The rules prescribe in detail the Jesuit's daily occupation, and, as far as circumstances allow, a definite routine is followed very exactly by all the members of the Order. The Jesuit rises at 5 A.M. Half au hour is given to physical prepa ration for the day. He devotes one hour to mental prayer, for which there has been fifteen minutes of preparation the night before. He then hears mass, or, if a priest, says mass. About i .k.m. he breakfasts. and after a few min utes devoted to a review of his morning medita tion, and especially the practical resolutions that it has led hint to, he begins the day's work. what ever it may be—studying, teaching., preparing sermons. missions or retreats, or writing books or articles. Ile is advised by his rules not to continue any one form of occupation, whatever it may be, for more than two consecutive hours without a diversion of mind for some min utes at least. About noon he devotes fifteen minutes to a review of his morning's work, and plans the work of the afternoon, so as to do better. Dinner is taken in common, and then, according to rule. one hour is passed in recreation in common. About tl P.M. the community assemble for the recital of the litany of the saints and of the Blessed Virgin. This is the only daily spiritual exercise in common enjoined IT rule. Even this did not originate with Irnatins himself. but with Saint Francis Borgia. the third general of the Society. Ig natius wished to leave his Order free for work and study. depending on the constant direction of the motives of their work to make them spir itual men. The litanies are followed by fifteen minutes devoted to the selection of a passage of the life of Christ for meditation next morning. Then follows the evening examination of con science. At It) o'clock all are in bed, unless spe cial permission is given for further work. The .1fonita SPrreta (q.v.)• 'Secret Admonitions.' a masterpiece of craft and duplicity, supposed to have been issued for the private direction of thoroughly initiated members of the Order, is acknowledged by all serious authorities to be an invention of the enemies of the Jesuits.
The government of the Society of Jesus. though often spoken of as autocratic. is a striking ex ample of a limited constitutional authority, prac tically the first of its kind. The Order is gov erned by a general, whose power. said sometimes to be absolute, is strictly limited by the Consti tutions.' He is elected by a general congrega tion and holds his office for life. He may he deposed by a general congregation under certain conditions prescribed by the Constitution, though such an incident has never happened in the his tory of the Order. A general congregation is composed of the general, or his deputy, and the five assistants, who form his council, besides the provincials, or heads of provinces, and two deputies from each province. The provincial deputies are elected by the professed fathers and the rectors of the province. The general congre gation meets every six years. and all important concerns come before it. It alone has power to dissolve a college. or professed house. or a,novi tiate once established. The general has power to dispense from some provisions of the Constitution in particular cases, but he cannot alter or annul them. All others in authority hold office for a limited time, usually for three years. The as sistants who compose the general's consultors are elected by the general congregation, and are chosen from certain groups of provinces. At the present time there is the Italian assistancy, the French, the Spanish, which includes also mis sions in South America: the German. which in cludes the Low Countries and Austria; and finally the English, including England and North Amer ica, with missions in South Africa and in India. For the assistance of the general there is also an admonitor and a father confessor. The generals admonitor is bound to inform him of any faults he may commit. While the general consults with his assistants, he is not obliged to follow their advice, even when unanimous.
There are four classes of Jesuits: (1) Pro fessed fathers, who, after their eighteen years of preparation, have taken the four solemn vows mentioned above. It is from this class alone that the general and all the higher oflicials of the Society are chosen. (2) Coadjutors, spiritual and temporal. Spiritual coadjutors are priests whose health or talents have not permitted them to reach the standard of sanctity or knowledge required for professed fathers, and who help in preaching, teaching. and the direction of souls.
Temporal coadjutors are the lay brothers to whom the menial offices and certain minor duties are assigned. (3) Scholastics, who, having passed through the novitiate, are engaged either in their own studies or in teaching in the colleges. (4) Novices, who after a short trial as postulants are engaged for two years exclusively in spiritual exercises, prayer, ascetic reading. and practices.
The administrative and executive government of the Society is intrusted under the general to provincials who are named by the general and hold office for three years. In each province the superiors of the colleges, professed house:, and novitiates are appointed by the general. who re ceives from them at stated intervals—monthly from provinces. quarterly from colleges and novi tiates—n detailed report of the character, con duct, and occupation of each member of the So ciety. Far from making a system of espionage. this detailed knowledge only gives superiors such information with regard to subjects as enables them to make the hest possible use of them with the least possible danger of failure under trying circumstances. Imaatius gave his Order no dis tinctive dress (though that of the Spanish priests of that time has come to be adopted by Jesuits generally), so that they might he freer for inter course with the world.
The Jesuits spread rapidly. At the death of Ignatius (1556) there were 1000 members of the Order, in twelve provinces. At the end of the century there were over 10,000. When the cele bration of the centenary of their foundation came in 1639, they numbered over 13,000. A century and a quarter later, at the time of their suppres sion, there were 22,600 Jesuits throughout the world. Wherever they were, they were considered as the special upholders of the Papacy and the most faithful defenders of the Catholic Church. This accounts for most of the opposition to them. When there was difficulty between the Republic of Venice and the Pope, during the first half of the seventeenth century. the Jesuits were ex cluded from the Venetian Their close adhesion to the Pope made their position in France often insecure. Gallicanism saw in them implacable opponents, and Jansenism (q.v.) rec ognized them as the foes most to he feared. The Sorbonne and the University of Paris opposed the introduetion of the Society into France, and always continued to he jealous of the educative influence acquired by it. Finally, Mme. de Pom padour became a bitter enemy, because the .Jesuits refused her the sacraments. unless there should be an end of her liaison with the King. The philosophic party was opposed to the Jesuits because they saw in them the most prominent factor in the conservation of Catholic thought and education. This united opposition brought about the suppression of the Jesuits by royal edict throughout the French dominions in 1764. The example was followed in a few years by the other Bourbon courts—Spain. Naples. Parma, and :Modena. In 1759. through the machinations of the Prime Minister Pombal, who saw an op portunity of enriching himself at their expense, the Jesuits had been expelled from Portugal. The charges that they were the source of the attempt upon the King's life and were fomenting disaf fection among the Indians in the so-called reduc tions of Paraguay. recently transferred from Spain to Portugal, were evidently trumped up. Pope Clement XIII. (1758-69) interposed vainly in their behalf and used every effort to reconcile the governments. Pope Clement XIV. (1769-74), pressed by the ambassadors of so many Catholic governments, at length issued, July 21, 1773. the brief Dominus ac fledemptor Nosier. by which, without adopting the charges made against the Society or entering in any way into the ques tion of their justice, acting solely on the motive of 'the peace of the Church' he suppressed the Society in all the States of Christendom. Sub mission to the brief was immediate and complete. In Spain and Portugal the members of the So ciety were driven into exile. In other Catholic countries they were permitted to remain as indi viduals, engaged in the ministry or in literary occupations. Two non-Catholic governments. those of Frederick the Great of 'Prussia and Catharine 11. of Russia, refused to allow the brief of suppression to be published in their do minions. because they could not replace the .Tes nits as educators. In these State, the Jesuits re tained a quasi-corporate existence as a society for education.