The Jesuits, 1534-1921

Strictly speaking the Jesuits were not entering Russia but merely staying in their old establishments which were still Polish, though geographically labelled Russia. Nevertheless, with Russia proper they had already a considerable acquaintance. Thus, as early as 1612, Father Szgoda had allowed himself to be taken by the Tatars to the Crimea, so as to evangelize the Cossacks. Later, Father Schmidt had appeared at the court of Peter the Great as chaplain of the Austrian embassy. In 1685, Father Debois brought a letter to the czar from the Pope Innocent XI, and in 1687 Father Vota, encouraged by several Russian theologians of note, was bold enough to propose to Peter the Great a union with Rome. Peter's sister Sophia was favorable to the project and the moment seemed propitious, but a brace of fanatical monks backed by the patriarch, fiercely denounced the scheme and it was dropped. A school, however, was established at Moscow, but when Sophia died, Peter drove out the Fathers. In 1691, however, he returned to a better state of mind and permitted the Catholics of Moscow to build a church and to invite the Jesuits to take charge of it. But in 1719 he again expelled them, for he had conceived the idea of a Church of his own; not only independent of Rome but of Constantinople, and absolutely under his own control – a view it is said that was suggested to him by the French Jansenists whom he met in Paris on a visit there in 1717.

That ended all hopes of Catholicity in Russia, but in 1772 when Poland was dismembered, a large number of Catholics were added to the population of Russia and Catherine II, who had murdered her husband in order to be supreme in the State, addressed herself to the task of constituting these Russianized Poles into an independent Catholic Church. She found an ambitious Polish bishop, named Siestrzencewicz who entered into her views, and on May 23, 1774, by an imperial ukase she established the Diocese of White Russia. Zalenski, S. J., the author of "Les Jésuites et la Russie Blanche" is strong in his denunciation of Siestrzencewicz, as are Pierling and Markowitch, but Godlewski is more benignant and tries to excuse the bishop as a man who did indeed resort to questionable methods, but was striving to stave off an open persecution of the Catholics. Zalenski has the more likely view.

This name of "White" Russia is a puzzle to most people, as are the opposite descriptions of "Black" and "Red" Russia. Indeed Okolski, who wrote in 1646, has a book entitled "Russia Florida," a name not in accordance with the popular notions about that country. There is also a "Greater" and a "Little" and a "West" Russia. The geographical limits of White Russia may be found in any encyclopedia. It is the region in which are Polotsk, Vitebsk, Orsha, Mohilew, Motislave and Gomel, and is bounded by the rivers Duna, Dnieper, Peripet and Bug. It was Russia's share in the first spoliation of Poland, and had a population of 1,600,000. Moscow is not far to the east but St. Petersburg (Petrograd) is at a great distance to the north.

In 1772 Catherine made known her intention regarding the Jesuits whom she found teaching in the section of Poland which had passed under her sceptre. They were even to retain their four colleges of Polotsk, Vitebsk, Orsha and Dunaberg besides their two residences and fourteen missions. She needed them as teachers and as they were the first to declare their acceptance of the new conditions, and had thus set an example to their countrymen, she revoked the ancient proscription of Peter the Great against the Society in Russia proper, and also apprised the other provinces of Europe that she would be their guardian in the future.

When the Brief of Suppression was announced, the Fathers felt perfectly sure that, like Frederick II, she would not permit it to be promulgated, both because the Russian Church refused allegiance to Rome, and also because she had already bound herself by a promise to protect them. Nevertheless, through their superior, they addressed to her "Sacred Imperial Majesty" the following letter:

"It is to Your Majesty that we owe the privilege of professing publicly the Roman Catholic Religion in your glorious states, and of depending in spiritual matters on the Sovereign Pontiff who is the visible head of our Church. That is the reason why we Jesuits, all of whom belong to the Roman Rite, but who are most faithful subjects of Your Majesty, now prostrate before your august imperial throne, implore Your Majesty by all that is most sacred to permit us to render prompt and public obedience to the authority which resides in the person of the Sovereign Roman Pontiff and to execute the edict he has sent us abolishing our Society. By condescending to have a public proclamation made of this Brief of Suppression, Your Majesty will thus exercise your royal authority, and we by promptly obeying will show ourselves obedient both to Your Majesty and to the Sovereign Pontiff who has ordered this proclamation. Such are the sentiments and the prayers of all and each of the Jesuits, which are now expressed by me to Your Majesty, of whom I have the honor to be, with the most profound veneration and the most respectful submission, the most humble, the most devoted and the most faithful subject,

"Stanislas Czerniewicz."

"Her Sacred Majesty" absolutely refused to accede to the request. On the contrary she insisted that the Brief should not be proclaimed in her dominions. She showed them the greatest consideration and insisted that her nobles should imitate her example, so that it became the fashion for the dignitaries of the empire to visit the various Jesuit establishments; on their part, the Jesuits never failed to show their appreciation of such an honor in as splendid a fashion as possible. The most memorable of all such visits was one in which the "Semiramis of the North" was the central figure. Catherine left St. Petersburg, on May 20, 1780, and reached Polotsk ten days later. In her suite were Potemkin, Tchernichef, de Cobentzel, the Prince Marshal Borjantynski, and Prince Dolkowiouki. On her arrival, while surrounded by all the notables who had hastened to meet her, the Jesuits were pointed out to her and she graciously saluted them. In the evening, the college was splendidly illuminated in her honor, and on the following morning she came to the church, for she was burning with a desire to witness a Catholic ceremonial. After Mass she went through the house, and both at her arrival and departure the rector celebrated her glory in an epic poem.

From thence she set out for Mohilew where Joseph II of Austria awaited her. He had already visited the college at this place, and was received with proper honor by the rector and provincial. He made all sorts of inquiries about the reason why the suppressed Jesuits were permitted to exist in Russia, and the bishop told him laconically: "The people need them; the empress ordered it and Rome has said nothing." "You did well," replied the emperor, "you should not, and could not have done otherwise." With the emperor on this occasion appears the unexpected figure of one of the suppressed Jesuits: Father Francis Xavier Kalatai. He was his majesty's travelling companion, and has left a letter telling us what happened on this occasion.

"At Mohilew," he writes, "at the farthest extremity of the recently dismembered provinces of Poland, the Jesuits still remain on their former footing. They are protected by the empress, because of their ability in training the youth of the country in science and piety. I asked to be presented to the superior when we visited the college and found him to be a very venerable old man. I questioned him and other members of the community on what they based their non-submission to the Brief of Suppression, and they replied in the same formula as the bishop: "Clementissima imperatrice nostra protegente, populo derelicto exigente, Roma sciente et non contradicente;" (i. e. on the protection of our most clement empress, the needs of the abandoned people, and the knowledge and tacit consent of Rome). They then showed me a letter from the Pope expressing his affection for them, and exhorting them to remain as they were until new arrangements could be made. He insisted upon their receiving novices and admitting Jesuits from other provinces, who desired to resume with them the sweet yoke of Christ from which they had been so violently torn. The provincial added that all the Jesuits of Russia were willing to relinquish everything they had, at the first authentic sign of the will of the Pope, and that they waited only a canonical announcement to that effect. Thus, I found that the true spirit of the Society had kept its first fervor among these scattered remnants of it in Russia."

The empress arrived, after making fifty leagues a day on the trip from Polotsk; killing ten horses on the journey. The meeting of the two sovereigns was unusually splendid; ten thousand soldiers stood on guard in the city, and besides state receptions, there were theatrical performances, public sports, banquets and the rest. The Jesuits of other establishments paid their respects, and were presented to the empress by the governor. On the 12th of June, "Semiramis" left for St. Petersburg. Such a favor, of course, made the Jesuits still more popular and, at the same time, checked the papal nuncio, Archetti, who had not yet recovered from his failure to have the suppression made effective. Nevertheless, he still persisted in his efforts, in spite of the threats of the empress. But she never yielded.

Father Brucker writing in the "Etudes" (tom. 132, 1912, 558-59) gives a characteristic letter of the empress to Baron Grimm who was a friend and associate of Rousseau, Diderot, d'Alembert, Holbach and the rest. At that time, Grimm was the envoy of the Duke of Saxe-Gotha, at the court of France, and later on, Catherine's own plenipotentiary to Lower Saxony.

The letter is dated May 7, 1779 and runs as follows: "Neither I nor my coquins en titre (my honorable rogues) les Jésuites de la R. Bl. (the Jesuits of White Russia) are going to cause the Pope any worry. They are very submissive to him and want to do only what he wishes. I suppose it is you who wrote the article in the 'Gazette de Cologne' about the hot house (the Jesuit novitiate). You say that I am amusing myself by being kind to them. Assuredly, you credit me with a pretty motive, whereas I have no other than that of keeping my word and seeking the public good. As for your grocers (the Bourbon kings) I make a present of them to you; but I know one thing, namely, they are not going to visit me and sing the song: 'Bonhomme! you are not master of your house while we are in it.'"

As early as 1776, that is only three years after the Suppression, the Jesuits of White Russia already numbered 145 members, and had twelve establishments: colleges, residences, missions, etc. In 1777 the question was discussed about opening a novitiate and the Fathers had sufficient evidence that Pius VI would be glad of it and that even Clement XIV had not been averse. Moreover, the letter sent to Bishop Siestrzencewicz had been found on examination not to be the "formidable decree," as friends in Rome had described it, for it left to him the right of creating and renewing only "what he might find necessary." Finally, as it was not couched in the usual form of Apostolic documents, the superior, Father Czerniewicz, set aside his doubts and wrote both to the bishop and to the firm friend of the Society, Governor General Tchernichef, that he had determined to open that establishment.

Tchernichef's support must have been very strong, for when Father Czerniewicz arrived at Mohilew to arrange matters with the bishop, he received from the prelate a decree dated June 29, 1779, authorizing him to carry out his purpose. This decree began with the words: "Pope Clement XIV, of celebrated memory, condescending to the desire of the Most August Empress of the Russias, our Most Clement Sovereign, had permitted the non-promulgation in her dominions of the Bull 'Dominus ac Redemptor;' and Our Holy Father Pope Pius VI, now happily reigning, shows the same deference to the desires of Her Imperial Majesty, by refraining from all opposition to the retention of their habit, name and profession by the Regular Clerks of the Society of Jesus, in the estates of her Majesty, notwithstanding the Bull 'Dominus ac Redemptor.' Moreover as the Most August Empress to whom both we and the numerous Catholic churches in her vast domains are under such grave obligations has recommended to us both verbally and by writing to do all in our power to see that the aforesaid Regular Clerks of the Society of Jesus may provide for the conservation of their Institute, we hasten to fulfil that duty which is so agreeable to us and for which we should reproach ourselves did we stint our efforts in carrying it out. Hitherto, they have not had any novitiate in this country, and, as their numbers are gradually diminishing, it is evident that they cannot exercise their useful ministry unless a novitiate is accorded them."

In virtue of this permission, a novitiate was established at Polotsk on February 2, 1780, and ten novices entered and began community life under the direction of Father Lubowicki. On that occasion, according to de Mürr, a formidable Latin poem of 169 hexameters was composed by Father Michael Korycki in honor of Bishop Siestrzencewicz. Thus was the house established; and in spite of the importunities of the Bourbon ambassadors at Rome, the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius VI, never gave utterance, either personally or through his nuncio in Poland, to any public protest against it. All the denunciations of the alleged "refractory Jesuits" were either letters of private individuals or secret official correspondence, written doubtless in the name of the Pope, but indirectly, that is through the channel of the secretaryship of State and the nunciature; and never going outside the narrow diplomatic circle. Nor is there the slightest positive proof that the Pope regarded the Jesuits of White Russia except as religious.

"On the contrary," says Zalenski (I, 330), "Pius VI knew very well, as did everyone else in Rome, that Clement XIV had published the Brief of Suppression in spite of himself, and only after four years of hesitation and conflict with the diplomats. Moreover, Cardinals Antonelli and Calini, eye-witnesses of what had happened, represented to Pius VI in personal memorials that the suppression was invalid. Pius himself had belonged to that section of cardinals which disapproved of the destruction, and, as has been already said, when he was Pope, he set free the prisoners of the Castle Sant' Angelo, rehabilitated their memory, and ordered Father Ricci to be buried with the honors due to the general of an Order. In brief, Pius VI, as both Frederick II and Tchernichef insisted, was really glad that the Society had been preserved, and his silence was an approbation of it. Indeed, he could not, as the Father of Christendom, exclude the Jesuits from the protection of the general law of the Church and regard them as suppressed and freed from their vows, before the Brief of Clement XIV had been properly made known to them by the ordinary of the diocese. Of course, their enemies systematically rejected this axiom although accepted both by common and canon law. They denounced it as "a vain subterfuge," and even the Apostolic nuncio, in one of his dispatches declared it to be such; but the Holy Father could not, in conscience, accept that view.

In February, 1782, Tchernichef, the great friend of the Society, fell from power, but his successor Potemkin showed himself even a more devoted defender. Fortunately, Father Benislawski, a former Jesuit, but now a canon, was very intimate with him and induced him to give his aid to the Society. As Bishop Siestrzencewicz had meantime become Archbishop of Mohilew, the fear was again revived that he would claim to be the religious superior of the Jesuits. Indeed, by sundry appointments to parishes, he began to reveal that such was his intention, and Archetti, the nuncio at Warsaw, urged him to persist in his attacks. To head off the danger, the Fathers had determined to proceed to the election of a Vicar General, and they obtained permission from the empress to that effect. She issued a ukase, on June 23, 1782, in which she said that the Jesuits were to be subject to the archbishop, in things that pertained to his rights and duties, but that he should be very careful not to interfere with any of the rules of the Order which were to remain intact "in as far as they agree with our civil constitutions." Siestrzencewicz was quite upset by this order, and not knowing that it had been obtained through the intervention of Potemkin, he asked the Prince Wiaziemski, who was then president of the Senate, to obtain a decree from that body subjecting the Jesuits to his jurisdiction. The Senate so ruled by a rescript dated September 12, 1781, but it was a very ill-advised proceeding on their part, for it set them in opposition both to the empress and the powerful Potemkin, besides making a rebel of the archbishop and a meddler of the nuncio.

While a spirited correspondence was going on between those two distinguished ecclesiastics about the matter, the Fathers met at Polotsk, on October 10, 1782, which happened to be the feast of St. Francis Borgia, to hold the twentieth congregation of the Society. Everything was done according to the rule which governs such assemblies, and Father Stanislaus Czerniewicz, the vice-provincial, was chosen Vicar General of the Society. In the following session, it was decreed that for those who re-entered the Society, the years spent involuntarily and by compulsion, in the world, would count as so many years in religion. With this the congregation ended, because orders had come to Polotsk, for the Vicar General to report immediately to the Empress at St. Petersburg. Accordingly, after naming Father Francis Kareu, vice-provincial, he set out for the capital and was welcomed by Catherine with the words: "I defended you thus far, and will do so till the end."

The question now arose how would the archbishop receive the delegates of the congregation which had ignored his claim to control the internal affairs of the Society. The all-powerful Potemkin had attended to that. He had called the prelate to task for daring to oppose the explicit command of the empress, and warned him of the danger of such a course of action. As Siestrzencewicz was primarily a politician, he had no difficulty in modifying his views. Moreover, Canon Benislawski, who had studied him at close range and knew his peculiarities, had taken care to prepare him for the visit of the delegates. When they arrived, he received them with the greatest courtesy and sent a letter of congratulation to the newly-elected vicar. The future of the Society was thus assured. A successor to Father Ricci had been elected; a general congregation had convened and its proceeding had been conducted in strict conformity with the Constitution. Besides, a novitiate had been established, members of the dispersed provinces had been officially recognized as belonging to the Society; and all this had been done with the tacit consent of the Sovereign Pontiff.

Father Czerniewicz remained in St. Petersburg more than three months, during which time he was frequently summoned to discuss with the empress and Potemkin matters pertaining to education, but chiefly to make arrangements for negotiations in Rome, in order to obtain the Pope's express approval of the election. The matter called for considerable diplomatic skill, for in the Acts of the congregation, some very bold expressions had been employed which might cause the failure of the whole venture. Thus, it had declared that "the Brief of Clement XIV destroyed the Society outside of Russia;" and again, that "the Vicar was elected by the authority of the Holy See." The second especially was a dangerous assertion, since the papal nuncio, Archetti, regarded the election as illegal, and even a few of the Jesuits themselves were doubtful as to the correctness of the claim. There was fear, also, about the personal disposition of the Pope on that point.

To dispose of all these difficulties Catherine sent Benislawski as her ambassador to Rome, with very positive instructions not to modify them in any way whatever. He was not to stop at Warsaw, but might call on the nuncio, Garampi, at Vienna, and also on Gallitzin, the Russian ambassador. He was to go by the shortest route to Rome, to visit no cardinals there, but to present himself immediately to the Pope. In his audience, he was to make three requests. They were: first, the preconization of Siestrzencewicz as archbishop; second, the appointment of Benislawski himself as coadjutor; and third, the approbation of the Jesuits in White Russia, and especially the recognition of the Acts of the congregation. The refusal of anyone of them was to entail a rupture of negotiations with Russia.

On February 21, 1783, Benislawski arrived in Rome, and saw the Pope on the same day. He was received most graciously; his own nomination as bishop was confirmed; but, said the Pope: "Siestrzencewicz had no right to open the novitiate." "That was done," replied Benislawski, "by order of the empress." "Since that is the case," said the Pope, "I shall forget the injury done to me by the bishop." He then asked about the Jesuits and their General, and whether the election had been formally ordered by the empress. When assured upon the latter point, he answered, "I do not object." After an interview of two hours Benislawski withdrew.

At the second audience the attitude of the Pope was cold and indifferent, for the Bourbon ambassadors had influenced him meantime. Noticing the change, Benislawski fell upon his knees and asked the Pope's benediction. "What does this mean?" he was asked. "My orders are to withdraw immediately, if my requests are not granted." That startled the Pope, and he immediately changed his tone; he spoke kindly to Benislawski and told him to put his requests in writing. All night long the faithful ambassador labored at his desk formulating each request and answering every argument that might be alleged against it. Zalenski gives the entire document (I, 386), which substantially amounted to this: "The failure of the bishop to abolish the Society in Russia; the establishment of the novitiate, and the election of the General were all due to the explicit and positive orders of Catherine. As she had threatened to persecute the Catholics of Russia and to compel the Poles to enter the Orthodox Church, it was clear that there was no choice but to submit to her demands.

"With regard to the objection that the Bourbon Princes would be angry at Catherine's support of the Jesuits, Benislawski made answer, that, 'as the empress had offered no objections to the suppression of the Order in the dominions of those rulers, she failed to see why they had any right to question her action in preserving it. She owed those kings no allegiance.' Secondly, the approval of the Society would not be a reflection on the present Pope, who had as much right to reverse the judgment of Clement XIV, as Clement XIV had to reverse the judgment of thirty of his predecessors. If none of the kings and diplomats had blamed Clement for acting as he did, why should they blame Pius VI for using his own right in the premises? Moreover, the Brief was never published in Russia, and there was not the slightest prospect that it ever would be. Finally, the empress had made a solemn promise not to harm her Catholic subjects; but she was convinced that she could not inflict a greater injury on them than to deprive their churches of priests and their schools of teachers who in her opinion were invaluable." As to the charge that the whole course of the empress was due to the suggestion of the Jesuits, Benislawski replied that "everyone knew they had petitioned her to have the Brief promulgated, and that she had told them they were asking what was not agreeable to her."

The next day the Pope read the statement, smiled and said, "You want to arrange this matter by a debate with me. But there can be no answer to your contention. Your arguments are irrefutable." Very opportunely, a letter arrived from the empress who expressed her willingness to receive a papal legate to settle the case of the Uniate Archbishop of Polotsk, and asking to have Benislawski consecrated in St. Petersburg. The letter was read to the Pope, in the presence of a number of Cardinals, to whom Benislawski was presented. The Holy Father then gave his assent to the preconization of the archbishop, and the consecration of Benislawski. "As to the third," he said, raising his voice: "Approbo Societatem Jesu in Alba Russia degentem; approbo, approbo" (that is I approve of the Society of Jesus, now in Russia; I approve, I approve). As the verbal utterances of Popes in public matters of the Church, have the same force as when they are in writing, and are designated by canonists and theologians as vivæ vocis oracula, Benislawski contented himself with this approval. Besides, fearing the machinations of the Bourbon politicians, he could not ask for more. He had won his case, and had received the Pope's assurance that the Society in Russia was not and never had been suppressed. No more was needed.