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"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
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[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 colors, 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 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 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 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 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 fulfill 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.
The following books on (or
particularly relevant to) the Jesuits are held by the EIPS
Library:
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Anon.: The
Female Jesuit. London, 1851
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Anon.: The
Mystery of Jesuitism. London, 1658
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Anon.: The
Secret Instructions of the Jesuits. London, 1824
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Anon.: The
Secret Instructions of the Jesuits. London, 1824
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Barrett, E.B.:
The Jesuit Enigma. London, 1929
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Barthel, M: The
Jesuits. New York, 1984
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Bert, M.P.:
Gury’s Doctrines of the Jesuits. London, 1947
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Blakeney, R.P.:
Alphonsus Liguori. London, 1852
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Brodrick, J.,
S.J.: The Origin of the Jesuits. New York, 1960
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Bungener, L.L.F.:
The Jesuits in France or The Priest and the Huguenot.
London, 1859
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Coape, H.C.: In
a Jesuit Net. London, no date
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Dalton, E.: The
Jesuits. London, 1843
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De Courson, R.:
Concerning Jesuits. London, 1902
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Gallahue, J.:
The Jesuit. New York, 1973
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Goodier, A.: The
Jesuits. London, 1929
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Griesinger, T.:
History of the Jesuits. London, 1903
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Groves, H.C.:
The Doctrines and Practices of the Jesuits. London, 1889
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Hanna, S.:
Jesuitism: or Catholic Action. Belfast, 1938
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Hastings, M.:
Jesuit Child. Newton Abbot, 1972
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Hillerbrand, H.:
The Reformation. A Narrative History related by Contemporary
Observers and Participants. Ann Arbor, 1989
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Lathbury, T.:
The State of Popery and Jesuitism in England. London, 1838
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Lehmann, L.H.:
The Secret of Catholic Power. New York, no date
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Liguori, A.M.:
The Council of Trent. Dublin, 1846
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MacPherson, H.:
The Jesuits in History. London, 1914
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Martin, M.: The
Jesuits. New York, 1987
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Nicolini, G.B.:
History of the Jesuits. London, 1854
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Paisley, I.R.K.:
The Jesuits. Belfast, no date
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Paris, E.: The
Secret History of the Jesuits. London, 1975
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Ridley, F.A.:
The Jesuits: A Study in Counter-Revolution. London, 1938
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Roberts,
Archbishop, S.J.: Black Popes. London, 1954
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Robertson, A.:
The Roman Catholic Church in Italy. London, 1903
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Seebohm, F.: The
Epoch of the Protestant Reformation. London, 1877
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Seymour, M.H.:
Mornings among the Jesuits at Rome. London, 1850
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Steinmetz, A.:
History of the Jesuits. London, 1848 (3 Vols.)
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Walsh, W.: The
Jesuits in Great Britain. New York, 1903
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Wild, J.: Canada
and the Jesuits. Toronto, 1889
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Wylie, J.A.:
Jesuitism: Its Rise, Progress and Insidious Workings.
London, no date
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Ybarra, T.R.
(translator): The Kaiser’s Memoirs, by Wilhelm II. New York,
1922]
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