"Go ye, then, into all the world and take possession of all lands
in the name of the Pope. He who will not accept him as the Vicar of Jesus and
his Vice-Regent on earth, let him be accursed and exterminated."
Professor Arthur Noble
[The
following is the text of the Jesuit Extreme Oath of Induction as
recorded in the Journals of the 62nd Congress, 3rd Session, of the United
States Congressional Record (House Calendar No. 397, Report No. 1523, 15
February, 1913, pp. 3215-3216), from which it was subsequently torn out. The
Oath is also quoted by Charles Didier in his book Subterranean Rome (New
York, 1843), translated from the French original. Dr. Alberto Rivera, who
escaped from the Jesuit Order in 1967, confirms that the induction ceremony and
the text of the Jesuit Oath which he took were identical to what we have cited
below. – A. N.]
When a
Jesuit of the minor rank is to be elevated to command, he is conducted into the
Chapel of the Convent of the Order, where there are only three others present,
the principal or Superior standing in front of the altar. On either side stands
a monk, one of whom holds a banner of yellow and white, which are the Papal
colours, and the other a black banner with a dagger and red cross above a skull
and crossbones, with the word INRI, and below them the words IUSTUM
NECAR REGES IMPIUS. The meaning of which is: It is just to exterminate or
annihilate impious or heretical Kings, Governments, or Rulers.
Upon the
floor is a red cross at which the postulant or candidate kneels. The Superior
hands him a small black crucifix, which he takes in his left hand and presses
to his heart, and the Superior at the same time presents to him a dagger, which
he grasps by the blade and holds the point against his heart, the Superior
still holding it by the hilt, and thus addresses the postulant:
(The
Superior speaks:)
My son,
heretofore you have been taught to act the dissembler: among Roman Catholics to
be a Roman Catholic, and to be a spy even among your own brethren; to believe
no man, to trust no man. Among the Reformers, to be a Reformer; among the
Huguenots, to be a Huguenot; among the Calvinists, to be a Calvinist; among
other Protestants, generally to be a Protestant; and obtaining their
confidence, to seek even to preach from their pulpits, and to denounce with all
the vehemence in your nature our Holy Religion and the Pope; and even to
descend so low as to become a Jew among Jews, that you might be enabled to
gather together all information for the benefit of your Order as a faithful
soldier of the Pope. You have been taught to plant insidiously the seeds of
jealousy and hatred between communities, provinces, states that were at peace,
and to incite them to deeds of blood, involving them in war with each other,
and to create revolutions and civil wars in countries that were independent and
prosperous, cultivating the arts and the sciences and enjoying the blessings of
peace; to take sides with the combatants and to act secretly with your brother
Jesuit, who might be engaged on the other side, but openly opposed to that with
which you might be connected, only that the Church might be the gainer in the
end, in the conditions fixed in the treaties for peace and that the end
justifies the means. You have been taught your duty as a spy, to gather all
statistics, facts and information in your power from every source; to
ingratiate yourself into the confidence of the family circle of Protestants and
heretics of every class and character, as well as that of the merchant, the
banker, the lawyer, among the schools and universities, in parliaments and
legislatures, and the judiciaries and councils of state, and to be all things
to all men, for the Pope's sake, whose servants we are unto death. You have
received all your instructions heretofore as a novice, a neophyte, and have
served as co-adjurer, confessor and priest, but you have not yet been invested
with all that is necessary to command in the Army of Loyola in the service of
the Pope. You must serve the proper time as the instrument and executioner as
directed by your superiors; for none can command here who has not consecrated
his labours with the blood of the heretic; for "without the shedding of
blood no man can be saved". Therefore, to fit yourself for your work and
make your own salvation sure, you will, in addition to your former oath of
obedience to your order and allegiance to the Pope, repeat after me:
(Text of
the Oath:)
I_______________ , now in the presence of Almighty
God, the blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed St. John the Baptist, the Holy
Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, and all the saints, sacred host of Heaven,
and to you, my Ghostly Father, the superior general of the Society of Jesus,
founded by St. Ignatius Loyola, in the pontification of Paul the Third, and
continued to the present, do by the womb of the Virgin, the matrix of God, and
the rod of Jesus Christ, declare and swear that His Holiness, the Pope, is
Christ's Vice-Regent and is the true and only head of the Catholic or Universal
Church throughout the earth; and that by the virtue of the keys of binding and
loosing given to His Holiness by my Saviour, Jesus Christ, he hath power to
depose heretical Kings, Princes, States, Commonwealths, and Governments, and
they may be safely destroyed. Therefore to the utmost of my power I will defend
this doctrine and His Holiness's right and custom against all usurpers of the
heretical or Protestant authority whatever, especially the Lutheran Church of
Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and the now pretended authority
and Churches of England and Scotland, and the branches of same now established
in Ireland and on the continent of America and elsewhere and all adherents in
regard that they may be usurped and heretical, opposing the sacred Mother Church
of Rome. I do now denounce and disown any allegiance as due to any heretical
king, prince or State, named Protestant or Liberal, or obedience to any of
their laws, magistrates or officers. I do further declare the doctrine of the
Churches of England and Scotland of the Calvinists, Huguenots, and others of
the name of Protestants or Masons to be damnable, and they themselves to be
damned who will not forsake the same. I do further declare that I will help,
assist, and advise all or any of His Holiness's agents, in any place where I
should be, in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Ireland or America, or in any
other kingdom or territory I shall come to, and do my utmost to extirpate the
heretical Protestant or Masonic doctrines and to destroy all their pretended
powers, legal or otherwise. I do further promise and declare that,
notwithstanding, I am dispensed with to assume any religion heretical for the
propagation of the Mother Church's interest; to keep secret and private all her
agents' counsels from time to time, as they entrust me, and not to divulge,
directly or indirectly, by word, writing or circumstances whatever; but to
execute all that should be proposed, given in charge, or discovered unto me by
you, my Ghostly Father, or any of this sacred order. I do further promise and
declare that I will have no opinion or will of my own or any mental reservation
whatever, even as a corpse or cadaver (perinde ac cadaver), but will
unhesitatingly obey each and every command that I may receive from my superiors
in the militia of the Pope and of Jesus Christ. That I will go to any part of
the world whithersoever I may be sent, to the frozen regions north, jungles of
India, to the centres of civilisation of Europe, or to the wild haunts of the
barbarous savages of America without murmuring or repining, and will be
submissive in all things, whatsoever is communicated to me. 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. That I will in voting always vote
for a Knight of Columbus in preference to a Protestant, especially a Mason, and
that I will leave my party so to do; that if two Catholics are on the ticket I
will satisfy myself which is the better supporter of Mother Church and vote
accordingly. That I will not deal with or employ a Protestant if in my power to
deal with or employ a Catholic. That I will place Catholic girls in Protestant
families that a weekly report may be made of the inner movements of the
heretics. That I will provide myself with arms and ammunition that I may be in
readiness when the word is passed, or I am commanded to defend the Church
either as an individual or with the militia of the Pope. All of which
I,_______________, do swear by the blessed Trinity and blessed sacrament which
I am now to receive to perform and on part to keep this my oath. In testimony
hereof, I take this most holy and blessed sacrament of the Eucharist and
witness the same further with my name written with the point of this dagger
dipped in my own blood and seal in the face of this holy sacrament.
(He
receives the wafer from the Superior and writes his name with the point of his
dagger dipped in his own blood taken from over his heart.)
(Superior
speaks:)
You will
now rise to your feet and I will instruct you in the Catechism necessary to
make yourself known to any member of the Society of Jesus belonging to this
rank. In the first place, you, as a Brother Jesuit, will with another mutually
make the ordinary sign of the cross as any ordinary Roman Catholic would; then
one crosses his wrists, the palms of his hands open, and the other in answer
crosses his feet, one above the other; the first points with forefinger of the
right hand to the centre of the palm of the left, the other with the forefinger
of the left hand points to the centre of the palm of the right; the first then
with his right hand makes a circle around his head, touching it; the other then
with the forefinger of his left hand touches the left side of his body just
below his heart; the first then with his right hand draws it across the throat
of the other, and the latter then with a dagger down the stomach and abdomen of
the first. The first then says Iustum; and the other answers Necar; the first
Reges; the other answers Impious. The first will then present a small piece of
paper folded in a peculiar manner, four times, which the other will cut
longitudinally and on opening the name Jesu will be found written upon the head
and arms of a cross three times. You will then give and receive with him the
following questions and answers:
From
whither do you come? Answer: The Holy faith.
Whom do
you serve? Answer: The Holy Father at Rome, the Pope, and the Roman Catholic
Church Universal throughout the world.
Who
commands you? Answer: The Successor of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the
Society of Jesus or the Soldiers of Jesus Christ.
Who
received you? Answer: A venerable man in white hair.
How?
Answer: With a naked dagger, I kneeling upon the cross beneath the banners of
the Pope and of our sacred order.
Did you
take an oath? Answer: I did, to destroy heretics and their governments and
rulers, and to spare neither age, nor sex, nor condition; to be as a corpse
without any opinion or will of my own, but to implicitly obey my Superiors in
all things without hesitation or murmuring.
Will you
do that? Answer: I will.
How do
you travel? Answer: In the bark of Peter the fisherman.
Whither
do you travel? Answer: To the four quarters of the globe.
For what
purpose? Answer: To obey the orders of my General and Superiors and execute the
will of the Pope and faithfully fulfil the conditions of my oaths.
Go ye,
then, into all the world and take possession of all lands in the name of the
Pope. He who will not accept him as the Vicar of Jesus and his Vice-Regent on
earth, let him be accursed and exterminated.
[Note:
The following books on (or particularly relevant to) the Jesuits are held by
the EIPS Library:
Anon.: The
Female Jesuit. London, 1851
Anon.: The
Mystery of Jesuitism. London, 1658
Anon.: The
Secret Instructions of the Jesuits. London, 1824
Anon.: The
Secret Instructions of the Jesuits. London, 1824
Barrett,
E.B.: The Jesuit Enigma. London, 1929
Barthel,
M: The Jesuits. New York, 1984
Bert,
M.P.: Gury's Doctrines of the Jesuits. London, 1947
Blakeney,
R.P.: Alphonsus Liguori. London, 1852
Brodrick,
J., S.J.: The Origin of the Jesuits. New York, 1960
Bungener,
L.L.F.: The Jesuits in France or The Priest and the Huguenot. London,
1859
Coape,
H.C.: In a Jesuit Net. London, no date
Dalton,
E.: The Jesuits. London, 1843
De Courson, R.: Concerning Jesuits. London, 1902
Gallahue,
J.: The Jesuit. New York, 1973
Goodier,
A.: The Jesuits. London, 1929
Griesinger,
T.: History of the Jesuits. London, 1903
Groves,
H.C.: The Doctrines and Practices of the Jesuits. London, 1889
Hanna,
S.: Jesuitism: or Catholic Action. Belfast, 1938
Hastings,
M.: Jesuit Child. Newton Abbot, 1972
Hillerbrand,
H.: The Reformation. A Narrative History related by Contemporary Observers
and Participants. Ann Arbor, 1989
Lathbury,
T.: The State of Popery and Jesuitism in England. London, 1838
Lehmann,
L.H.: The Secret of Catholic Power. New York, no date
Liguori,
A.M.: The Council of Trent. Dublin, 1846
MacPherson,
H.: The Jesuits in History. London, 1914
Martin,
M.: The Jesuits. New York, 1987
Nicolini,
G.B.: History of the Jesuits. London, 1854
Paisley,
I.R.K.: The Jesuits. Belfast, no date
Paris,
E.: The Secret History of the Jesuits. London, 1975
Ridley,
F.A.: The Jesuits: A Study in Counter-Revolution. London, 1938
Roberts,
Archbishop, S.J.: Black Popes. London, 1954
Robertson,
A.: The Roman Catholic Church in Italy. London, 1903
Seebohm,
F.: The Epoch of the Protestant Reformation. London, 1877
Seymour,
M.H.: Mornings among the Jesuits at Rome. London, 1850
Steinmetz,
A.: History of the Jesuits. London, 1848 (3 Vols.)
Walsh,
W.: The Jesuits in Great Britain. New York, 1903
Wild, J.:
Canada and the Jesuits. Toronto, 1889
Wylie,
J.A.: Jesuitism: Its Rise, Progress and Insidious Workings. London, no
date
Ybarra,
T.R. (translator): The Kaiser's Memoirs, by Wilhelm