Chapter 3 Between King and Superior General: Visitor Lorenzo Maggio and the Rehabilitation of the Society of Jesus in France, 1599–1603
Eric Nelson
In the final days of September 1603, Lorenzo Maggio (1531–1605), visitor to France, faced what was undoubtedly one of the most difficult decisions in his long and distinguished career as a Jesuit administrator and diplomat. Earlier in the month, King Henry iv (1553–1610, r.1589–1610) had publicly promulgated the Edict of Rouen, which rehabilitated the Society of Jesus in his kingdom follow- ing its partial expulsion in 1594.1 After more than four years of careful diplomacy, this act represented an important success for the visitor who had been sent to France to secure the Society’s return. However, Superior General Claudio Ac- quaviva (1543–1615, in office 1581–1615) had let Maggio know in July of his grave concerns with several conditions that the king might require of the Society— restrictions that did in fact later appear in the edict.2 Moreover, Acquaviva had made clear that the Jesuits in France should agree to no concessions un- til he and Pope Clement viii (1536–1605, r.1592–1605) had been consulted, but Maggio was under pressure from the king to act immediately to embrace and implement the edict—a scenario that the superior general had not foreseen.3 Maggio’s difficult situation provides an ideal case study for an examination of the visitor’s role in the administration of the Jesuit order.4 Visitors possessed a unique and important position in the Jesuit hierarchy. Delegated full powers
1 Lorenzo Maggio to Claudio Acquaviva, Avignon, September 30, 1603, arsi, Germ. 122, fol. 146. For a copy of the edict, see the appendix of Eric Nelson, “Interpreting the Edict of Rouen: Royal Patronage and the Expansion of the Jesuit Mission in France,” ahsi 77 (2003): 423–26. 2 For Acquaviva’s expectations, see Maggio to Acquaviva, Tournon, July 10, 1603, arsi, Germ. 122, fol. 142v. 3 These instructions were most recently reiterated in the spring of 1603; see Maggio to Armand, Tournon, April 27, 1603, arsi, Gall. 61, fol. 358r–v. For pressure from the king to act immedi- ately, see Armand to Maggio, Rouen, September 3, 1603, arsi, Gall. 94, fols. 28v–29v. See also Eric Nelson, The Jesuits and the Monarchy: Catholic Reform and Political Authority in France (1590–1615) (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005), 77–95, 108. 4 Guy Philippart, S.J., “Visiteurs commissaires et inspecteurs dans la Compagnie de Jésus de 1540 à 1615. i: 1540–1572,” ahsi 37 (1968): 3–128; “Visiteurs commissaires et inspecteurs dans la Compagnie de Jésus de 1540 à 1615. ii: 1573–1615,” ahsi 38 (1969): 170–291.
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Figure 3.1 Allegory of the Jesuit Expulsion from France, c.1595, Cliché, Bibliothèque natio- nale de France. within the Society on the ground, visitors were generally sent on missions often far from central headquarters to address a controversy or crisis.5 This certainly describes Maggio’s mission well. At the opening of the seventeenth century, few issues were more important or sensitive to the Jesuits than securing their rehabilitation in France, which required both the careful reestablishment of relations with the French monarch and the delicate negotiation of the terms of the Society’s return, which could have implications for the Society’s missions elsewhere. In this situation, the dispatch of a visitor to the French Jesuit prov- inces of Aquitaine, Lyon, and France (for the Society, the province of France was more or less the Île-de-France) made sense. Sources make clear that the superior general wished to be consulted by his visitor throughout the process. Moreover, Acquaviva offered Maggio peri- odic guidance concerning negotiations for the Society’s return and remained in constant communication with him during his mission.6 Nevertheless, as a
5 See Robert Danieluk, S.J., “The Role and Significance of Father Visitor in the Society of Jesus” in this volume. 6 For Acquaviva’s instructions, see Acquaviva to Maggio, Rome, October 8, 1598, arsi, Gall. 61, fols. 47r–48v. See also Maggio’s many letters to Acquaviva during the assignment, arsi, Germ. 122, fols. 88r–162v.