Jack Chick talked a lot about
the Jesuits and the Jesuit Order. He worked with Edmond Paris and his wife
so Chick could publish an English translation of his French book,
The Secret History of the Jesuits. It was only because of Jack
that I really got into investigating the Jesuits. But the first thing I realized was this: Jesuits are not what they appear to be.
I learned a lot of information in a testimony by a young man
who escaped from the Jesuits --in 1824. Hi, I'm David Daniels
from Chick Publications. Maybe once a century,
the Lord allows a person to expose the Whore of Babylon
in its various forms. A modern example is Alberto Rivera.
An 1800s example is this young man, Jacopo Leone.
Let me tell you his story. Jacopo Leone was a child prodigy.
He had a special talent: In the early 1820s,
he had invented a form of shorthand. He liked to daydream in class,
but he could be called upon at any moment. So, he quickly wrote down
in abbreviated form every word his teacher said.
Then, when he caught him daydreaming (or reading another book)
and told him to recite what was just said, he could recite it, word for word!
Frustrating, but brilliant! The problem was, even in the 1820s,
schools more existed to squash creativity
than to encourage it. There was only one exception to this rule
that Jacopo knew of: the Jesuits! So 19-year-old Jacopo finished his studies
at the Seminary of Vercelli. Then he spent some time
with Luigi Quarelli, arch-priest of Langosco, halfway between Turin and Milan,
in northern Italy. Luigi recommended that he try
to gain admittance into the Jesuit Order.
According to Luigi: "...none were admitted into it
but such as were distinguished for intellect, wealth, or station." That inflated his ego!
So he wrote to Jan Philipp Roothaan, S.J., a Dutch priest who was rector
of a Jesuit college in Turin. Jacopo saw the Jesuits
as the most noble of the Orders. Roothaan recommended Jacopo
take the preliminary exams. In September of 1824
he was met by Roothan at the "House of First Probation,"
where all applicants are probed, to see if they are worthy to become Jesuits. Jacopo had never been treated more kindly.
Roothan talked with him as if he were his closest friend
and confidant. –Of course, that was the way
it was supposed to feel. "It would be difficult for me to convey an idea of the consummate art employed
to sound a conscience, to descend into
the very depths of the inmost heart, and to make all its chords resound,
the individual remaining, all the while, unconscious of the analysis
which is going on, so occupied is he by
the pleasant flow of the conversation, so beguiled by the air of frank good-nature
with which the artful process is conducted." In other words,
Jacopo was being psychoanalyzed, before the days of Freud,
just like Alberto said, which you'll see in a few minutes.
But Roothan had a larger purpose. Roothan wanted to make sure that Jacopo desired to be a Jesuit
more than anything else in the world, and that he was already willing to submit
everything to the Jesuit Order. And what Roothan wanted
was more than just Jacopo's testimony. This form of questioning is described
right here in The Constitutions of the Jesuit Order.
(But that's another video!) Jacopo was approved
and proceeded to the Jesuit Monastery at Chieri, Turin, Italy.
He described what happened next: "On my arrival,
they placed in my hands the rules which related to
this first phasis of my new existence. I was immediately initiated into
the exercises of Saint Ignatius, and of other saints --all Jesuits. It is by this sudden and complete
immersion of the soul that they acquire their unlimited power
over so many young men, unarmed by experience,
and totally without defence...." What Jacopo did next
was sit in silence, with the windows shuttered,
while his "guardian angel" (the "father" over each novice)
lectured him on the Jesuit views of sin, the world and eternal punishment.
He told Jacopo that those who don't absolutely submit
to the rules of Ignatius of Loyola are: "...as an army of rebels, angels of darkness,
whom Satan inspires and governs, and against whom battle must be waged,
until the day of final victory by the army of the faithful,
led on by those angels of light and chiefs of the sacred militia, the Jesuits.
As for the enemy's camp, he spoke of nothing in it
but its reeking pestilence and corruption." This, plus other "exercises,"
were designed for one purpose, to break down the novice, until: "each individual
who has been wrought upon during a sufficient time, comes at last to consider himself
religiously bound to the total surrender of his own will."
And it worked! In Jacopo's own words: "for I truly believed
that the more I should identify myself with the society
the more I should belong to God; and in this deadening of every feeling
which might stand in the way of my entire dedication to the order,
I perceived nothing but a just and reasonable consequence
of its directing principle: 'that the fewer ties we have
with all that might distract us from our purpose,
the more will be our power to persuade others to acknowledge
that authority which it is the mission of the Jesuits to proclaim, as the only one upon earth
which is not subject to error.'" Jacopo was overwhelmed at times
with the loss of all the things that he held dear. Yet never once did he think of
"renouncing the Society." When Jack Chick
was arranging the funeral for his daughter, Carol, back in 2001,
one of the men there asked for the Alberto comic series.
He told Jack that he had actually taken the first year of Jesuit training.
He said they were tested over and over, and each time
more candidates were eliminated. Finally, at the end of the year,
there were a number of people standing. The Jesuit teacher then said,
"Those of you who are willing to submit your entire will to the Jesuit Order may stay.
The rest of you are dismissed." He couldn't go that far,
so that was the end of his Jesuit training. So this isn't some ancient story.
It's still taking place today. Back to Jacopo. Over the days, the solitude
and gloomy subjects of discussion broke down both his spirit and his health.
The Jesuits offered him a kind of thick wine that left him feeling sluggish. He tried to fast,
but they kindly insisted he take nourishment. They told him
the greatest saints in the Order had gone through the same thing
and done amazing achievements for God. For days he sat in solitude, on his knees,
reading monks' books and meditations, while he thought about
the beautiful weather outside. One day he could take it no longer.
Jacopo wrote: "being tempted by the fine autumn weather
to breathe the fresh air and enjoy the sunshine,
I begged my guardian angel to ask permission for me of the rector
to walk for a few moments alone in the garden.
'You have only,' he replied, 'to go to him
and ask this permission for yourself; you may be certain he will grant you
whatever favour is in his power.'" Two days later, on an especially beautiful autumn day,
Jacopo resolved to do just that. "It was in the afternoon.
I quitted my chamber, and went to the rector's apartment,
the door of which I found open, although the rector was absent.
This circumstance surprised me not a little, as among the Jesuits
everything is conducted with the most exact regularity."
This rector was so informal and so personal, that Jacopo decided to do
what he would never do. He entered the apartment. That's where he found out
what the Jesuits were really about. As far as Jacopo was concerned,
he had entered the abode of angels. When he saw the apartment
lined with books, he believed they would only be
the finest writings obtainable anywhere. So, since no one was around to tell him No,
and he was truly tired of reading the Exercises all day long,
he started looking at the books. He figured that in any moment
the rector would return, and Jacopo could present his request
to go outside. That's why he didn't hesitate for a moment
to take down a book to look at it. "... I raised my hand to a shelf of the library,
and joyfully seized a volume. To my surprise, I perceived
a second row of books behind the first. Curiosity impelled me
to take down the volume which had been concealed by
the first I laid hold on. The name of the author
has escaped my recollection, but it was, I think,
a philosopher of the last century. I should have looked at it more deliberately,
had not a third row of books, behind the second,
struck me by the peculiar style of the binding.
What was my astonishment when this title met my gaze,
'CONFESSIONS OF THE NOVICES!' The side edges of the book
were marked with the letters of the alphabet. Could I do less than
seek for the initial of my own name?" Which he did. "The first pages, written, probably,
a few days after my arrival, contained a rough sketch of my character.
I was utterly confounded. I recognized my successive confessions,
each condensed into a few lines. So clear and accurate was the appreciation
given of my temperament, my faculties, my affections, my weaknesses
and my strength, that I saw before my eyes
a complete revelation of my own nature. What surprised me above all
was the conciseness and energy of the expressions employed to sum up the characteristics
of my whole being. The favorite images I found
in this depository of outpourings of all sorts from the heart of ingenuous youth,
were borrowed from the materials used in building
--hard, fragile, malleable, coarse, precious, necessary, accessory;
a sort of figurative language which had kept fast hold on my memory.
I only regret that I could but glance with the rapidity of lightning
over the pages that concerned myself; yet this glance sufficed to reveal to me
the object of such a work. An idea may be formed of it
from the passage I am about to cite, and of which I have retained
an indelible remembrance. 'The amount enthusiasm and imagination
with which he is endowed,' said the text, 'might in time be made very useful
in varnishing our work. His want of taste
for the grotesque in religion will do no harm,
but it proves that his talent must be employed in
recommending and exalting, to the more delicate consciences,
all that is pure and ennobling in religion. He would spoil all
if we were to let him set to work on the clumsier parts of the edifice;
whilst he will greatly aid its advancement if he is employed exclusively
in the more delicate parts. Let him be kept, therefore,
in the upper regions of thought, and let him not even be aware of
the springs which set in movement the vulgar part of the religious world.
It is important that he should always have near him,
in his moments of depression, some one to cheer him
with brilliant anticipations. But should his ardour, on the contrary,
lead him too far, some discouragement or disappointment
must be prepared for him, in order to mortify him
and keep him in subjection' "Not an atom of what I had,
as, a matter of conscience, revealed to my guardian angel, or confessor,
was omitted in this register. When I recollect what sweeping inductions
were drawn from the trifles which I had considered myself
bound to communicate, I cannot wonder that such a system,
so based on profound study of character, pursued with so much assiduity
and constancy, and applied on so vast a scale
to individuals of every age and every condition,
should place in the hands of the Jesuits an almost infallible means
for attaining the end which they have proposed to themselves,
with such extraordinary determination." Jacopo started to think back
over the statements he had heard over his lifetime,
about the sinister nature of the Jesuit Order. Never had he thought they could be true,
until now. Even his doubts about
the so-called miracle stories told him, had been related to the rector.
He was an open book, and his personality was set down
in this open book. Jacopo was so intrigued,
he grabbed another book that caught his eye, called The Confessions of Strangers.
And here was Jacopo's first major discovery: "I hastily glanced over a few lines,
here and there, and the small portions that I read
induced me afterwards to believe, that everything in this order
is done conformably to the rules of the little code,
known by the name of Monita Secreta, or Secret Instructions.
It was, in fact, a collection of notes upon persons of every class, of every age,
rich men, bachelors, &c. Here again were circumstantial details --
propensities, fortune, family, relations, vices and virtues, together with such anecdotes
as were calculated to characterize the personages.
It is only in cases of exception, as I have since learnt,
that a Jesuit remains long in the same place. If he be allowed
to continue his sojourn there, it is only when the superiors are convinced
of the incontestable utility of the influence which he exercises.
Whenever a Jesuit, particularly one of moderate abilities,
has used up the resources of his mind in any particular place,
and when he seems to have nothing new to produce,
the regulations of the order require that he shall be replaced by another
who may, in his tum, be remarked and admired
for a longer or a shorter time. In these frequent changes
there is another advantage: the new-comer,
entering upon the sacred office of his predecessor,
as soon as he has learnt the names of the persons who choose him
for the director of their conscience, can, by means of
the Register of Confessions, furnish himself, in a few hours,
with all the experience acquired by his colleagues.
This artifice endows him with the infallible power of surprising,
confounding, and subjugating the penitents who kneel beside him;
he penetrates them most unexpectedly, and, in a manner unprecedented,
introduces himself into the most hidden folds of their hearts.
It cannot be told with how much art the Jesuits profit
by the astonishment they thus excite, and how adroitly they tum it
to the advancement of their work. Thus, I have met with rich bigots, old men, and often with young persons
of the weaker sex, who boldly maintain that the greater number
of these reverend fathers are actually endowed
with the spirit of prophecy." The Jesuits
weren't just psychoanalyzing him. They were doing this with
every single person they met, putting it into code in books like these. In a future video I'll tell you another story
about a Jesuit who showed these things to a Dominican priest.
Think about what can happen now, with the advent of computers
and the internet! When Alberto said
the Vatican had a database on everyone, he wasn't making it up.
Even in the 1800s --and probably back to the 1500s--
this was going on, on paper and in code. Jesuits are not what they appear to be. All the time they are analyzing people
to their very core, to see how they can use them
for their purposes. I need to stop here.
But in the next video we will find out the second discovery
that Jacopo made, when the Jesuit leaders
--including the future Jesuit General-- returned to the room
and discussed their plans for the world. Until then,
God bless you and have a wonderful day.
