Dominus ac Redemptor
The papal brief by which Clement XIV abolished the Society of Jesus in 1773. It gives the pope’s own account of his reasons and lays down what was to become of the Society’s members, houses, schools and missions.
A brief is a papal letter issued under the seal of the Fisherman’s ring; this one is dated at Rome, at St Mary Major, on 21 July 1773. It is long. The first third recalls earlier suppressions of religious orders by popes. The middle reviews the history of the Society of Jesus as a record of privileges granted by popes and of complaints made against it, and reports that the kings of France, Spain, Portugal and the Two Sicilies had expelled the Jesuits and asked for the Society to be dissolved. The last third abolishes the Society and regulates the consequences.
The brief is the pope’s statement of his own act and reasons. It lists accusations against the Society without examining them, and says that earlier popes suppressed orders without a trial. It is cited in the Suppression of the Jesuits for what it says and orders, not as evidence of how the suppression was carried out in each country. It was set aside in 1814 by Sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum.
Cited in
- 21 July 1773, firm date