"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
rounded by St. Ignatius Loyola, in the pontification of Paul the
III and continued to the present, do by the womb at 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 virtue of the keys of binding
and loosing given His Holiness by my Savior, 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 ray 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 Liberals,
or obedience to any of their laws, magistrates, or officers."
"I do further declare that 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 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 whatsoever, 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
centers of civilization 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, or condition, and that will
hang, bum, 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 wails in order to
annihilate their execrable race. That when the same can not 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 honor, 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 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 K. of C, 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."
This is an
extract of the Congressional Record of the House of
Representatives dated February 15, 1913, where the oath
is entered as purported to be of the Knights of
Columbus