History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the French Revolution - Volume 1, James MacCaffrey [affordable ebook reader TXT] 📗

the Indians were converted. The Franciscan Fathers succeeded the Jesuits, continuing their reductions in Lower California, and introducing missions of a similar kind among the Indians of Upper California. The Dominicans, also, rendered valuable assistance. In 1822 California was ceded to the United States, and the missions were broken up owing to the hostility of the civil authorities.[13]

The Franciscans were the first to undertake missions in New Mexico (1539). Several of the missionaries suffered martyrdom in their attempts to convert the natives, but it was only after 1597 that any considerable progress was made. In Texas the earliest real effort at introducing Christianity among the natives was made in the last quarter of the seventeenth century. The work of the Franciscans was disturbed by rebellions among the Indians and by war, but notwithstanding these obstacles several flourishing Indian settlements were established. In 1813 the Spanish Cortes issued a decree that the missions in Texas should be secularised.[14]

Although others had preceded him, yet the honour of discovering Canada[15] is assigned generally to Jacques Cartier who made three voyages to the country (1534-42). Early in the seventeenth century the two Jesuits Biard and Masse arrived and began the conversion of the Indian tribes settled in Acadia, which embraced Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. In 1608 Samuel de Champlain, "the Father of New France" arrived and laid the foundation of Quebec. He invited the Franciscan Recollects to preach to the Indian tribes, namely, the Algonquins and the Hurons (1615). The Franciscans went to work with a will, preaching to the people and opening schools for the young, but finding their numbers too few for the mighty task, they invited the Jesuits to come to their assistance (1625). Several Jesuits including Fathers Brebeuf and Lallemant hastened to Canada and undertook missions to the Hurons. The invasion and capture of Quebec in 1629 by the English interrupted the work for a time, but on the restoration of the territory to France in 1632 the Jesuits continued their labours with renewed vigour. The fierce tribe of the Iroquois were the strongest opponents of the Christian missionaries, many of whom they put to death. Father Jogues was put to death in 1646, and a little later Fathers Daniel, Brebeuf, and Lallement together with several of their companions met a similar fate.

But notwithstanding these reverses the work of Christianising the native races of Canada proceeded apace. In 1642 the city of Montreal was founded, and in 1657 the superior of the Sulpicians despatched several of his community to labour in the new colony. Two years later Francois de Montmorency-Laval arrived as first bishop and vicar- apostolic of New France. West and east the missionaries continued to win new conquests for the Church. The English, however, gave great trouble to the missionaries by stirring up the Indian tribes to make war on the Christian settlements. Nor was the French colony, practically deserted as it had been by the mother country, able to hold its own against the English colonists. In 1713 France ceded to England Acadia, Newfoundland, and the Hudson Bay territory. In Acadia the Catholic missions had been very successful, but in 1755 the unfortunate Catholics, who refused to take the oath that was tendered to them, were seized and deported. In 1759 Quebec was taken, and by the Treaty of Paris (1763) Canada passed under the dominion of the English.

Many French missionaries from Canada worked in the district stretching from the St. Lawrence to Lake Superior, and missions were established by the Jesuits in the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois. In 1673 Father Marquette (1636-75) undertook a journey southward to visit the great river about which he had heard from the Indians, and to open up new fields of work for himself and his associates. He succeeded in reaching the Mississippi, and sailed down the river as far as the mouth of Arkansas. As a result of the information acquired from those who returned from this voyage of exploration, expeditions were sent out by the French to take possession of the new territories and to erect fortifications against the further advance westward of the English colonists. The city of New Orleans was founded in 1717. Missionaries-Capuchins, Jesuits, and priests of the Society for Foreign Missions-preached the gospel with great success to the natives in Louisiana, Mississippi, Iowa, Arkansas, and Ohio.

The Jesuits, under the leadership of Father White, who settled in the colony founded in Maryland (1534), devoted themselves to the conversion of the Indians, but the expulsion of Lord Baltimore in 1644 and the victory of the Puritans led to the almost complete destruction of these Indian missions.
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[1] Launay, /Histoire generale de la Societe des Missions-Etrangeres/,
1894.

[2] Coleridge, /Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier/, 1902.

[3] Bertrand, /La Mission du Madure/, 1847.

[4] Brucker, /Le Pere Mattieu Ricci/ (/Etudes/, 1910).

[5] Daniel, /Histoire apologetique de la conduite des Jesuites de la
Chine/, 1724. Pray, /Historia Controvers. de ritibus Sinicis/,
1724.

[6] Pages, /Histoire de la religion chretienne au Japan, 1598-1651/,
1869.

[7] Dutto, /The Life of Bartolome de las Casas and the First Leaves of
American Ecclesiastical History/, 1902.

[8] De Berbourg, /Histoire des nations civilisees du Mexique et de
l'Amerique centrale/, 1851.

[9] Beauchamp, /Histoire du Bresil/, 3 vols., 1815.

[10] Demersay, /Histoire ... du Paraquay et des Etablissements des
Jesuites/, 1860-4.

[11] De Moussy, /Memoire historique sur la decadence et la ruine des
Missions de Jesuites/ 1865. Weld, /The Suppression of the Society
of Jesus in the Portuguese Dominions/, 1877.

[12] Shea, /Catholic Missions among the Indian Tribes/, 1857. Hughes,
/The History of the Society of Jesus in North America/, vol. i.
(Text), 1907.

[13] Engelhardt, /The Missions and Missionaries of California/, 1908.

[14] Shea, op. cit., pp. 76-88.

[15] /The Jesuit Relations/, 1896-1901. Leclerc, /Etablissement de la
foi dans la nouvelle France/, 1680. Campbell, /Pioneer Priests of
North America/, 1908.


CHAPTER VI

THEOLOGICAL CONTROVERSIES AND STUDIES


(a) Baianism.

Schwane, /Dogmengeschichte der neuren zeit/, 1890. Turmel,
/Histoire de la theologie positive du concile de Trente au concile
du Vatican/, 1906. Denzinger-Bannwart, /Enchiridion Symbolorum/,
11th edition, 1911. Duchesne, /Histoire du Baianisme/, 1731.
Linsenmann, /Michael Baius/, 1863.

The Catholic doctrine on Grace, round which such fierce controversies had been waged in the fifth and sixth centuries, loomed again into special prominence during the days of the Reformation. The views of Luther and Calvin on Grace and Justification were in a sense the very foundation of their systems, and hence it was of vital importance that these questions should be submitted to a searching examination, and that the doctrine of the Catholic Church should be formulated in such a way as to make cavilling and misunderstanding impossible. This work was done with admirable lucidity and directness in the fifth and sixth sessions of the Council of Trent, but nevertheless these decrees of the Council did not prevent the theories of Luther and Calvin being propagated vigorously, and from exercising a certain amount of influence even on some Catholic theologians who had no sympathy with the religious revolt.

Amongst these might be reckoned Michael Baius (De Bay, 1513-89) a professor at the University of Louvain and John Hessels, one of his supporters in the theological controversies of the day. They believed that Catholic apologists were handicapped seriously by their slavish regard for the authority and methods of the Scholastics, and that if instead of appealing to the writings of St. Thomas as the ultimate criterion of truth they were to insist more on the authority of the Bible and of the works of the Early Fathers, such as St. Cyprian, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine, they would find themselves on much safer ground, and their arguments would be more likely to command the respect of their opponents. Hence at Louvain, in their own lectures, in their pamphlets, and in private discussions, they insisted strongly that Scholasticism should make way for positive theology, and that the Scriptures and patristic literature should take the place of the /Summa/. Not content, however, with a mere change of method they began to show their contempt for traditional opinions, and in a short time alarming rumours were in circulation both inside and outside the university that their teaching on Original Sin, Grace, and Free-will, was not in harmony with the doctrine of the Church. The Franciscans submitted to the judgment of the Sorbonne a number of propositions (18) selected from the writings or lectures of Baius and his friends, and the opinion of the Sorbonne was distinctly unfavourable. As the dispute grew more heated and threatened to have serious consequences for the university and the country, Cardinal Granvelle, believing that the absence of the two professors might lead to peace, induced both to proceed to the Council of Trent as the theologians of the King of Spain (1563). Though the opinions of Baius found little sympathy with the Fathers of Trent, yet since the subjects of Original Sin and Grace had been discussed and defined already, nothing was done. On his return (1564) from the Council of Trent Baius published several pamphlets in explanation and defence of his views, all of which were attacked by his opponents, so that in a short time the university was split into two opposing camps.

To put an end to the trouble the rector determined to seek the intervention of Rome. In October 1567 Pius V. issued the Bull, /Ex omnibus afflictionibus/, in which he condemned seventy-nine propositions selected from the writings or lectures of Baius without mentioning the author's name.[1] The friends of Baius raised many difficulties regarding the reception and the interpretation of the papal document, and though Baius himself professed his entire submission to the decision, the tone of his letter to the Pope was little short of offensive. The Pope replied that the case having been examined fully and adjudged acceptance of the decision was imperative. Once more Baius announced his intention of submitting (1569), and so confident were his colleagues of his orthodoxy that he was appointed dean of the theological faculty, and later on chancellor of the university. But his actions did not correspond with his professions. Various arguments were put forward to weaken the force of the papal condemnation until at last Gregory XIII. was forced to issue a new Bull, /Provisionis nostrae/ (1579), and to send the learned Jesuit, Francisco Toledo, to demand that Baius should abjure his errors, and that the teaching of Pius V. should be accepted at Louvain. The papal letter was read in a formal meeting of the university, whereupon Baius signed a form of abjuration, by which he acknowledged that the condemnation of the propositions was just and reasonable, and that he would never again advocate such views. This submission relieved the tension of the situation, but it was a