Cordoba's Jesuits

Cordoba is now the second city of Argentina, but during the period from 1604 to 1767, its primary importance was as the administrative centre of the Jesuits in this region. Now I have to admit, whilst I have of course heard of them, I actually knew very little about the Jesuits, so before I get into talking about what we did here, I figured I'd drop in a quick background post about who they are and what they were doing here.

The Society of Jesus was formed in 1539, by the man who would become its first Superior General, Ignatius Loyola, and was given Papal approval the following year.

Loyola was a Spanish Knight, who was injured whilst defending Pamplona against the French. He was hit in the legs by a cannonball on 20 May 1521, and complications in his treatment brought him close to death and led to a lengthy period of recovery. It is said that the only books available for him to read during this time, were about Jesus Christ and the Saints, and it was this that caused him to change the course of his life to religion.

A pilgrimage to Monserrat in Spain was followed by a year spent as a beggar and in prayer, during which time he wrote down a book of 'Spiritual Exercises'. He made a further pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where he wanted to stay, but was not permitted to do so. Instead, he returned to Spain, and began a long period of study.

He soon developed a band of followers, but his teachings caused concerns, and having twice been arrested, tried and acquitted of heresy, he moved to France. After getting himself into similar trouble there, he refrained from further teachings until after he was ordained in 1537, not saying his first Mass until Christmas Day in 1538.

The following year, he and his band of disciples created a formal union of the Society of Jesus, with him as its leader, and it was given approval by Pope Paul III in 1540. The Order took a slightly more modern approach to the church in some aspects, but requires vows of chastity, poverty and obedience It is committed to both spiritual development and education, following a vision of  'finding God in all things'.

The Jesuits were a key part of the missionary movement, immediately beginning to travel to other countries to establish Missions, with the intention of bringing their religion to the inhabitants. South America was one of the many places that they went to.

The Colonists there, in this case predominantly the Spanish, had a devastating impact on the native communities. As in so many cases of colonisation, (including the British Empire, which many of my compatriots still seem so proud of,) they arrived with an attitude of superiority and entitlement, and set about 'civilising' the people whose lands they had invaded, forcing them to work in return for 'teaching' them.

Many fought against this enslavement, and were killed. Others were hit by the diseases that the Europeans brought with them, against which they had no natural defences. The result was that many indigenous tribes and communities were wiped out.

Whilst the Jesuits were not responsible for the colonisation, and the Order appears to have been more restrained in its behaviours than some other parties, that doesn't mean that they didn't make use of slavery, and the indigenous people were clearly regarded as a lesser race than the white Europeans.

Nonetheless, the Jesuits became a key part of South American society, and the Jesuit Province of Paraguay covered a huge area of what is now Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. That whole Province was run from here in Cordoba.

The order acquired a whole city block to use for its headquarters, and outside of the city, they had six key Estancias, or ranches, where they ran farms and mills to support their organisation. We toured the city block and visited one of the Esstancias in Alta Gracia, but I'll tell you about those in the next few posts.

The Jesuits' importance wasn't just in South America; they had gained tremendous influence in society as a whole. They were often the chosen confessional priests for European royalty, and were also known for having a key role in the notorious Spanish Inquisition. They may have given us British our Bonfire Night, having been said to have been behind the November 5th Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament in 1605, although these days the prevailing opinion is that the theory may just have been a sneaky ruse to discredit them.

Certainly there have been tales of other nefarious deeds over the years, that have been comprehensively debunked, including involvement in the assassination of President Kennedy, and suggestions that they had the Titanic both built and sunk as a rather slow, expensive and elaborate - not to mention remarkably unreliable - plan to get rid of three men who were opposing the creation of the US Federal Reserve.

But conspiracy theories aside, the Jesuits soon had their problems. As ever, when a group becomes too popular or powerful, there are those who want to usurp their position and influence, and in due course, the Jesuits suffered a major downfall. In 1767, the King of Spain expelled them from Cordoba and South America, and then six years later, after pressure from the governments of France, Spain and Portugal, Pope Clement XIV issued a decree abolishing the Jesuit Order entirely.

The order would eventually be re-established in 1814 by Pope Pius VII, and they returned to Cordoba in 1853, but in the meantime, the University had taken over much of the property that they had controlled. Nonetheless, Cordoba remains an important place for the Jesuits, and indeed it was here that Jorge Bergoglio, rather better known these days as Pope Francis, spent two years in exile. But that would be a story for another day.