Almighty Jesuits

The Society of Jesus (Societas Jesu) was founded by Íñigo Lopez de Recalde (1491–1556). He is known by his Romanised name Ignatius Loyola. Íñigo Lopez de Recalde was a dignitary from Spain. He was born to a wealthy noble family at Loyola Castle in the Kingdom of Navarre, in today's Basque province of Guipúzcoa, Spain.

The proper title of the organization is "Clerks Regulars of the Society of Jesus”. That term does not fully expresses the original idea of its founder that his creation was a band of spiritual soldiers living under martial law and discipline.

The ordinary term "Jesuit"was given to the Society by its avowed opponents later. It is found for the first time in the writings of the Swiss theologian John Calvin (1509 - 1564) the leader of the Reformation in Geneva who set up a strict religious community there.

Pope Julius II  (Giuliano della Rovere), aka "The Fearsome Pope" (Il Papa Terribile), declared a reformed Holy League against the Republic of Venice in 1511 and ordered all Papal fiefs to supply troops. King John III of Navarre (1484 - 1516) refused to join and declared his kingdom neutral, though. Several noble families, including Íñigo Lopez de Recalde,  sided with the Spanish.

In 1512, the forces of Ferdinand II of Aragon along with the Castilian militia and rebel Navarre nobles joined forces under the command of General Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo of Castile against King John III of Navarre, defeating him and annexing the southern regions of Navarre into the kingdom of Castile.

Íñigo de Loyola excelled himself in battle and was appointed a senior commander to Antonio Manrique de Lara, Duke of Nájera and also Castilian (Spanish) Viceroy of occupied Navarre, based at Pamplona. His main task was to enforce Spanish rule, especially the Inquisition upon the local population in Navarre.

There was a general rebellion across occupied Navarre including Pamplona in which the previous Castilian (Spanish) Viceroy, Manrique de Lara, was killed in 1516. Íñigo de Loyola and the Castilian troops under his command regrouped and routed the rebels, burning their towns and destroying their castles.

At the age of 25, Íñigo de Loyola was appointed the new Viceroy of occupied Navarre commanding several thousand troops in 1516. At the commencement of his newly appointed career, he was especially ruthless towards hundreds of the rebels, who were rounded up by his troops and secret inquisitors and executed.

But it was Viceroy Íñigo de Loyola's invention of the concept of a "professional police force", both in terms of hierarchy, strict code of conduct, law and order and counter espionage that would be one of his most historic and relatively unknown contributions to civilization.

In order to control a largely hostile population with limited resources, Íñigo commissioned his most trusted head of the secret police Francisco Xavier - also originally of Navarre - to follow a strict instruction or "rule" by which secret police would pledge their total unquestionable devotion and even to sacrifice their "self" in order to assume the role of both secret soldier, protector and assassin of "enemies of the state" by living amongst the people, rather than in barracks.

The concept of small bands of well trained men living amongst the people and often dressing like them to control law and order, rather than living in barracks in larger groups was a radical idea for the times as it went against most "traditional" military theory of overwhelming force.

The secret police force of Íñigo de Loyola was very successful and held Navarre with an iron fist for four years.  Íñigo de Loyola worked along with his loyal deputies Francisco Xavier, Alfonso Salmeron, Diego Laynez from the court at Castille.

Several cities, including the cities of Valladolid, Tordesillas and Toledo in the Kingdom of Castile, rose in revolt against Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1520. While the principle duty of the Viceroy Íñigo de Loyola was to use his thousands of troops to defend Spanish Navarre against French attack, Charles ordered the Viceroy to move the bulk of his troops south to help crush the internal Castilian rebellion known as the "Revolt of the Comuneros".

Henry II of Navarre sensing a unique opportunity managed to quickly raise a French army under the command of General Asparroz of over 14,000 which invaded in 1521. Occupied Navarra suddenly erupted in revolt leaving Viceroy Íñigo de Loyola exposed with only a few thousand of his troops besieged in his citadel at Pamplona and his secret police force.

The Citadel held at the Battle of Pamplona - in which Viceroy Íñigo de Loyola was badly injured - ended around May 1521 thanks in some part to the counterinsurgency coordinated by head of the secret police force Francisco Xavier and the loyal members of his company "invisible" amongst the people. Badly injured, Íñigo de Loyola was then unable to continue his duties as Viceroy and he returned to his family fief to recover.

Íñigo de Loyola suddenly became especially religiously fervent sometime after 1522, during his recovery. During that period of recovery he refined his theories on the use of secret forces, agents and assassins to maintain order, apart from brute military force.

By 1523, Íñigo de Loyola was recovered enough from his injuries to return to service and in May/June of that same year he was appointed Emissary of Charles V to Venice to conclude a treaty with the Venetians.

Upon concluding the treaty and before heading to the Holy Land, Íñigo de Loyola is believed to have found the climate and hospitality of the Venetians agreeable to his continued recovery and remained as an honored guest of Doge Andrea Gritti until early 1524.

Loyola was recalled to Spain by Charles V in 1524. He experienced a growing frustration and hatred towards Charles V after being appointed to rule Salamanca in Spain and because of the lack of interest on the part of the Emperor in the refined techniques of Íñigo de Loyola to establish and run a complete secret police force capable of subjugating any enemy.

Contrary to the complete lack of interest of Charles V concerning the "company rule" of Loyola in conducting secret police forces and armies of assassins hidden within the population, King Francis I like the Venetians almost certainly considered such knowledge to be extremely powerful in the art of "statecraft". Loyola no longer considered himself a loyal soldier to the Emperor, instead he was now an agent and teacher to his former enemies, the French, Venetians and English.

Íñigo de Loyola was directly responsible for the formation of the first official Secret Police Force in history when King Francis I in 1527 merged the ancient offices of Constable and Marshal Provost into a new force known as Maréchaussée or, formally, the Constabulary and Marshalcy of France (Connétablie et Maréchaussée de France) - commonly known as the Police.

To ensure the effectiveness and self-regulation of this new concept of a professional "police force", Íñigo de Loyola commissioned them their own "Constitution" which members of the Maréchaussée were sworn to uphold under the concept of "Esprit De Corpus" ("For the spirit of the company"), commonly known as Esprit De Corps.

Despite his frustration at the limits placed upon his vision, Íñigo de Loyola remained in the employ of Francis I at least up to 1534.

After that Loyola was brought into contact with Francis Borja, the paternal great-grandson of Pope Alexander VI. Using the experience under King Francis I, Loyola modified the Constitutions for a new Order - an Order of "Soldiers for Christ" under the “Esprit De Corp” of absolute obedience and loyalty to their Superior, willing to die without hesitation for the "greater glory of God" ("Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam").

By the summer of 1534, Loyola had summoned his old allies to Paris to help establish the new "Soldiers of Christ" including Francis Xavier, Alfonso Salmeron, Diego Laynez, and Nicholas Bobadilla, all Spanish; Peter Faber, a Frenchman; and Simão Rodrigues of Portugal.

On "Assumption Day" of August 15, 1534, Íñigo Loyola and the other six met in the crypt of the Chapel of St. Denis, at Montmartre in Paris and founded the Company of Jesus - "to attack the enemies of the church by any and all means, or to go without questioning wherever the General of the Order might direct".

In this first most secret ceremony of the founding the Order of the “Soldiers of Christ” is the origin of the same secret ceremony of other secret organizations with strict military-like discipline including the notorious Freemasons. During the rite of initiation, each initiate "died" to their old selves, pledging absolute and unquestioning loyalty to the Esprit De Corps, their absolute undying loyalty to Ignatius Loyola as the "illuminated one".

After the ceremony, one group including Loyola headed north to the Netherlands to plan their attempted assassination of the Emperor Charles V, while another group with poison provided from the infamous book of Borja headed to Rome in order to prepare for the assassination  of Giulio de' Medici (Pope Clement VII).

Loyola and the Netherland group failed in their attempt to kill the Emperor, but forty days later September 25, 1534 Pope Clement VII was found dead and Alessandro Farnese was elected the new Pope (Pope Paul III).

Evading capture, Íñigo de Loyola did not return to Paris, but instead travelled straight to Venice where he was warmly received by his old friend Doge Andrea Gritti. But before Venice could help sponsor with the new Pope Paul III the creation of Loyola's international "Police Force", Loyola would need to demonstrate his talents once again and help Venice create a new professional "sea bound" military force.

The Venetians had generally used the military skills of others. The Venetians mostly usually applied their brilliance at banking and finance to broker some deal, as well as payment for the necessary militia skills, known historically as the "lagunari". But the Ottoman Empire and the professional standing armies of Europe meant such kind of "rent-a-war" was no longer viable - especially as Venice continued to face increasing attack.

The solution by Íñigo de Loyola for the Venetians was the formation of the first permanent professional military units of Venice known officially as the Marine Corps - a smaller army of a few thousand highly trained, highly motivated soldiers, sworn by sacred oath to unquestionable and absolute allegiance and honor.

The word marine meaning "sea" and the word corps meaning in this context "bank of knights" therefore the first Marine Corps in history meaning literally "band of sea knights" - the name Fanti da Mar (infantry of the sea) a deliberate distraction to hide their official name.

Íñigo de Loyola and his most loyal companions took their vows and were ordained as Franciscan Priests at the Frari Basilica in 1537. Loyola was at the age of 46 at the time. They swore their allegiance to the "Gray Pope" the Minister General and therefore to Venice and to its partnership with Rome as the Holy See.

The new members of the Orders Friar Minor then traveled to Rome to see Pope Paul III, with Loyola fully expecting to honor his promise and grant the new Police force the "Company of Gesu" for the Venetians and Roman Cult controlling the Catholic Church. However, he was to be immediately frustrated. Such a military entity as presented by Loyola and his friends represented far too much power and the Cardinals were wear of an all out revolt.

Loyola was forced to remain in Rome and play diplomat and politician, offering concessions and conditions such as the new order being based in Rome and not Venice. Also, a strict rule was to be instituted by Loyola to ensure compliance and clear limits on the power of this soon-to-be-unleashed "power". After three long and difficult years, the concessions were sufficient for Pope Paul to feel safe in issuing his Papal Bull.

Pope Paul III confirmed the order through the bull Regimini militantis on September 27, 1540 but limited the number of its members to sixty. This limit severely hampered the role of the Soldiers of Christ and made their purpose of becoming the most powerful Police Force ever conceived unattainable. However, thanks to patience and further negotiation, this limitation on numbers was removed through the Bull Injunctum Nobis on March 14, 1543. Thus was born the Societas Jesu , Society of Jesus, or, as it is commonly known today, "the Jesuits".

Then another significant victory for the early formation of the Jesuits was obtained as Pope Paul III issued a bull in 1545 permitting them to preach, hear confession, dispense the sacraments and say mass without having to refer to a bishop. That had effectively placed the Jesuit members outside the control of the regional clergy.

While technically monks, according to the Constitution of Loyola, the Jesuit priests were exempted from the cloistered rule (i.e. living in monasteries). Instead, Jesuit monks were to live "in the world".

In 1546, Pope Paul III appointed the Jesuits to their first political mission, appointing Lainez and Salmeron as his official representatives at the Council of Trent as Pontifical Theologians. Lainez with the assistance of Cardinal Monroe successfully defeated all but one minor agenda item for reform of the Catholic Church.

It seemed that this and many other subsequent services delivered by the newly created most powerful and versatile special military order in the world made it sure that the power of the Pope remained unchallenged.