An excerpt from the book:
Vatican Assassins by Eric Jon Phelps
"But of the Fourth Vow, taken by no more than two-percent of the Jesuits, we
read the words from M. F. Cusack’s masterpiece, The Black Pope, written in 1896:
“The Jesuit is not permitted to take his full and final vows [Extreme
Oath of the Fourth Vow] until he has attained the age of forty-five. As a
consequence there are few fully professed members of the Order . . .
Thirty-one years shall have been passed in the Order before the final
vows are taken, so that a Jesuit who had not entered the novitiate at a
very early age, might be far older than the years specified before he
could take the final vows. In the meantime he is simply the bond slave
of the General, who may dismiss him at will, or retain him at pleasure.
He must become a corpse in the hands of his superior . . . ” {15}
A portion of the Oath published in 1845 reads:
I, __________ , now in the presence of Almighty God . . . and to you
my ghostly father do declare from my heart, without mental reservation,
that Pope Gregory [XVI] is Christ’s Vicar General, and is the true and
only head of the universal church throughout the earth . . . he hath
power to depose heretical kings, princes, states, commonwealths, and
governments, all being illegal, without his sacred confirmation, and that
they may safely be destroyed;
I do renounce and disown any allegiance as due to any heretical king,
prince, or state, named Protestant, or obedience to any of their inferior
magistrates or officers. I do further declare the doctrine of the Church of
England, of the Calvinists, Huguenots, and other Protestants, to be
damnable, and those to be damned who will not forsake the same. I do
further declare, that I will help, assist, and advise all or any of his
Holiness’s agents in any place wherever I shall be; and do my utmost to
extirpate the heretical protestants’ doctrine, and to destroy all their
pretended power, legal or otherwise. I do further promise and declare,
that notwithstanding I am dispensed with to assume any religion
heretical, for the propagation of the mother church’s interest, to keep
secret and private all her agents’ counsels, as they entrust me, and not to
divulge, directly or indirectly, by word, writing or circumstance
whatsoever, but to execute all which shall be proposed, given in charge,
or discovered unto me, by you my ghostly father, or by any one of this
convent. All which I, _________ , do swear by the blessed Trinity,
and blessed sacrament, which I am now to receive, to perform on my
part to keep inviolably; and do call all the heavenly and glorious host of
heaven, to witness my real intentions to keep this my Oath. In testimony
hereof . . . {16}
The complete Oath published in 1883 reads:
CEREMONY OF INDUCTION AND
EXTREME OATH OF THE JESUITS
[When a Jesuit of the minor rank is to be elevated to command,
he is conducted into the Chapel of the Convent of the Order, where
there are only three others present, the principal or Superior standing in
front of the altar. On either side stands a monk, one of whom holds a
banner of yellow and white, which are the Papal colors, and the other a
black banner with a dagger and red cross above a skull and crossbones,
with the word INRI, and below them the words IUSTUM NECARE
REGES IMPIOS. The meaning of which is: It is just to exterminate or
annihilate impious or heretical Kings, Governments or Rulers. Upon the
floor is a red cross upon which the postulant or candidate kneels. The
Superior hands him a small black crucifix, which he takes in his left
hand and presses to his heart, and the Superior at the same time presents
to him a dagger, which he grasps by the blade and holds the point
against his heart, the Superior still holding it by the hilt, and thus
addresses the postulant.]
SUPERIOR.
My son, heretofore you have been taught to act the dissembler:
among Roman Catholics to be a Roman Catholic, and to be a spy even
among your own brethren; to believe no man, to trust no man. Among
the Reformers, to be a Reformer; among the Huguenots, to be a
Huguenot; among the Calvinists, to be a Calvinist;
among the Protestants, generally to be a Protestant; and obtaining their confidence
to seek even to preach from their pulpits, and to denounce with all the
vehemence in your nature our Holy Religion and the Pope; and even to
descend so low as to become a Jew among the Jews, that you might be
enabled to gather together all information for the benefit of your Order
as a faithful soldier of the Pope.
You have been taught to insidiously plant the seeds of jealousy
and hatred between communities, provinces and states that were at
peace, and incite them to deeds of blood, involving them in war with
each other, and to create revolutions and civil wars in countries that
were independent and prosperous, cultivating the arts and the sciences
and enjoying the blessings of peace. To take sides with the combatants
and to act secretly in concert with your brother Jesuit, who might be
engaged on the other side, but openly opposed to that with which you
might be connected; only that the Church might be the gainer in the end,
in the conditions fixed in the treaties for peace and that the end justifies
the means.
You have been taught your duty as a spy, to gather all statistics,
facts and information in your power from every source; to ingratiate
yourself into the confidence of the family circle of Protestants and
heretics of every class and character, as well as that of the merchant, the
banker, the lawyer, among the schools and universities, in parliaments
and legislatures, and in the judiciaries and councils of state, and to “be
all things to all men,” for the Pope's sake, whose servants we are unto
death.
You have received all your instructions heretofore as a novice, a
neophyte, and have served as a coadjutor, confessor and priest, but you
have not yet been invested with all that is necessary to command in the
Army of Loyola in the service of the Pope. You must serve the proper
time as the instrument and executioner as directed by your superiors
[such as the murder of Cornelius Jansen (1585-1638), Bishop of Ypres,
Holland, and father of Jansenism who was a most determined Roman
Catholic enemy of the Jesuits and died of a sudden illness – the poison
cup – on the 6th of May, 1638 at the young age of fifty-three] for none
can command here who has not consecrated his labors with the blood of
the heretic; for “without the shedding of blood no man can be saved.”
Therefore, to fit yourself for your work and make your own salvation
sure, you will, in addition to your former oath of obedience to your
Order and allegiance to the Pope, repeat after me:
THE EXTREME OATH OF THE JESUITS.
I, M____ N ___ , Now, in the presence of Almighty God, the
Blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed Michael the Archangel, the blessed St.
John the Baptist, the holy Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul and all the
saints and sacred hosts of heaven, and to you, my ghostly father, the
Superior General of the Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius Loyola,
in the Pontificate of Paul the Third [Paul III], and continued to the
present, do by the womb of the Virgin, the matrix of God, and the rod of
Jesus Christ, declare and swear, that his holiness the Pope is Christ's
Vice-regent and is the true and only Head of the Catholic or Universal
Church throughout the earth; and that by virtue of the keys of binding
and loosing, given to his Holiness by my Saviour, Jesus Christ, he hath
power to depose heretical kings, princes, states, commonwealths and
governments, all being illegal without his sacred confirmation and that
they may safely be destroyed. Therefore, to the utmost of my power, I
shall and will defend this doctrine and His Holiness’ right and custom
against all usurpers of the heretical or Protestant authority whatever,
especially the Lutheran Church of Germany, Holland, Denmark,
Sweden and Norway, and the now pretended authority and churches of
England and Scotland, and branches of the same now established in
Ireland and on the Continent of America and elsewhere; and all
adherents in regard that they be usurped and heretical, opposing the
sacred Mother Church of Rome. I do now renounce and disown any
allegiance as due to any heretical king, prince or state named Protestants
or Liberals or obedience to any of their laws, magistrates or officers.
I do further declare that the doctrines of the churches of England
and Scotland, of the Calvinists, Huguenots and others of the name
Protestants or Liberals to be damnable, and they themselves damned
and to be damned who will not forsake the same.
I do further declare, that I will help, assist and advise all or any
of his Holiness’ agents in any place wherever I shall be, in Switzerland,
Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, England, Ireland, or
America, or in any other kingdom or territory I shall come to, and do
my uttermost to extirpate the heretical Protestants or Liberals’ doctrines
and to destroy all their pretended powers, regal or otherwise.
I do further promise and declare, that notwithstanding I am
dispensed with, to assume any religion heretical, for the propagating of
the Mother Church’s interest, to keep secret and private all her agents’
counsels from time to time, as they may entrust me, and not to divulge,
directly or indirectly, by word, writing or circumstance whatever; but to
execute all that shall be proposed, given in charge or discovered unto
me, by you, my ghostly father, or any of this sacred convent.
I do further promise and declare, that I will have no opinion or
will of my own, or any mental reservation whatever, even as a corpse or
cadaver, (perinde ac cadaver), but will unhesitatingly obey each and
every command that I may receive from my superiors in the Militia of
the Pope and of Jesus Christ.
That I will go to any part of the world whithersoever I may be
sent, to the frozen regions of the North, the burning sands of the desert
of Africa, or the jungles of India, to the centres of civilization of Europe,
or to the wild haunts of the barbarous savages of America, without
murmuring or repining, and will be submissive in all things whatsoever
communicated to me.
I furthermore promise and declare that I will, when opportunity
presents, make and wage relentless war, secretly or openly, against all
heretics, Protestants and Liberals, as I am directed to do, to extirpate
and exterminate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will
spare neither age, sex or condition; and that I will hang, burn, waste,
boil, flay, strangle and bury alive these infamous heretics, rip up the
stomachs and wombs of their women and crush their infants’ heads
against the walls, in order to annihilate forever their execrable race. That
when the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly use the poisoned
cup, the strangulating cord, the steel of the poniard or the leaden bullet,
regardless of the honor, rank, dignity, or authority of the person or
persons, whatever may be their condition in life, either public or private,
as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agent of the Pope or
Superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Faith, of the Society of Jesus.
In confirmation of which, I hereby dedicate my life, my soul and
all my corporeal powers, and with this dagger which I now receive, I
will subscribe my name written in my own blood, in testimony thereof;
and should I prove false or weaken in my determination, may my
brethren and fellow soldiers of the Militia of the Pope cut off my hands
and my feet, and my throat from ear to ear, my belly opened and sulphur
burned therein, with all the punishment that can be inflicted upon me on
earth and my soul be tortured by demons in an eternal hell forever!
All of which I, M ___ N ___ , do swear by the blessed Trinity
and blessed Sacrament, which I am now to receive, to perform and on
my part to keep inviolably; and do call all the heavenly and glorious
host of heaven to witness these my real intentions to keep this my oath.
In testimony hereof I take this most holy and blessed Sacrament
of the Eucharist, and witness the same further, with my name written
with the point of this dagger dipped in my own blood and sealed in the
face of this holy convent.
[He receives the wafer from the Superior and writes his name
with the point of his dagger dipped in his own blood taken from over the
heart.]
SUPERIOR.
You will now rise to your feet and I will instruct you in the
Catechism necessary to make yourself known to any member of the
Society of Jesus belonging to this rank.
In the first place, you, as a Brother Jesuit, will with another
mutually make the ordinary sign of the cross as any ordinary Roman
Catholic would; then one crosses his wrists, the palms of his hands open,
the other in answer crosses his feet, one above the other; the first points
with the forefinger of the right hand to the center of the palm of the left,
the other with the forefinger of the left hand points to the center of the
palm of the right; the first then with his right hand makes a circle around
his head, touching it; the other then with the forefinger of his left hand
touches the left side of his body just below his heart; the first then with
his right hand draws it across the throat of the other, and the latter then
with his right hand makes the motion of cutting with a dagger down the
stomach and abdomen of the first. The first then says Iustum; and the
other answers Necare; the first then says Reges. The other answers
Impios. (The meaning of which has already been explained.) The first
will then present a small piece of paper folded in a peculiar manner,
four times, which the other will cut longitudinally and on opening the
name JESU will be found written upon the head and arms of a cross
three times. You will then give and receive with him the following
questions and answers.
Ques. From whither do you come?
Ans. From the bends of the Jordan, from Calvary, from the Holy
Sepulchre, and lastly from Rome.
Ques. What do you keep and for what do you fight?
Ans. The Holy faith.
Ques. Whom do you serve?
Ans. The Holy Father at Rome, the Pope, and the Roman
Catholic Church Universal throughout the world.
Ques. Who commands you?
Ans. The Successor of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the
Society of Jesus or the Soldiers of Jesus Christ.
Ques. Who received you?
Ans. A venerable man in white hair.
Ques. How?
Ans. With a naked dagger, I kneeling upon the cross beneath the
banners of the Pope and of our sacred Order.
Ques. Did you take an oath?
Ans. I did, to destroy heretics and their governments and rulers,
and to spare neither age, sex nor condition. To be as a corpse without
any opinion or will of my own, but to implicitly obey my superiors in
all things without hesitation or murmuring.
Ques. Will you do that?
Ans. I will.
Ques. How do you travel?
Ans. In the bark of Peter the fisherman.
Ques. Whither do you travel?
Ans. To the four quarters of the globe.
Ques. For what purpose?
Ans. To obey the orders of my General and Superiors and
execute the will of the Pope and faithfully fulfill the conditions of my
oath.
Ques. Go ye, then, into all the world and take possession of all
lands in the name of the Pope. He who will not accept him as the Vicar
of Jesus and his Vice-regent on earth, let him be accursed and
exterminated. {17} [Emphasis added]
(This same identical Oath can be found in Subterranean Rome by Carlos Didier,
translated from the French and published in New York in 1843. It can also be found in
the Library of Congress, Catalog Card Number, 66-43354.)"
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