The spirit of the eighteenth century was distinctly unfavourable to the religious orders. The Rationalists, the Freemasons, and the friends of absolutism joined hands in opposing the foundation of new establishments and in securing the suppression of the houses that had already been founded. In Austria, in Naples, in Spain, and in France a violent campaign was carried on to bring about the dissolution of several of the religious orders and congregations, or at least to so alter their rules and constitutions that they should be cut adrift from Rome and subject to the authority of the secular rulers. During the campaign many houses were suppressed in Austria and in the other territories of the empire, but by far the greatest victory of which its authors could boast was the suppression of the Society of Jesus.
Yet in spite of the enemies of the Church the religious orders held their ground, and apostolic men arose to lay the foundations of new bodies, that were destined to take a glorious part in the religious revival of the nineteenth century. One of the most remarkable of these was St. Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori[11] (1696-1787). He was born near Naples, adopted at first the profession of a lawyer, but he soon forsook the bar to give himself entirely to God, and was ordained a priest in 1726. In 1732 he laid the foundation of a new religious society, the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, which was approved by Benedict XIV. in 1749. After having refused various honours he was compelled to accept the Bishopric of St. Agatha (1762)from which he retired in 1775 to devote himself to prayer, and to the composition of those spiritual treatises that have given him such a leading place not merely as a moral theologian but as a master in the ascetic life. In 1744 he issued his Notes on Busenbaum's Moral Theology, which notes formed the basis of his /Theologia Moralis/published in 1753-55, and which went through nine editions during his own life-time. He was declared Venerable (1796), canonised (1839), and recognised as a Doctor of the Church (1871).
The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (The Redemptorists) was founded by St. Alphonsus at Scala, near Amalfi, in the kingdom of Naples (1732), and was approved in 1749. The aim of its members was to imitate the virtues and example of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, by consecrating themselves especially to preaching the word of God to the poor. The opposition of the Neapolitan prime minister, Tanucci, was a source of great trouble to the holy founder. On the fall of Tanucci St. Alphonsus thought that a favourable opportunity had come for securing the approval of the government, but he was betrayed by his friends into accepting a modification of the constitution, the /Regolamento/ (1779-80), which led to a separation between the Redemptorist houses in Naples and those situated in the Papal States.
The dispute was, however, healed in 1793. The Society spread rapidly in Italy, in Germany, where its interests were safeguarded by Father Hofbauer, and during the nineteenth century houses were established in every country in Europe, in America and in Australia.
The Passionists[12] (The Congregation of Discalced Clerics of the Most Holy Cross and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ) were founded by St.
Paul of the Cross (1694-1775). The latter was born at Ovada near Genoa, was ordained by Pope Benedict XIII. (1727) who at the same time gave his approval of the rules drawn up for the new society, founded his first house at Argentaro, and thereby laid the foundation of the Congregation of the Passionists. The new society received the formal sanction and approval of Clement XIV. (1769) and of Pius VI. (1775).
Before the death of the founder several houses had been established in Italy, all of which were suppressed during the disturbances that followed in the wake of the French Revolution. The congregation was, however, re-constituted by Pius VII. (1814), and spread rapidly in Europe, in the United States, and in South America. The first house of the Passionists in England was established by the celebrated Father Dominic at Aston Hall in Staffordshire (1842), and the first house in Ireland was opened at Mount Argus in 1856.
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[1] /Summa S. Thomas hodiernis Academiarum moribus accomodata/.
[2] New edition, 10 vols., 1902-5.
[3] Denzinger, op. cit., no. 1219.
[4] Berthe-Castle, /Life of St. Alphonsus de' Liguori/, 1905.
[5] Bausset, /Histoire de Bossuet/, 4 vols., 1814. Jovy, /Etudes et recherches sur Jacques-Benigne Bossuet/, etc., 1903.
[6] Bausset, /Histoire de Fenelon/, 1809. De Broglie, /Episcopat de Fenelon/, 1884.
[7] Bouillier, /Histoire de la philosophie cartesienne/, 2 vols., 1868. Haldane, /Descartes, His Life and Times/, 1906.
[8] Giraud, /Pascal, l'homme, l'oeuvre, l'influence/, 1905. Janssens, /La philosophie et l'apologetique de Pascal/, 1896.
[9] Andre, /Vie du R. P. Malebranche/, 1886. Olle-Laprune, /La philosophie de Malebranche/, 2 vols., 1870.
[10] Ferriere, /La doctrine de Spinoza exposee et commentee/, 1899.
[11] Berthe-Castle, /Life of St. Alphonsus de' Liguori/, 2 vols., 1905.
[12] Pius a Spiritu Sancto, /The Life of St. Paul of the Cross/, 1868.
End History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the French RevolutionVolume 2by Rev. James MacCaffrey Lic. Theol. (Maynooth), Ph.D. (Freiburg i. B.)Professor of Ecclesiastical History, St. Patrick's College, MaynoothNihil Obstat:
Thomas O'Donnell, C.M.
Censor Theol. Deput.
Imprimi Potest:
Guilielmus, Archiep. Dublinen., Hiberni? Primas.
Dublini, 16 Decembris, 1914.
HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH