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Protestant Broadside – Pope Alexander VI
Catholic Reformation Broadside: Martin Luther & the Devil
Europe post-Reformation
The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu, S.J. and S.I. or SJ, SI) is a religious order of men
called Jesuits, who follow the teachings of the Catholic Church. Jesuit priests and brothers —
also sometimes known colloquially as "God's marines"[2] — are engaged in evangelization and
apostolic ministry in 112 nations on six continents reflecting the Formula of the Institute
(principle) of the Society. They are known in the fields of education (schools, colleges,
universities, seminaries, theological faculties), intellectual research, and cultural pursuits in
addition to missionary work, giving retreats, hospital and parish ministry, promoting social
justice and ecumenical dialogue.
The Society was founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, who after being wounded in a battle,
experienced a religious conversion and composed the Spiritual Exercises in order to help others
to follow Christ more closely. In 1534, Ignatius gathered six young men, including St. Francis
Xavier and Bl. Pierre Favre, and together they professed vows of poverty and chastity, and then
later, obedience, including a special vow of obedience to the Pope. Rule 13 of Ignatius' Rules for
Thinking with the Church said: "I will believe that the white that I see is black if the hierarchical
Church so defines it".[3] Ignatius' plan of the order's organization was approved by Pope Paul III
in 1540 by the bull containing the Formula of the Institute. The opening lines of this founding
document would declare that the Society of Jesus was founded to "strive especially for the
propagation and defense of the faith and progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine."[4] The
Society participated in the Counter-Reformation and later in the implementation of the Second
Vatican Council in the Catholic Church.
The Jesuit order in China
The Jesuits in India
Jesuits in North America
Jesuit missions in South America
An Eyewitness Account of the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre
by François Dubois
August 24, 1572, was the date of the infamous St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in France. On that day,
over 400 years ago, began one of the most horrifying holocausts in history. The glorious Reformation,
begun in Germany on October 31, 1517, had spread to France—and was joyfully received. A great change
had come over the people as industry and learning began to flourish, and so rapidly did the Truth spread
that over a third of the population embraced the Reformed Christian Faith.
However, alarm bells began to ring at the Vatican! France was her eldest daughter and main pillar—the
chief source of money and power. . . . King Pepin of the Franks (the father of Charlemagne) had given the
Papal States to the Pope almost 1000 years earlier. Almost half the real estate in the country was owned
by the clergy.
Meanwhile, back in Paris, the King of France and his Court spent their time drinking, reveling and
carousing. The Court spiritual adviser—a Jesuit priest— urged them to massacre the Protestants—as
penance for their many sins! To catch the Christians off-guard every token of peace, friendship, and
ecumenical good will was offered.
Suddenly—and without warning—the devilish work commenced. Beginning at Paris, the French soldiers
and the Roman Catholic clergy fell upon the unarmed people, and blood flowed like a river throughout
the entire country. Men, women, and children fell in heaps before the mobs and the bloodthirsty troops.
In one week, almost 100,100 Protestants perished. The rivers of France were so filled with corpses that for
many months no fish were eaten. In the valley of the Loire, wolves came down from the hills to feel upon
the decaying bodies of Frenchmen. The list of massacres was as endless as the list of the dead!
Many were imprisoned—many sent as slaves to row the King's ships—and some were able to escape to
other countries. . . . The massacres continued for centuries. The best and brightest people fled to
Germany, Switzerland, England, Ireland and eventually America and brought their incomparable
manufacturing skills with them. . . . France was ruined. . . . Wars, famine, disease and poverty finally led
to the French Revolution—the Guillotine—the Reign of Terror—the fall of the Roman Catholic
Monarchy—atheism—communism etc., etc.
A contemporary woodcut of the defenestration in 1618.
The Second Defenestration of Prague was central to the start of the Thirty Years' War in 1618.
Some members of the Bohemian aristocracy rebelled following the 1617 election of Ferdinand (Duke of
Styria and a Catholic) as King of Bohemia to succeed the aging Emperor Matthias. In 1617, Roman
Catholic officials ordered the cessation of construction of some Protestant chapels on land of which the
Catholic clergy claimed ownership. Protestants contended the land in question was royal, rather than
owned by the Catholic Church, and was thus available for their own use. Protestants interpreted the
cessation order as a violation of the right to freedom of religious expression granted in the Letter of
Majesty issued by Emperor Rudolf II in 1609. They also feared that the fiercely Catholic Ferdinand
would revoke the Protestant rights altogether once he came to the throne.
On May 23, 1618, an assembly of Protestants, led by Count Thurn whom the Emperor had deprived of his
post as Castellan of Karlstadt and who, in reaction to an inflammatory letter received from the Emperor's
principal adviser, Bishop Klesl, had exhorted his followers to throw the Regents appointed by the
Emperor out the window "as is customary", bribed their way into the Prague Castle (the Hradschin) where
the Regents were meeting. Finding only four of the Regents along with their secretary in attendance they
demanded the Regents admit they had been responsible for Klesl's letter. The first two denied
responsibility and were removed from the room leaving only Count Vilem Slavata, Count Jarolslaw
Martinitz (who had replaced Thorn as Castellan), known Catholic hard-liners, and the secretary to the
Regents. Slavata and Martinitz had been the intended victims all along. Many in the room later claimed
that they thought the two Regents were only going to be arrested and by the time they realized what was
happening it was too late. The Regents were thrown out the third floor window along with the Regents'
secretary, Philip Fabricius. They fell 30 metres [2] and landed on a large pile of manure in a dry moat and
survived. Philip Fabricius was later ennobled by the emperor and granted the title von Hohenfall (lit.
meaning "of Highfall").
The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. The war was
fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most of the countries of Europe. Naval
warfare also reached overseas and shaped the colonial formation of future nations.
The origins of the conflict and goals of the participants were complex, and no single cause can accurately be
described as the main reason for the fighting. Initially, the war was fought largely as a religious conflict between
Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire, although disputes over the internal politics and balance of
power within the Empire played a significant part. Gradually, the war developed into a more general conflict
involving most of the European powers.[9][10] In this general phase, the war became more a continuation of the
Bourbon–Habsburg rivalry for European political pre-eminence, and in turn led to further warfare between France
and the Habsburg powers, and less specifically about religion.[11]
A major impact of the Thirty Years' War was the extensive destruction of entire regions, denuded by the foraging
armies (bellum se ipsum alet). Episodes of famine and disease significantly decreased the populace of the German
states, Bohemia, the Low Countries and Italy, while bankrupting most of the combatant powers. While the regiments
within each army were not strictly mercenary in that they were not guns for hire that changed sides from battle to
battle, the individual soldiers that made up the regiments for the most part probably were. The problem of discipline
was made more difficult still by the ad hoc nature of 17th-century military financing. Armies were expected to be
largely self-funding from loot taken or tribute extorted from the settlements where they operated. This encouraged a
form of lawlessness that imposed often severe hardship on inhabitants of the occupied territory. Some of the quarrels
that provoked the war went unresolved for a much longer time. The Thirty Years' War was ended with the treaties of
Osnabrück and Münster, part of the wider Peace of Westphalia.[12]