If We Fail to Learn from History...

Here's a little piece of history, described by E.H. Broadbent in his book (oft-quoted on this blog) The Pilgrim Church, Marshall-Pickering 1931, related to the question of what might constitute excessive emphasis on human authority among believers.

"The quest of the Mystics [devout medieval Christians who sought to live personally in authentic New Testament faith, having given up, in a sense, on the Church being reformed—TD] for immediate communion with God, without priestly or other intervention, constantly brought them into conflict with the priests. Suspected of being of this mind, Loyola [Ignatius Loyola b. 1491] was more than once imprisoned by the Inquisition and by the Dominicans, but was always able to show them that he was not what they thought, and to obtain release.

Indeed, though at first so strongly affected by the writings of the Mystics, Loyola evolved a system which was the very contrary of their teaching. Instead of seeking experiences of direct communion with Christ, he placed each member of his Society under the guidance of a man, his confessor, to whom he was pledged to make known the most intimate secrets of his life and to yield implicit obedience. The plan was that of a soldier, each one was subject to the will of one above him, and even the highest was controlled by those appointed to observe evey act and judge every motive.

In the course of years of study and travel, of teaching and charitable activities, during which there were unavailing efforts to get to Jerusalem, and also interviews with the Pope, that company gradually gathered round Loyola, which was organised by him as the 'Company of Jesus' in Paris in 1534. He and six others, including Francis Xavier, took vows of poverty and chastity and of missionary activity, and in 1540 the Pope recognized the 'Society of Jesus', to which the name of 'Jesuit' was first given by Calvin and others, its opponents.

The careful choice and the long and special training of its members, during which they were taught entire submission of their own will to that of their superiors, made of them a weapon by which not only was the Reformation checked, but a 'Counter Reformation' was organized which regained for Rome much that she had lost."