Carlos Rademaker and the Restoration of the Society of Jesus in Portugal

Chapter 3 Carlos Rademaker and the Restoration of the Society of Jesus in Portugal

On July 21, 1773, Clement xiv issued the brief Dominus ac Redemptor suppress- ing the Society of Jesus throughout the world. Consecutively expelled from Portugal (1759), France (1762–65), Naples, Parma, and Spain (1767), thousands of Jesuits “found themselves in a new, discomfiting category: that of the ex- Jesuit.”1 Following the suppression, some Jesuits continued to operate in Que- bec, Prussia, and, especially, in the Russian Empire, where their colleges and missions thrived with the vigorous support of Catherine ii (1729–96, r.1762–96) and her successors.2 On March 7, 1801, less than a year after the election of Pius vii (1742–1823, r.1800–23), the ex-Jesuits living in the Russian Empire re- gained their ecclesiastical status, as the pontiff gave them permission to “join together and be united in one body or congregation of the Society of Jesus.” Granted in recognition of their labors and zeal in the salvation of souls “in an area almost deprived of the Gospel,” this consent represented the first step toward the restoration of the Society of Jesus.3 Three years later, on July 13, 1804, Pius vii extended this permission to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and on August 7, 1814—shortly after returning from a five-year period of captiv- ity in France—issued the bull Sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum that restored the Society in “all other states and jurisdictions,” a deep desire “since the very beginning of our pontificate.”4 The pontiff granted Superior General Tadeusz Brzozowski (1749–1820, in office 1814–20) all the faculties to freely admit and accept those seeking to live as Jesuits, according to the previously approved Formula of the Institute of 1550, and reinstated the distinctive ministries

1 Jonathan Wright and Jeffrey D. Burson, “Introduction: Towards a New History of the Eighteenth-Century Jesuit Suppression in Global Context,” in Wright and Burson, Jesuit Sup- pression in Global Context, 1–10, here 2. 2 Daniel L. Schlafly Jr., “General Suppression, Russian Survival, American Success: The ‘Russian’ Society of Jesus and the Jesuits in the United States,” in Wright and Burson, Jesuit Suppression in Global Context, 201–15. 3 “Sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum,” in Promising Hope: Essays on the Suppression and Resto- ration of the English Province of the Society of Jesus, ed. Thomas McCoog (Rome: Institutum Historicum Societatis Iesu, 2003), 323–30, here 327. The bull was translated by Joseph K. Drane, S.J. 4 “Sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum,” 329.

Carlos Rademaker and the Restoration of the Society of Jesus 43 of the Society. Besides hearing confessions, preaching, and administering sacraments, the Jesuits were given permission to establish new novitiates, seminaries, and colleges. In a continent devastated by the Napoleonic Wars (1803–15), the Society’s restoration reflected Pius’s aspiration of rebuilding the church and regaining influence in Europe. Aware of the controversial scope of his action, he admonished the “nobility of princes and temporal lords, and also our venerable brother archbishops and bishops, and others in any seat of honor” to accept the Society’s restoration and to receive the Jesuits “kindly and, as is becoming, with charity.”5 Given the idiosyncrasies of the Portuguese case, the crown formally rejected Pius’s arguments, and the effective restoration of the Society of Jesus only took place forty-four years after the bull’s promulgation. The return of the Jesuits to the Portuguese Empire turned out to be contingent on a series of events, including the liberal wars between 1828 and 1834, the expulsion of the Jesuits from Italy in 1848, and the support of the crown and the aristocracy in the foundation of the first residencies and colleges from 1858 onward. It should also be noted that their presence was tacitly accepted by opposing political parties, as the Jesuits’ counsel was sought to solve key diplomatic and educa- tional matters, including the organization of the overseas missions.

1 The Ephemeral French Mission

On September 12, 1814, the state journal Gazeta de Lisboa (Lisbon gazette) reported the restoration of the Society of Jesus by publishing in vernacular the bull of the restoration.6 The official announcement, which was publicly acclaimed in Lisbon by the apostolic delegate Vincenzo Macchi (1770–1860), the highest ranks of the nobility, the bourgeoisie, and the common people, soon reached Brazil, where the Portuguese court and the royal family had been based since 1808.7 Less than a year after its promulgation, the secretary of state for foreign affairs issued a formal response from Rio de Janeiro rejecting the

5 “Sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum,” 329–30. 6 Gazeta de Lisboa 215 (September 12, 1814). 7 Acácio Casimiro, “O govêrno de D. João vi e a restauração da Companhia de Jesus (1814–1815),” Brotéria 31 (1940): 469–75, here 470. In the aftermath of the first Napoleonic inva- sion, in November 1807, the court and the royal family fled to Brazil, where they resided from 1808 to 1821. On the history of the Napoleonic invasions, see Rui Ramos, “Invasões francesas, tutela inglesa e monarquia brasileira (1807–1820),” in Ramos, Vasconcelos e Sousa, Monteiro, História de Portugal, 439–56.