The missions of South America conducted by the Spanish and Portuguese Jesuits were re markable in their character and extent. Father Anchieta, a native of Brazil, was particularly distinguished for his missionary success as well as his gift of miraculous powers. Peter Claver devoted himself to the thousands of negro slaves who were brought to the port of Carta gena. Other Jesuits traveled through Chile and Peru. Seventy of them on their way thither were said to be killed 'by Calvinists who inter cepted them at sea. But their most famous work was what are known as the 'Reductions) or Christian Commonwealths of Paraguay. The description of these missions forms one of the most brilliant chapters of Chateaubriand's
The missions of Japan which Francis Xavier had inaugurated continued after his death in spite of the fierce persecutions in which many Jesuits perished. He had been unable to reach China and died on a lonely island off the coast. Ricci, Verbiest, Schall and others carried out his project and became the advisers of the emperor as well as his astronomers, mathe maticians and mechanicians. The great bronze astronomical instruments carried off by Ger many on the occasion of the invasion of that country by the allied powers of Europe were the work of the Jesuits of the 17th cen tury. As soon as the mission was started, great numbers of Jesuits came from Europe, half of them generally dying on the passage. In 1661
they possessed 151 churches and 38 residences there, and had written as many as 131 works on religion, 103 on mathematics and 55 on physical and moral sciences.
Numberless other missions were established elsewhere; de Nobili for instance lived like a Brahman in India to reach that particular caste, and was almost suspected of apostasy for doing so. He is said to have made 100,000 converts. Jesuits overran the whole Indian peninsula and crossed the Himalayas into Tibet. Africa had long before been penetrated, and one of the first members of the society was Patriarch of Ethi opia. The present explorers of the Dark Con tinent find remnants of former missions far in the interior. They had gone from Mexico to the Philippines in the earliest days; they had entered Tartary and Lebanon, and when their own efforts were thwarted they induced others to take their places. Thus De Rhodes, a Jesuit expelled from Japan, founded the Societe des Missions Etrangeres, a body of secular priest% who have given a great number of saints and martyrs to the Catholic Church.
While the Jesuits were engaged in mission ary work among the uncivilized peoples of the world they erected splendid churches all over Europe, and furnished such orators to the pul pit as Bourdaloue in France, Vieyra in Portu gal and Segneri in Italy. The 'Book of Spirit ual Exercises,' according to Saint Francis de Sales, ((has converted as many souls as it has letters? But their apostolic work was not re stricted to preaching, and we hear of a single French Jesuit who during his 40 years of min istry had established as many as 146 hospitals for the poor. They founded orphan and Mag dalen asylums. They were the confessors of kings and princes and delegates• of the Holy See, but they extricated themselves from these honorable charges as soon as it was possible to do so. At the time of the suppression they controlled and directed the majority of the ecclesiastical seminaries of Europe.
The success of the society in the work of education forms a great chapter in its history. Their method is found in what is known as the 'Ratio Studiorurr0 or Plan of Studies. It is a complete system of pedagogy and covers the whole field from the lowest class of grammar up to philosophy and theology. The plan was first conceived by Ignatius himself, and subse quently elaborated by one of his successors, Claudius Aquaviva. Compayre, one of the chief pedagogists of the present time, denounces it as a mere system of memorizing. Bacon says of it: has anything more perfect been invented" Their colleges at one time covered all Europe, and in the single school of Louis le Grand they had as many as 3,000 students. Kings assisted at its public academic exercises. Among their scholars they can claim some of the greatest men of modern times, as for in stance Popes Gregory XIII, Benedict XIV, Pius VII Saint Francis de Sales, Bossuet, Fleury, Flechier, Montesquieu, Malesherbes, Tasso, Galileo, Corneille, Descartes, Mollire, Mezzofanti, Muratori, Buffon, Gresset, Canova, Tilly, Wallenstein, Condi, the Emperors Maxi milian, Ferdinand and others. Even Voltaire was one of their pupils. The disturbed condi tions of modern times prevent a similar brilliant showing, but many of the most distinguished Catholic churchmen of to-day have studied in their schools, and notably Leo XIII who was trained by them from his college classes to.the end of his theological course.