The Society of Jesus in Portugal: a few notes

The Society of Jesus was created by Ignacio de Loyola (1491-1566) when he was studying at the University of Paris. On August 15, 1534, at the Church of the Martyrium of Saint Denis, in Montmartre, then in the outskirts of Paris, Loyola and six other students hailing from different European countries/geographical areas came together to form their own religious order. Six years later, the February 27, 1540, Bula Regimini Militantis Eclesiae marked the official founding of the Society of Jesus. It was the birth of a new religious order that had ambitious educational and missionary ideals, in Europe as well as elsewhere in the world.

D. João III (r. 1521-57) was the first European monarch who supported and formally welcomed the Jesuits in his country.¹ A letter from Diogo de Gouveia, the Elder (c. 1471-1557), Doctor of Theology from the University of Paris, anti-Erasmite and Dean of the College of Saint Barbara, informed the Portuguese monarch that the goal of this newly-created religious order was the conversion of the “infidels,” i.e., not necessarily and solely the Muslims, but any person who was not Catholic. D. João III thus sent a delegation to Rome with an official invitation to establish the Society of Jesus in Portugal. Soon after, Simão Rodrigues de Azevedo (1510-79) and Nicolau Bobadilha (1511-90) were assigned to Portugal. Consequently, in 1541, Francisco Xavier (1506-52) left for Asia.

From the onset, the Portuguese Crown and the Portuguese elites supported the Jesuit Order both in Portugal and in its Empire overseas². This gave the Jesuits leeway to build an extensive network focusing on teaching and missionary activities. During 215 years, the Jesuits built 30 colleges, seminaries, and the University of Évora³. They were also spiritual guides and confessors of the Portuguese elite. As stated above, while focusing mainly on the Portuguese Empire, the Jesuits also turned their attention to evangelizing in Portugal (rural as well as urban areas) with the aim of defeating heresies and heterodox views, thus adhering to the directives established by the Council of Trent (1545-63). Xavier became a name of reference for the Jesuit missions in Asia: his innovative approach to conversion opened a new era for Christian evangelization outside Europe.⁴

Over the centuries, though, accusations of wealth, corruption, and the way in which some Jesuits approached their missionary activities rapidly gave rise to criticism in various European countries. Portugal was no exception. Indeed, by the mid-18^th century the regalist controversies targeted the Jesuits since the latter were seen as the main reason for Portugal’s scientific and cultural backwardness. The negative image of the Jesuits reached its apex during the government of Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo (1699-1782), better known as the Marquis of Pombal, Prime-minister of Portugal (1750-77), whose actions will have a “devastating impact at different times of Portuguese history” (Lopes, 2000, p. 172). In 1759, D. José I (r. 1750-77), banished the Jesuit Order and expelled them from Portugal and the Portuguese Empire. Other European monarchs followed suit. In 1773, Pope Clement XIV (1769-74) signed the Dominus ac Redeptor Noster bull, thus suppressing the Society of Jesus. With the exception of Frederick of Prussia (r. 1740-86) and Catherine of Russia (r. 1762-96), no monarch was willing to protect the Jesuits and fight for the reinstatement of their Order. The Jesuits were outlawed. A century later, on July 25, 1880, after many years of hard work and dedication, Carlos João Rademaker (1828-85) was able to convince the powers-that-be to reestablish the Portuguese Mission which, by then already had more than one hundred members divided among three Jesuit Colleges. Alas, in 1910, with the abolishment of the Portuguese monarchy and the establishment of the Portuguese Republic, the Jesuits were, once again, exiled, only to return, though gradually, in 1926.

From the regalist controversy to the suppression of the Society of Jesus

Until the mid-18^th century, the Society of Jesus was a point of reference when it came to the Portuguese national and foreign policy. It was then challenged by the Marquis of Pombal. Nevertheless, it should be noticed that since its establishment, the Society of Jesus was seen as a “heterodox” religious group. Indeed, St. Ignatius of Loyola (c. 1491-1556), was accused of being an “Alumbrado” (also known as Aluminado, Illuminated), i.e., a member of a Gnostic sect that was later persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition (1478-1834).⁵ More than once, the Spanish Inquisition interrogated him, questioning his involvement with this heterodox Christian sect. Indeed, Loyola’s collection of meditations and prayers called the Spiritual Exercises (published in 1548) was also closely scrutinized by the Spanish Inquisition since there were rumors that it contained heterodox views incompatible with the Christiana dogma.⁶

The Protestant world, particularly Calvinism (1519), viewed the members of the Society of Jesus as pernicious. They were seen as the main barrier in the advancement of Protestantism in Europe and the rest of the world, then in-the-making.⁷ The controversy with the Protestants gave rise to the publication of books that strengthened the negative stereotypes of the Jesuits, as the Historia Ordinis Jesuitici, published in Frankfurt in 1593 by Elias Hasenmüller (also spelled Hasenmiller) with a preface by German, Lutheran theologian PolykarpLeyser, the Elder (1552-1610). The book is a critical account of a former Jesuit who converted to Lutheranism. In 1614, a document, called the Secret Instructions of the Jesuits, better known by its Latin title Monita private Societatis Iesu (Private Instructions of the Society of Jesus), or simply Monita Secreta (Secret Instructions), began circulating in present-day Poland and, right after, throughout Europe and the rest of the world. This text would soon become the anti-Jesuit text of all times.⁸ The book is anonymous, and it gives as its place of publication a fictitious city, Notobriga; however, some scholars claim that it was authored by Italian Jesuit General Claudio Acquaviva, S.J. (1543-1615). More recently, though, some scholars attribute its authorship to a Ukrainian Jesuit who had been expelled from the order in 1613, specifically, Father Jerome Zahorowski (1583-1634). Needless to say, the Church condemned the Monita secreta and prohibited its reading and circulation. Nevertheless, the Monita secreta made its way throughout Europe. In the 17^th century (1618) various reprints were made in Latin. One of these editions was eventually translated into French, German, Spanish, English, and Italian.⁹ This document became one of the most emblematic works of the anti-Jesuit campaign. Interestingly enough, the book was reprinted in 19^thcentury Portugal, a time when Liberalism (mid-19^th century) was gaining ground in the country.¹⁰ It appears then that there was an attempt at trying to keep alive the secret intentions of the Jesuits. Eventually, some of the myths that were created in the 17^th century became more marked in the following epochs (^{Franco, and Vogel, 2002}).

After more than two hundred years since its foundation, the attacks against the Society of Jesus increased within and outside Europe. In Portugal, the main blow occurred during the reign of D. José I, particularly by the hands of Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo (1699-1782), 1^st Marquis of Pombal.

The Marquis of Pombal, with the aim of creating an ideology within the Illuminated Despotism that he was implementing in Portugal and the Portuguese Empire was responsible for introducing Jansenist and Gallican ideals into Portugal. Indeed, Pombal believed that the Jesuits had a political plan aimed at dismembering colonial empires, thus consolidating their powers worldwide. Hence, the Portuguese saw it imperative that he had to strengthen the royal power: the Church had to be subordinate to the State, in this case, the Portuguese Crown (^{Ferreira Neto, 2000}; ^{Leite, 1943}).

In order to support his ideologies, Pombal ordered the translation into Portuguese of several anti-Jesuit publications, as the aforementioned Monita Secreta and the Retrato dos Jesuítas feitoao Natural (Live Portrait of the Jesuits), published in 1761. Even though it was anonymous, it was common knowledge that it was written by renowned Spanish theologian Melchior Cano (c. 1509-60), Bishop of the Canary Islands (1552-60). In this work, the Jesuits are portrayed as the precursors of the Antichrist and founders of an Anti-Christian religious order.¹¹ Perhaps Pombal’s Machiavellian scheme to annihilate the Society of Jesus from Portugal and the Portuguese Empire is better represented in the 1759 Anti-Jesuit “cinco catecismos” (five catechisms) that contributed to spreading the “black myth” (“mito negro”) against the Jesuits, and eventually their expulsion (^{Franco, 2005}).

The first two catechisms were published before the 1759 expulsion. Even though they are anonymous, it is almost certain that they were authored by Pombal himself. Indeed, they circulated freely within Portugal as well as the rest of Europe (almost twenty thousand copies).

The first catechism was published in 1757, on December 3^rd, feast day of Saint Francis Xavier: Relação abreviada da República que os Religiosos Jesuítas das Províncias de Portugal, e Espanha, estabeleceram nos Domínios Ultramarinos das duas Monarquias, e da guerra,que neles tem movido, e sustentado contra os Exercitos Hespanhoes, e Portugueses; formada pelos registos das Secretarias dos dous respectivos Principaes Comissarios, e Plenipotenciarios; e por outros documentos autênticos, conhecido de forma sumária, de Relação abreviada,¹² whereby the dangers of the Jesuit Order in adhering to the Treaty of Madrid (1750) and the controversy over the Grão-Pará and the Maranhão are highlighted.

Two years later, in 1759, Pombal released the diatribe Erros ímpios, e sediciosos que os Religiosos da Companhia de Jesus ensinarão aos Reos, que forão justiçados, e pretenderão Espalhar nos Póvos destes Reynos,¹³ where he denounces the immoral behavior of the Jesuits and their alleged support of tyrannicide.¹⁴ Needless to say, this text was widely used by priests and bishops in their anti-Jesuit sermons throughout Portuguese-owned lands.

After the 1759 expulsion, to highlight the disastrous consequences of two centuries of Jesuit presence in Portugal, Pombal continued with his efforts to present the “official [negative] image” of the Jesuits, with the hopes that it would eventually lead the Pope to suppress the Order.

Hence, the third and fourth catechisms need to be placed within this context. Having as starting point 1540, whereby emphasis is put on “the before,” characterized by progress, and “the after,” exemplified by Portugal’s state of ruin and backwardness, Pombal published Dedução Cronológica e analítica (Chronologic and Analytical Deduction, 1767-68).¹⁵ This work is a kind of historic synopsis of all the negative elements that the Society of Jesus imposed on Portugal. It was translated into Latin and it also featured an abstract in Chinese, since it was in the Far East that the Jesuits did the bulk of their missionary work. It was one of “the most influential anti-Jesuit and anti-Scholastic publications ever printed in 18^th-century Portugal” (Macedo, 1968, p. 113). For ^{Castro (1987}), it reflects absolutist and regalist ideals as expressed by renowned Portuguese historian and theologian, Father António Pereira de Figueiredo (1725-97), famous for his Portuguese translation of Vulgata (Latin Bible). Moreover, Father Figueiredo was a harsh critic of Jesuit Scholastics and a follower of Jansenism. Among his favorite Jansenists of the time, stand out: Gabriel du Parc de Bellegarde (1717-89), Gregorio Mayans y Siscar (1699-1781), and Giuseppe Zola (1739-1806). Indeed, Father Figueiredo was against the Society of Jesus and advocated for a national church. Yet, he never called for a separation from Rome (Canaveira, 1991-1992).

Figueiredo’s name is associated with the Dedução as well as the fourth catechism, published in 1771, better known as Compêndio historico (Historic Compendium).¹⁶ It was released by the Junta de Previdência Literária, or rather, Literary Guild, created by D. José I on December 23, 1770. Compêndio historico attacked Jesuit teaching methodology and pedagogy, the latter known as Ratio Studiorum. In this work, the Jesuits are blamed for Portugal’s scientific and cultural backwardness as compared to the rest of Europe. It criticized Jesuit Scholastic sectarianism and pedagogical practices while highlighting a rational illuminist methodology. For Santos, (1982, p. 191) “Theology, Medicine, and Jurisprudence (Civil as well as Canonical) suffered because of two centuries of Jesuit presence in Portugal and the Portuguese Empire”. The Jesuits were also blamed for ruining the universities. The second chapter of the second part of the Compêndio includes an Appendix authored by Father Figueiredo whereby not only he criticizes Jesuit teaching methodology in Coimbra, but he also underscores other major atrocities committed by the Jesuits, as in the case of Sigilism, or rather, the abuse of the secrecy of Confession.¹⁷

The fifth and last catechism concentrates on the common topos that linked the Society of Jesus to the Inquisition. Regimento pombalino do Santo Ofício (Pombaline Norms of the Holy Inquisition) was written by José Basílio da Gama (1741-95) under Pombal’s guidance. Its main goal was to convince readers that the State should control all social institutions. This publication concluded Pombal’s design: extinguish the Society of Jesus and its power.¹⁸

The pedagogical project designed by the Jesuits was already questioned during the reign of D. João V (r. 1706-50), when the 1709 Congregação do Oratório (Congregation of the Oratory) was authorized to offer a preparatory course for freshmen at the Colégio das Artes (College of Arts). The Congregação caused “great pain to the Society of Jesus as it was challenged by the best scholars of the time appointed by Pombal” (^{Franco, 2006}, p. 206). It was thus an anti-Jesuit, not an anticlerical attack. The dispute became obvious with the publication of new approaches to teaching, as Verdadeiro Método de Estudar (True Method of Studying) by Luís António Verney (1712-92),¹⁹ published in 1746, Novo Método de Gramática Latina (New Method for [Teaching] Latin Grammar, 1752), by António Pereira de Figueiredo, which criticized the methodological approach of teaching Latin grammar used by Father Manuel Álvares (1526-83),²⁰ and Recreação filosófica (Philosophical Game) by Teodoro de Almeida (1722-1804).²¹

Prominent Portuguese scholars like António Caetano do Amaral (1747-1819)-featured in the monumental, eight-volume work Memorias de litteratura portugueza (Memories of Portuguese Literature), published by the Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa, 1792-1814-António de Araújo de Azevedo (1754-1817), Frei Manuel do Cenáculo (1724-1814), António Ribeiro Sanches (1699-1782), José Anastácio da Cunha (1744-87), and the abovementioned Luís António Verney (1713-92), also criticized the teaching methodology used by the Jesuits which they considered outdated. Once again, the Jesuits were blamed for the state in which Portugal was at that time since they ignored experimental epistemology (Araújo, 2003. ^{Fiolhais and Martins, 2010}. Domingues, 1994). The creation of the Academia Real das Ciências de Lisboa (Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, 1779), and the beginning of the publication of the scientifically-oriented journal Jornal Encyclopédico, further alienated the Jesuits from Portugal, thus blocking any changes of being reinstated in Portugal (^{Reis, 2005}).

Conversely, the Jesuits responded with the mighty pen, one of their signature features among all religious orders (^{Friedrich, 2008}; ^{Bouza, 2001}).²² Yet, this time their focus was directed at attacking Pombal and his anti-Jesuit campaign. Alas, letters, memoirs, inventories, and administrative documents²³ are what we are left with today, nothing compared to the great masterpieces of oratory of the golden years of Jesuit presence in Portugal and the Portuguese Empire. Nevertheless, some Jesuits succeeded at challenging Pombal’s anti-Jesuit rhetoric. For example, Father Gabriele Malagrida (1689-1761) used as a theme the 1755 Lisbon earthquake to launch political and moral invectives against the Portuguese. In the Juízo da verdadeira causa do terramoto (Reasons of the True Cause of the Earthquake),²⁴ he blames the Portuguese Crown for the earthquake. Additionally, Father Malagrida also wrote Tractatus de vita, et imperio Anti-Christi e Esther, Mardocheu e Amaniii, where he compares Pombal to the Antichrist and Amman. Father Malagrida’s pungent style is also evident in the Conferenza Spirituale Tra Il M.r.p. Gabriele Malagrida Gesuita, E Madama La Marchesa D. Eleonora De Tavora, published in Avignon in 1761.

As the result of the imprisonment, exile, and death of quite a few Jesuits, the literary production of the members of the Society of Jesuits declined.²⁵ Yet, worth mentioning are the two publications De exilio provinciae Lusitaniae Societatis Iesu libri quinque²⁶ and De exílioprovinciarumtransmarinarumassistentiaeLusitanaeSocietatisIesu²⁷ by José Caeiro (1712-1791), as well as the works by two German Jesuits, Anselm Eckart (1721-1809)²⁸ and Lourenço Kaulen (1716-1797)²⁹who served as missionaries in Brazil. As a whole, these accounts use an apologetic rhetoric to denounce and rebuke all the accusations brought against the Society of Jesus. Even though they all aimed at discrediting Pombal’s “crusade” against the Jesuits, Caeiro’s works do not blame D. José I for all the evils that befell on them. In other words, he blamed solely Pombal for the atrocities performed against the Jesuits during the monarch’s reign. Between the last half of the 18^th century and the first two decades of the 19^th then, Portuguese society was not ready to allow a Jesuit renaissance. Barring the failed attempt during the kingdom of D. Miguel (1828-34), the Jesuits were back in Portugal in 1859; yet, they were expelled after fifty-one years, in 1919. Finally, Jesuit presence in Portugal began to be again a reality in 1926.

The Society of Jesus in Portugal since its reinstatement: (re)visiting recent history

In the 19^th century, scholars started to look at History in a different way. This trend continued in the 20^th century. Portuguese historian Sérgio Campo de Matos (1957- ) and Spanish historian David Mota Álvarez defined this new approach to historiography as “liberal-lay” which is best represented by Portuguese authors Alexandre Herculano (1810-77), Teófilo Braga (1843-1924), Joaquim Pedro de Oliveira Martins (1845-94), Alberto da Cunha Sampaio (1841-1908), António Sérgio de Sousa Júnior (1883-1969), and Jaime Zuzarte Cortesão (1884-1960). Yet, they also identified a different approach to historiography, the so-called “Catholic-conservative” method, which was tied to integralism and counter-revolutionary monarchism of the first three decades of the 20^th century. For Matos e Álvares (2008), the latter is best represented by Portuguese authors António Maria de Sousa Sardinha (1887-1925), Alfredo Augusto Lopes Pimenta (1882-1950), and João Francisco de Barbosa Azevedo de Sandes Aires de Campos, better known as João Ameal (1902-82). Interestingly enough, none of these authors chose the Society of Jesus as his main focus of analysis.

Most of the 19^th century scholars included the Society of Jesus among the institutions that contributed to Portugal’s isolation and obscurantism as well as its decline, such as the Inquisition and the Expulsion and persecution of the Sephardic Jews and Muslims. I must underscore here the fact that, for fear of losing a huge slice of Portuguese economy, Sephardic Jews were eventually forced to convert to Catholicism, whereas Muslims were never expelled from Portugal, but rather, they were absorbed into the Portuguese society (^{Buescu, 1987}).

Some of these historians indeed associated the Portuguese Age of Discovery (1415-1543) and the Portuguese Empire (1415-1999) with a negative period of Portuguese history, particularly due to the fact that the Society of Jesus played a huge role in maintaining a Portuguese presence and dominance overseas, at least until their expulsion in 1769. An anti-Jesuit work that comes to my mind is: “Os jesuitas e sua influencia na actual sociedade portuguesa: meio de a conjurar, orto um anti jesuíta declarado” (^{Caldas, 1901}, p.3), written by the Portuguese historian and journalist José Ernesto de Sousa Caldas (1842-1932).

As far as it is known, the Jesuits did not react to these attacks right away. During the 19^th century, Jesuits concentrated their efforts in teaching with a particular focus on the ties between science and religion. They also promoted the then-experimental teaching of Natural Sciences as well as research on Botany and Zoology. In 1902, at the Colégio de São Fiel, in Portugal, Jesuits founded the journal Brotéria. In 1917, Father Francisco Rodrigues, S.J., (1873-1956), responded to the anti-Jesuit sentiments with his Jesuitophobia: Resposta serena a uma diatriba (Jesuit-phobia: A Serene Response to a Diatribe).³⁰

History at the service of nationalism vs. an international history

A few decades after the end of the Portuguese monarchy in 1910, namely during the Estado Novo dictatorial regime (New State, 1933-74), there was a new way of looking at and interpreting Portuguese past. Indeed, there were many publications that highlighted Portugal’s historical role in world history. The Society of Jesus thus is being praised for its educational and missionary role in the Portuguese Empire. Among the many publications that underscored Jesuit missionary presence overseas are worth mentioning Boletim da Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa (Journal of the Society of Geography of Lisbon), Anais do Clube Militar Naval (Annals of the Military Club), O Mundo Português: Revista de cultura e propaganda arte e literature coloniais (1934-1947) (The Portuguese World: Journal of Culture, Showcasing Colonial Arts and Literature, 1934-1947), Revista da Escola Superior Colonial (1948-1954) (Journal of the Colonial College 1948-1954), and Estudos Ultramarinos: Revista do Instituto Superior de Estudos Ultramarinos (Overseas Studies: Journal of the Overseas Undergraduate and Graduate Studies), the latter partly directed by Father António da Silva Rego (1905-86). The common thread among these journals is their emphasis on Portuguese colonization and evangelization in the Portuguese Empire.

In order to gain this momentum, Jesuit scholars concentrated on their glorious past, particularly on the early years of the Order. Many Jesuits, Portuguese as well as hailing from other parts of the world, edited many documents and annual letters tied to the Portuguese overseas missions during the 16^th and 17^th centuries.

In a sense, what mattered was not the number of publications, but rather, the information that was now being made available highlighted the main role of the Society of Jesuit in establishing the Portuguese Empire. Anyone reading these editions could not but acknowledge the value and importance of the Portuguese Catholic missions. For example, Documentação para a história das missões do Padroado Português (Documentation for the History of the Missions of the Portuguese Padroado (Patronage) gave now scholars the tool to investigate the early history of the Society of Jesus overseas. Worth mentioning are the editions of renowned Jesuits Joseph Wicki (1904-93) Georg Schurhammer (1882-1971), Serafim Leite (1890-1969), Francisco Rodrigues, António da Silva Rego (1905-86), and António Brásio (1906-85), among others.³¹

Since its beginning, the Estado Novo embraced a few of the theories suggested by Brazilian politician, sociologist, and historian Gilberto de Mello Freyre (1900-87), practically adopting Luso-tropicalism to justify the specificity of Portuguese colonialism. Renowned British historian Charles Richard Boxer (1904-2000), who in response to Freyre’s theories published Race Relations in the Portuguese Colonial Empire (1963), proved that the nature of the Portuguese colonial regime, far from being an idealized version of peaceful coexistence between races, ethnic groups, and civilizations, had to be analyzed by looking at different socio-economic factors, whereby discrimination, violence, slavery, and colonialism were its driving forces. Both Freyre and Boxer strongly influenced subsequent analyses.

Boxer starts a historiographical cycle in direct opposition of the one proposed by the dictatorial regime in Lisbon; yet it was also different from the theory of global economy proposed by Godinho (1918-2011). Boxer presented a heterodox empire in its structure being run by different social groups and institutions. He is one of the leading international experts on the Portuguese Expansion overseas.³² In 1969, drawing from his deep knowledge of European and Japanese documents, Boxer published The Portuguese Seaborne Empire (1415-1825), whereby social and religious aspects are analyzed within the context of the Portuguese Padroado (Patronage). Worth mentioning are his other publications, such as Portuguese Merchants and Missionaries in Feudal Japan, 1543; The Church Militant and Iberian Expansion: 1440-1770; Missionaries and Merchants of Macao, 1557-1687, Jan Compagnie in Japan, 1600-1850: An Essay on the Cultural, Artistic and Scientific Influence Exercised by the Hollanders in Japan from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Centuries; A propósito dum livrinho xilográfico dos jesuítas de Pequim no século XVIII: ensaio histórico.

Charles Boxer started a new historiography era for Portugal by inspiring scholars, particularly non-Portuguese academics, to start new approaches and investigate new research themes on the Portuguese Empire. American historian A. J. R. Russell-Wood (1940-2010), in The World on the Move: The Portuguese in Africa, Asia, and America 1415-1808,³³ defended the idea of the sea as a unifying force that assisted the Portuguese in their expansion throughout the world, from West to East and North to East, where a constant movement of people, goods, and ideas circulated. Wood’s publication reflected upon how the Society of Jesus, due to its constant mobility, was one of the main agents of cultural, religious, and even commercial movement. Hence, Wood proposed the idea of an empire completely controlled by the Portuguese Crown. Yet, there was also an unofficial and parallel “empire” where the Society of Jesus also played a crucial role. The Jesuits assisted the crown representatives as well as private individuals circulating through that immense “network” that defined the Portuguese Empire. Nonetheless, with its sociopolitical and economic presence, the Society of Jesus also stimulated a climate of instability in its relationship with other religious orders, disputing their “monopoly” of Christendom, and the communities of local Christians, eventually trying to impose the practice of the Roman rite vis-à-vis other local practices considered “heterodox.”³⁴

Later, American historian Dauril Alden (1926- ), in The Making of an Enterprise: The Society of Jesus in Portugal, Its Empire, and Beyond, 1540 - 1750,³⁵ wrote the history of the Society of Jesus from its foundation to its expulsion from Portugal and the Portuguese empire. While this book emphasizes the evangelical and educational activities of the Jesuits, Alden’s work underscored the political relations of the Jesuits with Portuguese and local authorities, the establishment of institutions supporting the Jesuit missions, the economic activities (with an “enterprise” perspective) of the Jesuits, the Jesuit relationship with other religious orders, and the different missionary strategies that the Society of Jesus used to establish its missions.³⁶

The Jesuit missions were not limited to the Portuguese political sphere. For instance, worth mentioning is Tibet, where the first European of the Modern Era was the Portuguese António de Andrade, S.J.. French historian Hugues Didier (1942- ), an expert in Iberian religious history and literature is one of the leading scholars on early Jesuit/Portuguese presence in Tibet.³⁷ More recently, Croatian historian Ines G. Županov (1955- ) began concentrating her studies on the Society of Jesus and its role in transmitting knowledge wherever its members went. Županov concentrates on the Jesuit missions in India, with a particular attention to the Maduré region (southwest India, nowadays Madurai, in the State of Tamil Nadu), where they played the role of cultural mediators in catechesis issues.³⁸

The Jesuit missions in Africa and China and the elaboration of vocabularies, dictionaries, and grammars aiming at “translating” and making Christianity more “accessible” to the “other,” as in the case of China, were studied by Joseph Abraham Levi 雷祖善博士.³⁹ Researchers hailing from Asia also showed an interest in the first contacts between Europe and the East since Francis Xavier (1506-52) was among the first Jesuit missionaries and the first Europeans to ever set foot in Kagoshima, Japan. Renowned Japanese historian Mihoko Oka,⁴⁰ based on Japanese and Portuguese primary sources, has investigated the presence of Jesuits and various groups of merchants in Macau, Manila, and Japan, focusing on their uniqueness and mutual interests. Special attention was devoted to Portuguese Jesuit, diplomat, and political figure João Rodrigues Tçuzu (1561-1633; tçuzu= interpreter). Indeed, Rodrigues was the interpreter and linguist who wrote the first Japanese-Portuguese dictionary, or rather, the first grammar of the Japanese Language. Rodrigues was also tasked by his superiors to write Historia da Igreja do Japão (History of the Church in Japan), whereby he gives a general, yet detailed overview of Japanese civilization.⁴¹

A good starter for those interested in the Jesuit missions in Brazil are works by Serafim Leite and Stuart B. Schwartz. Originally published in 1985, Schwartz’s work analyzes the social relations in the sugar plantations where the Society of Jesus was one of the agents involved in the process. Obviously, there are many more works on this topic. Also worth mentioning here is the fact that there is a group of Brazilian academics who have published on Jesuit presence in Asia, namely: Célia Tavares, Patrícia de Souza Faria, and, more recently, Bruna Dutra Cruz, Jorge Henrique Leão, Joseph Abraham Levi 雷祖善博士, and Laís Sousa Viena de Sousa.⁴²

As for the historiography on Colonial Brazil (1500-1822), I would like to underscore the fact that during this time the Society of Jesus was one of the major pillars upon which the history of the future nation of Brazil rested since this religious order was instrumental for its creation and interaction with the Atlantic world, then in-the-making. The old paradigm of a history centered on anti-Jesuit sentiments-in contrast with the trope of Jesuits as defenders of the Pre-Cabraline,⁴³ autochthonous populations (^{Londoño, 2019}, 11), and whose historiography is represented by the works mentioned above-thus is not any longer applicable.

For centuries, Serafim Leite was hailed as one of the most important authors who studied the Society of Jesus in Brazil. One of the themes that Leite emphasized in his works was the special relationship between the Jesuits and the indigenous population whereby the latter were protected by the members of the Society of Jesus against the attacks of the colonizers:

Evangelization began a few years after Portuguese arrival in Brazil, though the first Portuguese archdiocese in the colony was erected in 1551. The early missionaries were the Jesuits who literally took at heart the plight of the native population: they strived to protect tribes, clans, and native nations against the constant abuses and enslavement efforts of the European settlers (Portuguese as well as colonizers/settlers from other parts of Europe). From north and the northeast to central and southern Brazil many missions were thus formed in aldeias (villages) whereby the native population was being converted to Catholicism and taught a trade in order to be self-sufficient.⁴⁴

This is even more evident when the issue of the transatlantic slave trade is raised. Indeed, the issue of the Jesuits’ role in this heinous trade focuses on the members of the Society of Jesus as traffickers as well as protectors of the indigenous population (Leite).

A different approach to Brazilian literary criticism and historiography was taken by Alfredo Bosi whereby he explored the sermons of the Jesuits. Indeed, his “portrait of the country's response to the pressures of colonial conformity offers a groundbreaking appraisal of Brazilian culture as it emerged from the tensions between imposed colonial control and the African and Amerindian cults-including Catholic-influenced ones-that resisted it.”⁴⁵

Even though Luiz Felipe de Alencastro mentioned the “identity mark” of the Society of Jesus in defending the indigenous population, he also underscored Jesuit presence in transatlantic slave trade (^{ALENCASTRO, 2000}).

It intensified at the dawn of the 21^st century with the work of Carlos Zeron, Linha de fé: a Companhia de Jesus e a escravidão no processo de formação da sociedade colonial (Brasil, séculos XVI e XVII) (^{ZERON, 2011}), when the author opened the door for a moral debate. Indeed Zeron, by choosing not to dwell on the moral issues, focused on 16^th and 17^th century theological and judicial thinking. More specifically, Zeron compared the diatribes among European theologians in Coimbra, Évora, and Rome, from one side, and their counterparts hailing from Bahia and São Vicente on issues as slavery (African as well as indigenous to the Americas) which are analyzed within the context of the Portuguese colonial project for Brazil.

Hence, the interest for an interdisciplinary approach to Jesuit presence around the world, as in the case of Brazil, gave rise to new concepts “borrowed” from other areas, namely: Theology, Philosophy, Law, Linguistics, Psychology, Art History, and Anthropology, to name the most prominent fields of study and research.

Due to the differences in approach between the Portuguese and Brazilian Academy when it comes to analyzing the history of the Portuguese Empire, particularly regarding the epistemology and method to be used, the last two decades have reshaped the study to the history of Portuguese colonization.

The Brazilian Academy became more interested in its own colonial history, opening up to a wide-range of research topics within this timeframe. Hence, as for the Jesuit missions in Colonial Brazil (1500-1822), Brazilian scholars opted to focus on the evangelization and conversion of the pre-Cabraline indigenous population to Catholicism. Since the history of the native Brazilian peoples crosses over other academic fields, such as Anthropology, the discussion of the Jesuit missions in the context of intercultural relations gained predominance in Brazilian historiography. The missions of the Society of Jesus in Brazil then are studied within the context of the encounter between the European/Jesuit and the “other”/“the indigenous” population. There is also focus on how identities are (re)constructed from this contact, as well as the adaptation that the missionary and the autochthons population went through at various times during Colonial Brazil. For instance, quite a few Brazilian historians opted to concentrate on the Jesuit missions outside the major centers of power, such as Bahia and Rio de Janeiro and looked at Sergipe, Espírito Santo, or Grão Pará, and Maranhão thus contributing immensely to Brazilian colonial history.

Recent history: science, power, and spirituality

In Portugal, during the last decade of the 20^th century, Jesuit historiography tends to concentrate on a more “secular” discourse, even when approaching texts written by Jesuits. This shift is due to the influence of European historiography hailing from other social sciences, such as those promoted by German jurist, philosopher, politician, and sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920), French sociologist David Émile Durkheim (1858-1917), and French historian, literary critic, and philosopher Paul-Michel Foucault (1926-84), but also by French historian Jean Delumeau (1923- ), British historian Charles R. Boxer (1904-2000), and others mentioned above. Indeed, academic exchanges among scholars from different parts of the world have helped in this shift and in the choice of the geographical area to analyze.

The establishment of the Portuguese Comissão Nacional Para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses (National Commission for the Commemoration of the Portuguese Discoveries, 1986-2002) and the creation of master’s and doctoral programs on the Portuguese Expansion increased the interest in academic research on the Society of Jesus and its missions overseas. Undoubtedly, the Jesuits were part of the process of globalization started by the Portuguese in the 15^th century, settling in many parts of the East, as in Macau and Mainland China.⁴⁶

Alumni of the College of Saint Paul in Goa and the College of Saint Paul in Macau, the Jesuit missionaries departed for the missions to Japan, Tonkin, Tidore (city, island, and archipelago in the Maluku Islands), China, Ternate, Zion, Ambon Island (Maluku Islands), Malacca, Bago (city in present-day Myanmar), Cambodia, Solor Island (present-day Indonesia), Cochinchina,⁴⁷ Makassar, Bengal, Bisnegar (Vijayanagara Empire, 1336-1646), Maduré, the Pearl Fishery Coast of southern India (along the Coromandel Coast, from Tuticorin to Comorin), Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), the Kingdom of Travancore (1500-1949), Malabar, Goa, Salsette Island (in North Mumbai), Lahore, Diu, Ethiopia, or Munhumutapa (Kingdom of Mutapa, 1430-1760). Jesuit missionaries were also present in many other parts of Africa and the Americas. Obviously, it will be impossible to list them all here.

Besides stressing the fact that the Jesuits were a conduit of the Portuguese Crown and/or of the Church, some scholars also highlighted the socio-cultural or personal context of their life and work, particularly how they related with the powers-that-be as well as other religious orders.

Portuguese historian João Paulo Oliveira e Costa (1962- ), in his doctoral dissertation O Cristianismo no Japão e o Episcopado de D. Luís Cerqueira (Christianity in Japan and the Bishopric of DomLuís Cerqueira),⁴⁸ analyzed the Jesuit mission in one of the most distant places of the Portuguese Empire: Japan. Francis Xavier was among the first Europeans and Jesuit missionaries to set foot in Kagoshima, Japan. Xavier is a milestone for the beginning of modern missionary activities in Asia and the rest of the world. Jesuit presence in Japan exceeded the expectations set by the Jesuits. During their presence in the territory (1549-1632), they helped Portugal establish trade ties with Japan while at the same time benefitting financially from this flow of merchandise and cash in order to assist their missions. After a time of prosperity, Catholicism was banned (1632). Among the many factors that contributed to the demise of Catholicism in the land of the rising sun are the internal rivalries within the Society of Jesus and the social changes that Christianity had introduced in Japanese society, as the works by Lúcio Manuel Rocha de Sousa have clearly demonstrated.⁴⁹

As for the China Mission, success is not measured by the small number of converts to Catholicism, but rather by the men that opened China to the West using science and the knowledge of Chinese language in order to be accepted by the Royal Court in Beijing. Father Matteo Ricci, S.J., (1552-1610) and Father Michele Ruggieri, S.J., (1543-1607), as highlighted by Joseph Abraham Levi 雷祖善博士, are two major figures of the Jesuit mission in China.⁵⁰ Ricci was a renowned mathematician and astronomer. In 1584, Father Michele Ruggieri, S.J, wrote in Chinese characters, a dialog between a European and a Chinese on the true God and the true religion (Tianzhu shilu, The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven).⁵¹

Isabel Pina also worked on the Jesuit missions in China.⁵² Obviously, there are many more publications on the Jesuits in Asia, particularly in China. Besides these two works, worth mentioning is the 2009 publication by Rui Manuel Loureiro.⁵³ Additionally, Manuel Teixeira and Benjamim Videira Pires also wrote on this topic.

Another important name is the Portuguese Tomas Pereira, S.J., (1645-1708), who informally directed the Beijing Observatory at the Imperial Court and was known as the “Priest of the Court” (Pereira, Barreto, Gomes and Correia, 2011). A look at the archives of the Jesuit colleges in the East will shed some light on the missions, the subjects taught, and their willingness to adapt and accommodate to local customs and mores.⁵⁴

Jesuit missions along the West Coast of Africa were different from their counterparts in Brazil and the East. The Portuguese Nuno da Silva Gonçalves, S.J., (1958- ), in his dissertation Os Jesuítas e a missão de Cabo Verde (1604-1642),⁵⁵ highlighted the short life and the complexity of the Jesuit missions in Africa (Archipelago of Cape Verde, embracing a vast area with ten islands).

Africa is a continent, not a country, as everybody knows. Hence, it covers vast areas with very heterogeneous ethnic and racial groups. The first four centuries of Portuguese presence in West Africa were characterized by a reduced number of Catholic missionaries as well as constant conflicts with the Portuguese Crown, Rome, and the local populations. Most of West Africa-from Morocco down to present-day Cameroon-boasts a strong Muslim or Islamized presence. This, coupled with poor coordination between missionaries and the Crown/Rome, as well as Jesuit involvement in local business and their close ties with the local rulers and their wealth, as in the case of Angola, or the controversy with the Spanish Capuchins in the Congo, contributed to the ultimate demise or failure of Catholic missions in the area.⁵⁶

As a way of concluding this concise overview to different missionary and cultural approaches, I would like to mention the case of Portugal. Portuguese historian José Pedro de Matos Paiva (1960- ) and the Spanish historian Federico Palomo del Barrio (1968- ) studied the internal missions, with a special emphasis on micro-history,⁵⁷ as in the case of Évora and other small Portuguese towns. Jesuit missionary activities in rural communities, such as preaching, indoctrination, conflict resolutions, confessions, dissemination of images, texts, and other documents, guaranteed the effectiveness of missionary activity as they transmitted a model of life and spirituality. The Jesuits thus ensured that everyone led a “Christian life;” any deviation from it was subject to disciplinary actions.⁵⁸ In a sense, as Italian historian Giuseppe ^{Marcocci (2004}) ascertained, the Portuguese Jesuits observed the “model of faith defended by the Inquisition” with which they collaborated, particularly during the second half of the 17^th century. That does not invalidate the fact that, as mentioned above, there were also Jesuits who spoke against and were persecuted by the Inquisition. Both the “Inquisition and the pastoral visitations supported the “preponderance” of the Church over society” (^{Po-Chia Hsia, 2007}, p. 31). This is the model of Church that emerged from the Council of Trent (1545-63) (^{Châtellier, 1995}). The Jesuits devised a plan of attack against Protestantism and all heresies while modernizing evangelization (Carvalho, 1969).

One of the main concerns of D. João III (r. 1521-57) was the Portuguese educational system. With the goal of following the humanistic ideals of the time, and with an eye on separating primary and secondary education from higher education (^{Corrêa Monteiro. 1991}, p. 74). Hence, D. João III bestowed upon the Jesuits the task of reforming the entire Portuguese educational system, thus making it more in tune with the needs of a nation then extending from Europe and Africa to Asia and Brazil. Over time though, in the wake of the many anti-Jesuit sentiments (in Portugal as well as abroad), the idea that the backwardness of the Portuguese educational system was due to the presence/influence of the Society of Jesus gained ground.⁵⁹ Jesuit schools, colleges, and universities were thus seen as isolated and backward towers of knowledge.

In the 1950s, Portuguese poet and writer Rómulo de Carvalho-whose pseudonym was António Gedeão (1906-97)-composed a history of science in Portugal. His study shed light on the Portuguese educational system, particularly on how sciences were taught in the country.

More recently, though, researchers have ascertained that the educational system devised by the Jesuits was not entirely different from the one employed in the rest of Europe. Today it is common knowledge that many Jesuits were aware of and used the (latest) science of the moment. One of the most notable Jesuits who attended the College of Arts, in Coimbra, between 1555 and 1560, was the German Christopher Clavius (1538-1612), today hailed as one of the most important astronomers of all times, as Copernicus and Galileo (Baldini, 2013).

Between 1590 and 1759, the College of Santo Antão-o-Novo, in Lisbon, offered Aula da Esfera (Course on the Sphere): it was a class of Mathematics taught by an elite group of Jesuit foreigner teachers.⁶⁰

Despite the Aristotelian matrix of their teaching, the Jesuits were not immune to the winds of change brought by the Scientific Revolution (1543) as well as the knowledge gained through contacts with other cultures and civilizations around the world. Many Jesuits were responsible for the introduction of scientific modernity, for example the use of the Galilean telescope in Portugal and its use in the East (Leitão, 2001). Again, this is proof of their scientific acumen as well as their constant updating to the latest scientific innovations and discoveries. Indeed, it was through science that the Jesuits began their missions, as in the case of China. It was their knowledge in this field that allowed them to remain in China.

As of late, studies on the expulsion of the Society of Jesus from Portugal have increased. Generally speaking, the Portuguese journal Revista Brotéria publishes research on the Jesuits. In 2009, the Brotéria commemorated the 250 years of the ban with a special issue. Jesuits, as well as lay scholars from around the world joined together to contribute with their research. Yet, there were also topics on anti-Jesuit sentiments, Jesuit presence in education, Father Gabriele Malagrida (1689-1761), and the Jesuit exile in the Papal States, among others. In other words, the Portuguese journal featured a diversified array of reflections on the major events that culminated in the 1759 banishment.⁶¹ In Portugal, today as in the past, the subject continues to be studied by both Jesuits and non-Jesuit scholars. It appears that most scholars are concerned with the “restitution of historical truth.” The consensus is not to let the golden period of the Jesuit Order in Portugal and its Empire be forgotten.⁶² Besides this journal, worth mentioning is the 2017 doctoral dissertation of Father António Júlio de Faria Limpo Trigueiros, S.J., (1966- ), Os Jesuítas exilados nos Estados Pontifícios no período Pombalino.⁶³

Future perspectives

The Society of Jesus was one of the institutions that left a deep mark in Portuguese society in the 16^th and 18^th centuries. This is reflected in the continued interest that scholars have in Jesuit-related topics. Hence, I believe that research on the Jesuits in Portugal and the Portuguese Empire will continue for years to come.

Obviously, there will be different interpretations and approaches. Yet, I believe that three approaches will eventually cross paths, namely studies on the Order itself, the educational system (schools, colleges, and universities), and the Jesuit as colonizer vis-à-vis the colonized. The latter perhaps still searching for their own identity (as in the case of Christian groups whose ancestral fathers were evangelized by the Jesuits, e.g., the “Portuguese of Malacca”).

As stated above, Jesuit missions are a preferred research topic among scholars worldwide. By studying this period of Portuguese and Church history, which had implications across the world, perhaps it will also contribute to a strong analysis and debate, which should provide a different approach to these issues and an effective change of paradigm leading readers to reflect upon some of the problems that society is facing today, as the problem of religious intolerance, discrimination, and anti-migrations. The era in which the Society of Jesus was created was a time of religious intolerance. Interestingly enough, to my knowledge, currently there is no research that would allow us to understand and compare the Jesuit missions against the Protestant missions in and outside Europe after the extinction of the Order. It is also important to know how the indigenous populations reacted to the expulsion of the Jesuits from their lands and how this affected their daily life. Jesuit documents left after the expulsion from Portuguese colonies and territories are also significant because their missionary work and its memory were undoubtedly incorporated into the new nations that were born with the independence. It is a “great” past that belongs to Portugal as well as to the countries that are part of the CPLP (Community of Portuguese Language Countries).⁶⁴A past that has to be studied and valued within the framework of encounters of cultures and cultural interactions, which carried cultures, knowledge, and wealth hailing from all parts of the world.