows (and other FAQs)
If you poke around you’ll probably be able to find the text of the additional simple vows. If not, why not ask a Jesuit? Here’s the blog of one.
October 2, 2012 at 6:35 am
The duty of Christians is clear:
it is to expose the Jesuits and to pray for their destruction. Queen Mary is reported to have said that she feared the prayers of John Knox more than an army of 20,000 men. Prayer is a never-failing weapon against the secret attacks of the ambushed enemy. The Jesuit cannot hide from God: there is no counsel against the Lord through cunning, duplicity, immorality or bloodthirstiness. The Jesuit is the fanatical promoter of a lying, murderous, blasphemous system which has sullied the pages of history with its diabolism. Its seat is at the Vatican and it is the greatest enemy of the Gospel and of humanity that the Devil has ever loosed on earth.”
Ex Jesuit – Alberto Rivera who was converted to true Christianity via Jack Chick a Baptist Evangelist revealed that the Jesuit order seeks to infiltrate the Protestant Churches because of the nature of End Time Prophecy and the message the church carries. Is it not a surprise that every church now has Co-intel operations ASIO, CIA connections in America. The CIA or its Australian counter part ASIO has chosen the Seventh Day Adventist Church particularly to doctrinally infiltrate the church due do perfect group behaviour and control studies regarding the group.
Throughout Christendom, Protestantism was menaced by formidable foes. The first triumphs of the Reformation past, Rome summoned new forces, hoping to accomplish its destruction. At this time, the order of the Jesuits was created, the most cruel, unscrupulous, and powerful of all the champions of popery.
Cut off from every earthly tie and human interest, dead to the claims of natural affection, reason and conscience wholly silenced, they knew no rule, no tie, but that of their order, and not duty but to extend its power. The gospel of Christ had enabled its adherents to meet danger and endure suffering, undismayed by cold, hunger, toil, and poverty, to uphold the banner of truth in face of the rack, the dungeon, and the stake.
To combat these forces, Jesuitism inspired its followers with a fanaticism that enabled them to endure like dangers, and to oppose to the power of truth all the weapons of deception. There was no crime too great for them to commit, no deception too base for them to practice, no disguise too difficult for them to assume. Vowed to perpetual poverty and humility, it was their studied aim to secure wealth and power, to be devoted to the overthrow of Protestantism, and the re-establishment of the papal supremacy.” The Great Controversy [1888 edition] PG 234
QUOTATIONS – Concerning the Jesuit Order
“Today they [i.e., the Jesuits] are stronger in the United States than they ever were in any of the countries of Europe which expelled them as a menace to the government.” (1912) Jeremiah J. Crowley
“My history of the Jesuits is not eloquently written, but it is supported by unquestionable authorities, [and] is very particular and very horrible. Their [the Jesuit Order’s] restoration [in 1814 by Pope Pius VII] is indeed a step toward darkness, cruelty, despotism, [and] death. … I do not like the appearance of the Jesuits. If ever there was a body of men who merited eternal damnation on earth and in hell, it is this Society of [Ignatius de] Loyola.” John Adams (1735-1826; 2nd President of the United States)
“[The Jesuits] are the deadly enemies of civil and religious liberty.” R. W. Thompson (Ex-Secretary, American Navy)
“It is my opinion that if the liberties of this country – the United States of America – are destroyed, it will be by the subtlety of the Roman Catholic Jesuit priests, for they are the most crafty, dangerous enemies to civil and religious liberty. They have instigated MOST of the wars of Europe.”
Marquis de LaFayette (1757-1834; French statesman and general. He served in the American Continental Army under the command of General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War.) “The war [i.e., the American Civil War of 1861-1865] would never have been possible without the sinister influence of theJesuits.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865; 16th President of the United States)
“The public is practically unaware of the overwhelming responsibility carried by the Vatican and its Jesuits in the starting of the two world wars – a situation which may be explained in part by the gigantic finances at the disposition of the Vatican and its Jesuits, giving them power in so many spheres, especially since the last conflict.”
Edmond Paris (Author of the book The Secret History of the Jesuits)
“The Jesuits…are a secret society – a sort of Masonic order – with superadded features of revolting odiousness, and athousand times more dangerous.” – Samuel Morse (1791-1872; American inventor of the telegraph; author of the book Foreign Conspiracy Against the Liberties of the United States) ((Note: For Morse’s full quotation from which this excerpt was taken, please see the end of this document.)
“The Jesuits are a MILITARY organization, not a religious order. Their chief is a general of an army, not the mere father abbot of a monastery. And the aim of this organization is power – power in its most despotic exercise – absolute power, universal power, power to control the world by the volition of a single man [i.e., the Black Pope, the Superior General of the Jesuits]. Jesuitism is the most absolute of despotisms [sic] –
March 20, 2023 at 4:39 am
http://www.21stcbc.org
Jesuit Oath Exposed! | Laodicea