By Tim Rohr
Juan de Palafox y Mendoza
Problems with the Jesuit's appear to be nothing new.
(Full disclosure. I am Jesuit educated. Loyola Marymount graduate, 1981. And am willing to admit that I am in still in recovery.)
Today is the feastday of a certain "Blessed" (not yet a saint) who had definitive challenges with the SJ's in the New World.
"Bishop Juan became involved in struggle with the Jesuits in New Spain over Church financing, and whether the Jesuits in his territory would submit to his authority. The Jesuits refused to do so, and had the support of the new viceroy. After much political wrangling, including appeals to the Vatican, Juan was recalled to Spain and chosen bishop of the Diocese of Osma in Old Castile, Spain from 16 August 1653 until his death six years later. His writings, part of which concerned what he perceived to be lax theological standards of Jesuit missionaries, ran to 15 published volumes."
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As an aside and as a personal note, my ancestors on my mother's "Mexican" side were impacted by the expulsion of the Jesuits from what was then called "New Spain," as set forth here:
Although Palafox's ecclesiastical career went into eclipse, his writings against the Jesuits were subsequently published in France and in the eighteenth century, his writings were used to strengthen the case for regalist authority resulting in the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain and Spanish territories in 1767.
How my ancestors were impacted (in what became known as Arizona) is a long and interesting story - at least to me - and factored heavily into my childhood consciousness. Someday I will tell it.
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