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Ignatius Loyola and Reginald Pole: A Reconsideration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2009

Thomas M. McCoog SJ
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Extract

‘Revisionist’ historians, led by David Loades, have begun to reexamine various aspects of the reign of Mary Tudor and thus to challenge traditional interpretations. Anyone considering the religious history of that period eventually encounters Cardinal Reginald Pole's refusal to accept into England some members of the newly founded Society of Jesus. Concurrent with the reappraisal of Mary's reign, a similar re-examination has dominated early Jesuit historiography. This work, which has generally passed unnoticed by Tudor historians, highlights the encouragement and support that the Society received from reformers, spirituali such as Cardinal Gasparo Contarini and Cardinal Giovanni Morone and, equally important, the attacks that both suffered from their common critics, for example from Gian Pietro Carafa (later Pope Paul iv), and Melchor Cano. One of that circle was Cardinal Reginald Pole. As research elucidates the relationship between that group and the Jesuits, it adds a new dimension to the old question: why did Pole resist Jesuit involvement in the restoration of English Catholicism? It is the purpose of this article to bring the two fields together and so first to demonstrate how developments in Jesuit historiography challenge established views and, second, to propose a more plausible interpretation.

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The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , April 1996 , pp. 257 - 273
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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References

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3 Pole was Vittoria Colonna's spiritual director; she assisted the Jesuits Simão Rodrigues and Claude Jay in Ferrara in 1539. Contarini had made the Spiritual Exercises under the direction of Ignatius himself.

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18 Ibid. 31–5. With the exception of Mary of Hungary, Ignatius had considerably more success with the female members of the Habsburg family than he did with the male. Indeed the Infanta Juana, daughter of Emperor Charles v and Regent of the Spanish kingdoms, was actually a member of the Society of Jesus. For an exposition of Loyola's relations with royal women, see the introduction to ‘The Courtier of Heaven’, ibid. 29–37.

19 Pol. Chron. iv. 310–11. One wonders whether Ignatius' decision reflects one of the most important aspects of the marriage treaty between Mary Tudor and Philip of Spain: the creation of a new northern state out of England and the Spanish Netherlands to contain France: Lynch, John, Spain 1516–1598: from nation state to world empire, Oxford 1991, 134 Google Scholar.

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24 MI Epp.. vii. 472, 576; Pol. Chron. iv. 296. The marriage treaty stipulated ‘That Philip shall have none in his service but the queen's natural born subjects. That he shall not bring Foreigners into England, to make the English uneasy, and that he shall punish the contraveners. That he shall make no Alteration in the laws and customs of England.’: Acta Regia: or An account of the treaties, letters, and instruments between monarchs of England and foreign powers, London 1728, iii. 407–8Google Scholar. Philip's vacillation over the Society is but one example of his uncertainty regarding the composition of his retinue. In response to advice from his father, the Spanish ambassador, and his councillors, Philip changed his mind several times: Loades, David, The reign of Mary Tudor, London 1979, 134 Google Scholar. Approximately a dozen clerics journeyed to England with Philip. Theologians such as Juan de Villagarcía and Bartolomé Carranza were to work in London and the universities: Rodríguez-Salgado, M. J., The changing face of empire: Charles V, Philip II and Habsburg authority, 1551–1559, Cambridge 1988, 199 Google Scholar.

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26 MI Epp. viii. 305–6.

27 The Roman College opened in 1551 and the German College in 1552. To assist the German College, Pole promised an annual donation of 500 aurei: ARSI, Rom. 157/I, fo. 13r.

28 MI Epp. viii. 308–10 (translated in Letters of Saint Ignatius Loyola, 361–2).

29 8 05 1555, MI Epp. viii. 311–12Google Scholar.

30 Interestingly this request is not mentioned at all in Morone's extant correspondence. I am indebted to Thomas F. Mayer for this information.

31 MI Epp. viii. 574. On Morone's request see Bangert, , Nadal, 139–41Google Scholar.

32 In his doctoral thesis ‘Cardinal Pole – papal legate to England in Mary Tudor's reign’, Cambridge 1972, p. 121 Google Scholar, Rex Pogson demonstrates Pole's reliance on Morone whose friendship and advice Pole valued.

33 2 07 1555, MI Epp. ix. 275 Google Scholar.

34 Polanco to Francis Borgia, 13 Nov. 1555, Ibid. x. 132; Ignatius to Olivier, 3 Dec. 1555, ibid. x. 247; Ignatius to Nadal, 5 Dec. 1555, ibid. x. 259; Ignatius to Ribadeneira, 30 Mar. 1556, ibid. xi. 195; Pol. Chron. vi. 445–6.

35 6, 18 07 1555, MI Epp. ix. 284–6, 299–300Google Scholar; Pol. Chron. v. 291, 312.

36 Ibid. v. 555–6.

37 Loyola, to Ribadeneira, , 9 06 1556, MI Epp. xi. 551 Google Scholar. Loyola's, first candidate was Pedro de Tablares but Borgia's, doubts resulted in the change: Pol. Chron. v. 555–6Google Scholar.

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39 Polanco to Borgia, 13 Nov. 1555, ibid. x. 132; Loyola to Nicolas Lanoy, 21 Mar. 1556, ibid. xi. 154; Loyola to Salmerón, 20 May 1556, ibid. xi. 424.

40 Loyola to Borgia, 14 Sept. 1555, ibid, ix, 616; Loyola to Nadal, 21 Nov. 1555, ibid. x. 179; Loyola to Lanoy, 25 Jan. 1556, ibid. x. 567.

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44 It seems that Pole had progressed from reluctance to opposition. Unfortunately Laínez did not say why he thought Pole was displeased with the Society. Crehan suggested that Pole was upset because his friend Bobadilla was badly treated in the constitutional struggle that followed the death of Loyola and the convening of the general congregation to elect his successor: ‘Saint Ignatius and Cardinal Pole’, 87, 91–3. On this struggle see Bangert, , Nadal, 108–9Google Scholar. One wonders, however, how well informed Pole would have been of the conflict and what grounds he would have had for concluding that Bobadilla had been badly treated.

45 Laínez, to Duke, of Feria, 17 09 1558, Epp. Laínez, iii. 539, 539–40nnGoogle Scholar; Epp. Ribad. i. 70–1.

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49 For more detail on this see Crehan, , ‘Saint Ignatius and Cardinal Pole’, 87, 91–93Google Scholar.

50 Loyola's relationship with Cardinal Carafa, later Pope Paul iv, was not especially amiable. Indeed, Loyola had feared Carafa's election: Quinn, Peter A., ‘Ignatius Loyola and Gian Pietro Carafa: Catholic reformers at odds’, Catholic Historical Review lxvii (1981), 386–400 Google Scholar.

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52 Both Scaduto, Mario (L'Epoca di Giacomo Lainez Il Governo 1556–1565, Rome 1964, 82–3)Google Scholar and Simoncelli, Paolo (Il caso Reginald Pole: eresia e santità nelle polemiche religiose del cinquecento, Rome 1977, 187–91)Google Scholar have discussed the support the Society provided in the defence of these men.

53 Heresy and obedience, 257.

54 ‘Revival and reform in Mary Tudor's Church: a question of money’, in Haigh, Christopher (ed.) The English Reformation revised, Cambridge 1987, 141 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and ‘The legacy of the schism: confusion, continuity and change in the Marian clergy’, in Loach, Jennifer and Tittler, Robert (eds), The mid-Tudor polity c. 1540–1560, London 1980, 134 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also his ‘Reginald Pole and the priorities of government’, Historical Journal xviii (1975), 3–20 Google Scholar.

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67 Loades observes the difference between Pole in Italy and Pole in England. Despite his earlier humanism and his continued interest in an educated clergy, the cardinal was ‘paternalistic and negative’ in his approach to the laity. Frequently employing images from the nursery and the classroom, ‘the function of the layman was to perform his sacramental and ceremonial duties, to pay honour (and tithe) to the clergy, and to restore the battered material fabric of his parish church’. See ‘The piety of the Catholic restoration in England, 1553–1558’, in Kirk, James (ed.), Humanism and reform: the Church in Europe, England, and Scotland, 1400–1643: essays in honour of James K Cameron, Oxford 1991, 296 Google Scholar.

68 Loyola, , Constitutions, 70 no. 6, 261–2 nos 586, 587 and n. 4Google Scholar; O'Malley, , First Jesuits, 136, 159–62Google Scholar.

69 Loades points out that in the attempt to revitalise the English Church Pole only looked to one continental source for aid: the reformed congregation of Monte Cassino. They did not come: ‘Catholic restoration in England’, 295.

70 Crehan, , ‘Saint Ignatius and Cardinal Pole’, 85, 97–8Google Scholar.

71 Loyola, to Borgia, , 14 09 1555, MI Epp. ix. 610 Google Scholar; Loyola to Borgia, 14 Sept. 1555, ibid. x. 616; Loyola to Jean Pelletier, 21 Sept. 1555, ibid. x. 637.

72 O'Malley, , First Jesuits, 234–5Google Scholar. For an exposition of the relationship between the college and Ignatian educational ideals see Cesareo, Francesco C., ‘The Collegium Germanicum and the Ignatian vision of education’, Sixteenth Century Journal xxiv (1993), 829–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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74 This is not to minimise Pole's interest in reform. Pole was the cardinal protector of the Benedictine Congregation of Monte Cassino. He had hoped that two members of that congregation would come to England to aid in the restoration of the Benedictines at Westminster. Even though he was not successful in his bid, Pole supported the restoration after he had made a few reforms after the Cassinese model: Knowles, David, The religious orders in England, Cambridge 1959, iii. 424–5Google Scholar.

75 In ‘Catholic restoration in England’, 298–9, 303, Loades has nuanced the reactionary nature of Mary's restoration.

76 Idem, Reign of Mary Tudor, 352–4.

77 Tudor England, Oxford 1988, 227 Google Scholar.

78 A letter from Antonio de Córdoba's to Laínez substantiates this interpretation. Writing from Montilla, he reported that he had heard from the count of Oropesa, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, who claimed to have been told by Pedro de Soto that Pole's opposition to the Society stemmed from two causes, their discarding of choir service and their repudiation of bishoprics: 3 03 1558, Epp. Laínez, iii. 172 Google Scholar.

79 According to the extant catalogues the first Englishman was a Thomas Lith who entered in 1555: McCoog, Thomas M. sj, Monumenta Angliae, Rome 1992, ii. 395 Google Scholar. The Thomas Anglus who entered the German College in 1554 was probably Thomas Natale who entered the Jesuits in 1556: Schmidt, Peter, Das Collegium Germanicum und die Germaniker, Tübingen 1984, 219 Google Scholar; McCoog, , Monumenta Angliae, ii. 415 Google Scholar.

80 Both Fenlon, Dermot (Heresy and obedience, 257)Google Scholar and A. G. Dickens offer the same conclusion. In Dickens's, words ‘It remains very possible that Pole foresaw the hostility which the mass-introduction of a “Spanish” Order might provoke in England’: The English Reformation, 2nd edn, London 1989, 427 n. 73Google Scholar. Haigh, Christopher also suggests this possibility in his cautious evaluation of Pole's refusal: ‘Controversial preaching by a rigorist order with foreign experience and leadership might have been disruptive, and it would have been some years before English (or English-speaking) Jesuits could be trained’: English reformations, 224 Google Scholar.

81 O'Malley, , First Jesuits, 54 Google Scholar. Evidence of Spanish dominance can be found both in the nationalities of the first three generals – Loyola, Laínez and Borgia – and in the composition of the first general congregation in 1558. Of its participants 70% were Spanish: Woodward, , Philip II, 55 Google Scholar.

82 There were, it is true, important Spanish theologians in England during Mary's reign, including Alonso á Castro, Bartolomé Carranza, later imprisoned and accused of heresy, Juan de Villagarcía, appointed Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford, and Pedro de Soto, appointed Professor of Hebrew at Oxford. All came in Philip's entourage. See Loades, David The Oxford martyrs, London 1970, 158, 225, 259Google Scholar, and Revolution in religion: the English Reformation 1530–1570, Cardiff 1992, 70 Google Scholar. The attack on Carranza was led by Fernando de Valdés, inquisitor-general and archbishop of Toledo, and Carranza's fellow Dominican Melchor Cano. On Carranza's relations with the Society see O'Malley, , First Jesuits, 317–20Google Scholar.