Lorenzo Ricci

Lorenzo Ricci (2 August 1703 – 24 November 1775) was an Italian Jesuit, elected the eighteenth Superior General of the Society of Jesus. He was also the last before the suppression of the Jesuits in 1773.

Early life and career

Ricci was born in Florence, Italy, into one of the most ancient and illustrious families of Tuscany. When very young, he was sent to Prato to the Jesuits Cicognini College. He entered the Society when he was scarcely fifteen, on 16 December 1718, at the novitiate of S. Andrea at Rome.

Having completed his studies in philosophy (1722–25) and theology (1729–34) at the Roman College of Rome, he taught at Siena and Rome. He was formally professed in August 1736. From 1751 to 1755 he was spiritual director at the Roman College. In fact this quiet and unassuming spiritual work – in particular giving the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola (a form of guided retreat) – seemed to have had his preference. In 1755, he was chosen secretary of the society.

Superior General

At the 19th General Congregation, in May 1758, Ricci was elected Superior General of the Society of Jesus at the second ballot. Guilio Cordara, who lived near Ricci and seems to have known him intimately, deplored this choice: "On account of his placid nature and too even temper, I regarded him as little suited for a time when disturbance and storm seem to require extraordinary application of unusual remedies to unusual evils". Ricci himself asked to be relieved of the responsibility.

Jesuits in Portugal

The crisis with the Catholic Bourbon royal courts was coming to a head. Four months after Ricci's election, an attempt was made on the life of King Joseph I of Portugal. Prime Minister Carvalho, jealous of Gabriel Malagrida's influence at court, charged the Jesuit with involvement in the plot. Malagrida was declared guilty of high treason, but, as a priest, could not be executed without the consent of the Inquisition, so he was executed for heresy instead. The Jesuits were expelled from Portugal in September 1759. The decree also included the Portuguese possessions of Brazil, Goa, and Macao.

Jesuits in France

The Jesuits in France had earned the enmity of the influential Madame de Pompadour. According to the Comtesse de Courson, in 1752 Pompadour had approached the Jesuits requesting to be openly admitted the sacraments, in hopes of strengthening her position and influence to the detriment of the Queen and the Dauphin. Suspecting her motives were less than spiritual, the priests demurred until such time as she should cease to be the King's mistress. Within a few years she became one of the most ardent promoters of the destruction of the Society; the reason for her hostility suspected by many.

Antoine de La Valette was the thirty-four-year-old superior of the missions in Martinique, which were heavily in debt. Lavallette borrowed heavily, became over-extended, and went bankrupt when the British seized twelve of thirteen ships carrying produce from the plantations for sale in France. The Society's efforts to intervene with LaValette in Martinique were hampered by the Seven Years' War. The war had left France almost bankrupt, and the Duke de Choiseul, minister for foreign affairs and secretary of war, saw in the Jesuit assets an opportunity to rebuild crown revenue. The French Jesuits were making an effort to settle with the creditors, but when the case was brought before the courts, the whole Society was held responsible for the debt, and a decree was issued for the seizure of all their property. This rendered the Society in France bankrupt. An anonymous French author published a pamphlet supposedly of letters between Ricci and Corsican insurgents. The Society was expelled from France in 1764, from Spain and Naples in 1767, and from the Duchy of Parma in 1768. The helpless Ricci saw it all.

As long as Clement XIII was pope, the Society was somehow protected in Rome. The Pope gave a new public approval of the Society (the bull Apostolicum pascendi, of 1769). The Pope advised courage, prayer and patience to Ricci, who was inexperienced in the art of governing and who had always lived apart from the world and diplomatic intrigues.

Ricci sent circular letters to the Jesuits on Fervent perseverance in Prayer (1763), On greater fervour in prayer in 1769, and just a few months before the suppression of the Society another one on a New Incentive to Prayer (February 1773). Clearly he was not in touch with what was going on. But pressure on the Holy See was increasing and at the conclave called (in 1769) to elect a successor to Clement XIII the suppression of the Jesuits was the main issue. Clement XIV was elected; it is not clear whether he made a promise to have the Society suppressed. After his election Clement XIV took harsh and humiliating decisions against the Society in order to placate its enemies, but political pressure went on unrelentingly and the Pope finally suppressed the order (Dominus ac Redemptor of 21 July 1773), the main reason being that he wanted to "restore peace in the Church".

Death

Jesuit communities were disbanded, libraries confiscated, and properties looted. Under pressure from Spanish ambassador José Moñino, 1st Count of Floridablanca, Ricci was put behind bars at the Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome, where he suffered further humiliation and ill treatment (for example, he was not allowed to celebrate the mass). The charges leveled publicly against the Jesuits were never brought in a court of law: no process of justice was gone through. Before he died Ricci solemnly declared before witnesses: "I say and protest that the Society of Jesus did not give any ground warranting its suppression; nor is there any right reason why I should have been put in jail." He is buried in the crypt of the Gesù Church in Rome.

About six weeks after Ricci's death, Pope Pius VI ordered the release of Ricci's five assistants.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Lorenzo Ricci — General of the Society of Jesus b. at Florence, 2 Aug., 1703; d. at the Castle of Sant' Angelo, Rome, 24 Nov., 1775. He belonged to one of the most ancient, and illustrious families of Tuscany. He had two brothers, one of whom subsequently became canon of the. cathedral and the other was raised by Francis I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, to the dignity of first syndic of the Grand duchy. Sent when very young to Prato to pursue, his studies under the direction of the Society of Jesus in the celebrated Cicognini college, he entered the society when he was scarcely fifteen, 16 Dec., 1718, at the novitiate of S. Andrea at Rome. Having made the usual course of philosophical and theological studies and twice defended with rare success public theses in these subjects, he was successively charged with teaching belles lettres and philosophy it Siena, and philosophy and theology at the Roman College, from which he was promoted to the foremost office of his order. Meanwhile he was admitted to the profession of the four vows, 15 Aug., 1736. About 1751 his edifying and regular life, his discretion, gentleness, and simplicity caused him to be appointed to the important office of spiritual father, the duties of which he discharged to the satisfaction of all. In 1755 Father Luigi Centurione, who appreciated his eminent qualities, chose him as secretary of the society. Finally in the Nineteenth Congregation he was elected general by unanimous vote, (21 May, 1758). It was at the most stormy and distressed period of its existence that the senate of the society placed its government and its destinies in the, hand of a man deeply virtuous and endowed with rare merit, but, who was inexperienced in the art of governing and who had always lived apart from the world and diplomatic intrigues. The historiographer Julius Cordara, who lived near Ricci and seems to have known him intimately, deplored this choice: "Eundem tot, inter iactationes ac fluctus cum aliquid praeter morem audendum et malis inusitatis inusitata remedia adhibenda videbantur, propter ipsam nature placiditatem et nulla unquam causa incalescentem animum, minus aptum arbitrabar" (On account of his placid nature and too even temper, I regarded him as little suited for a time when disturbance and storm seem to require extraordinary application of unusual remedies to unusual evils). (Denkwurdigkeiten der Jesuiten, p.19.) On the other hand it must be admitted that the new general did not have much leeway.

In his first interview with Clement XIII, who had assumed the tiara 6 July, 1758, and always showed himself deeply attached to the Jesuits, the pope counselled him: "Silentium, patientiam et preces; cetera sibi curae fore" (Cordara, op. cit., 22), The saintly superior followed this line of conduct to the letter and incessantly inculcated it in his subordinates. The seven encyclical letters which he addressed to them in the fifteen years of his generalship all breathe the sweetest and tenderest piety and zeal for their religious perfection. "Preces vestras", he says in the last, that of 21 Feb., 1773, "animate omni pietatis exercitio accurate fervideque obeundo, mutua inter vosmetipsos caritate, obedientia et observantia erga eos qui vobis Dei loco sunt, tolerantia laborurn, aerumnarum, paupertatis, contumeliarum, secessu et solitudine, prudentia et evangelica in agendo simplicitate, boni exempli operibus, piisque colloquiis" (Let your prayers be inspired by every practice of piety, with mutual charity among yourselves, obedience and respect for those who hold the place of God in your regard, en durance of labour, of hardships, of poverty, of insult in retreat and solitude, with prudence and evangelical simplicity of conduct, the example of good works, and pious conversation). (Epistolae praepositorum generalium S.J., 11, Ghent 1847, 306). This pious and profoundly upright man was nevertheless not wanting on occasion in courage and firmness. When it was suggested to save the French provinces of his order by giving them a superior entirely independent of the general of Rome he refused thus to transgress the. constitutions committed to his care and uttered to the pope the ever famous saying: "Sint ut sunt aut non sint" (Leave them as they are or not at all). (Cordara, op. cit., 35) Unfortunately he placed all his confidence in hi,, assistant for Italy, Father Timoni, of Greek origin, "vir quippe praefidens sibi, iudiciique sui plus nimio tenax" (Idem, op. cit., 20), who, like many other expected the society to be saved by a miracle of Providence. When, to the mass of pamphlets aimed against the Jesuits, the Portuguese episcopate brought the reinforcement of pastoral letters, a number of bishops wrote to the pope letters which were very eulogistic of the Society of Jesus and its Institute, and Clement XIII hastened to send a copy to Father Ricci. It was a brilliant apologia for the order Cordara and many of his brethren considered it, expedient to publish this correspondence in full with the sole title: "ludicium Ecclesiae, universae, de statu praesenti Societatis Iesu" (op. cit., 26). Timoni, who fancied that no one would dare any thing against the Jesuits of Portugal, was of a contrary opinion, and the general was won over to his way of thinking.

Disaster followed disaster, and Ricci experienced the most serious material difficulties in assisting the members who were expelled from every country. At his instance, and perhaps even with his collaboration, Clement XIII, solicitous for the fate of the Society, published 7 January, 1765, the Bull "Apostolicam pascendi", which was a cogent defence of the Institute and its members (Masson, "Le cardinal de, Bernis depuis son ministere" 80). But even the pontiff's intervention could not stay the devastating torrent. After the suppression of the Jesuits in Naples and the Duchy of Parma, the ambassadors of France, Spain, and Portugal went (Jan., 1769) to request officially of the pope the total suppression of the society. This was the death-blow of Clement XIII, who died some days later (2 Feb., 1769) of an apoplectic attack. His successor, the conventual Ganganelli, little resembled him. Whatever may have been his sympathies for the order prior to his elevation to the sovereign pontificate, and his indebtedness to Ricci, who had used his powerful influence to secure for him the cardinal's hat, it is indisputable that once he became pope he assumed at least in appearance a hostile attitude. "Se palam Jesuitis infensum praebere atque ita quidem, ut ne generalem quidem praepositum in conspectum admitteret" (Cordara, 43). There is no necessity of repeating even briefly the history of the pontificate of Clement XIV (18 May, 1769-22 Sept., 1774), which was absorbed by his measures to bring about the suppression of the Society of Jesus. Despite the exactions and outrageous injustices which the Jesuit houses had to undergo even at Rome, the general did not give up hope of a speedy deliverance, as is testified by the letter he wrote to Cordara the day after the feast of St. Ignatius, 1773 (Cordara, loc. cit., 53). Although the Brief of abolition had been signed by the pope ten days previously, Father Ricci was suddenly notified on the evening of 16 August. The next day he was assigned the English College as residence, until 23 Sept., 1773, when he was removed to the Castle of Sant' Angelo, where he was held in strict captivity for the remaining two years of his life. The surveillance was so severe that he did not learn of the death of his secretary Cornolli, imprisoned with him and in his vicinity, until six months after the event=2E To satisfy the hatred of his enemies his trial and that of his companions was hastened, but the judge ended by recognizing "nunquam objectos sibi reos his innocentiores; Riccium etiam ut hominem vere sanctum dilaudabat" (Cordara, op. cit., 62); and Cardinal de Bernis dared to write (5 July): "There are not, perhaps, sufficient proofs for judges, but there are enough for upright and reasonable men" (Masson, op. cit., 324).

Justice required that the ex-general be at once set at liberty, but nothing was done, apparently through fear lest the scattered Jesuits should gather about their old head, to reconstruct their society at the centre of Catholicism. At the end of August, 1775, Ricci sent an appeal to the new pope, Pius VI, to obtain his release. But while his claims were being considered by the circle of the Sovereign Pontiff, death came to summon the venerable old man to the tribunal of the supreme Judge. Five days previously, when about to receive Holy Viaticum, he made this double protest: (1) "I declare and protest that the suppressed Society of Jesus has not given any cause for its suppression; this I declare and protest with all that moral certainty that a superior well informed of his order can have. (2) I declare and protest that I have not given any cause, even the slightest, for my imprisonment; this I declare and protest with that supreme certainty and evidence that each one has of his own actions. I make this second protest only because it is necessary for the reputation of the suppressed Society of Jesus, of which I was the general." (Murr, "Journal zur Kunstgeschichte", IX, 281.) To do honour to his memory the pope caused the celebration of elaborate funeral services in the church of St. John of the Florentines near the Castle of Sant' Angelo. As is customary with prelates, the body was placed on a bed of state. It was carried in the evening to the Church of the Gesu where it was buried in the vault reserved for the burial of his predecessors in the government of the order.

CORDARA, Denkwürdigkeiten in DÖLLINGER, Beiträge zur politischen, kirchlichen und Culturgesch., III (1882), 1-74. These memoirs carry much weight, inasmuch as Cordara speaks with severity of his former brothers in arms, and of the Society of Jesus. CARAYON, Documents inedits concernant la Compagnie de Jesus, XVII, Le Pere Ricci et la suppression de la Compagnie de Jesus en 1773, CLXXIV (Poitiers, 1869); Epistoloe proepositorum generalium Societatis Jesu, If (Ghent, 1847); SMITH, The Suppression of the Society of Jesus in The Month (1902-03); MURR, Journal zur Kunstgesch. u. zur allgemeinen Litteratur, IX (Nuremberg, 1780), 254-309; MASSON, Le Cardinal de Bernis depuis son ministere 1758-1794 (Paris, 1903), a good collection of documents, but the author does not know the history of the Jesuits; RAVIGNAN, Clement XIII et Clement XI V, supplementary volume, historical and critical documents (Paris, 1854); BOERO, Osservazioni sopra l'istoria del pontificato di Clemente XIV scritta dal P. A. Theiner (2nd ed., Monza, 1854), useful for documents.

Bibliography

• Cordara, De suppressione Societatis commentarii, Padua, 1923-25.
• Gustave Delacroix de Ravignan, Clément XIII et Clément XIV, Paris, 1856.
• Rosa, I., I Gesuiti, Rome, 1957.
• Pastor, Ludwig von, Geschichte der Päpste, XVI,2 Herder Freiburg, 1961