But it will hardly be believed; this was not done.It is true that they suppressed their practice, but they left them in possession of the house in the Rue des Postes; and to this very day, the 31st of January, 1832, the members of the Sacred Heart are housed at the expense of government, during the whole of which time the Normal School has been without a shelter--and on its reorganization, thrust into a dirty hole, in a narrow corner of the College of Louis the Great."
The above appeared in the Constitutionnel, respecting the house in the Rue des Posses.We are certainly ignorant as to the nature of the transactions, since that period, that have taken place between the reverend fathers and the government; but we read further, in a recently published article that appeared in a journal, in reference to the Society of Jesus, that the house in the Rue des Postes, still forms a part of their landed property.We will here give some portions of the article in question.
"The following is a list of the property belonging to this branch of Jesuits Fr.
House in the Rue de Postes, worth about....500,000
One in the Rue de Sevres, estimated at....300,000
Farm, two leagues from Paris.......150,000
House and church at Bourges.......100,000
Notre Dame de Liesse, donation in 1843....60,000
Saint Acheul, House for Novitiates.....400,000
Nantes, a house...........100,000
Quimper, ditto...........40,000
Laval, house and church........150,000
Rennes, a house..........20,000
Vannes, ditto...........20,000
Metz, ditto............40,000
Strasbourg............60,000
Rouen, ditto...........15,000
By this it appears that these various items amount to little less than two millions.Teaching, moreover, is another important source of revenue to the Jesuits.The college at Broyclette alone brings in 200,000
francs.The two provinces in France (for the general of the Jesuits at Rome has divided France into two provinces, Lyons and Paris) possess, besides a large sum in ready money, Austrian bonds of more than 260,000
francs.Their Propagation of Faith furnishes annually some 50,000
francs; and the harvest which the priests collect by their sermons amounts to 150,000 francs.The alms given for charity may be estimated at the same figure, producing together a revenue of 540,000 francs.Now, to this revenue may be added the produce of the sale of the Society's works, and the profit obtained by hawking pictures.Each plate costs, design and engraving included, about 600 francs, off which are struck about 10,000 copies, at 40 francs per thousand, and there is a further expense of 250 francs to their publisher; and they obtain a net profit of 210 francs on every thousand.This, indeed, is working to advantage.
And it can easily be imagined with what rapidity all these are sold.The fathers themselves are the travellers for the Society, and it would be difficult to find more zealous or persevering ones.They are always well received, and do not know what it is to meet with a refusal.They always take care that the publisher should he one of their own body.The first person whom they selected for this occupation was one of their members, possessing some money; but they were obliged, notwithstanding, to make certain advances to enable him to defray the expenses of its first establishment.But, when they became fully convinced of the success of their undertaking, they suddenly called in these advances, which the publisher was not in a condition to pay.They were perfectly aware of this, and superseded him by a wealthy successor, with whom they could make a better bargain; and thus, without remorse, they ruined the man, by thrusting him from an appointment of which they had morally guaranteed the continuance."
[12] Louis XIV., the great King, punished with the Baileys those Protestants who, once converted, often by force, afterwards returned to their first belief.As for those Protestants who remained in France, notwithstanding the rigor of the edicts against them, they were deprived of burial, dragged upon a hurdle, and given to the dogs.--E.S.