Walther on Jesuit expulsion from…Catholic lands (Excursus 1)

      The following is an "Excursus" to Part AG10b (Table of Contents in Part AG1a) presenting Walther's essay to the 1885 Western District convention. — While translating Walther's essay, I ran across his reference to a most remarkable historical event, well attested even by Wikipedia. it amazed me how little is known by most people, including me. Here is how Walther reported it, after addressing "heretics" who taught as Communists:

Therefore, it was right that the Jesuits were expelled from Catholic countries in the last century (not for religious reasons, for they were the most loyal papists), and their order was solemnly abolished by Pope Clement XIV in 1773 at the insistence of Catholic powers.

The Wikipedia article admits that "The Jesuits…were not above getting involved in politics". It is shocking that this expulsion, or "suppression" was not from Protestant lands, but from Catholic lands! Why is it not better known among Protestants today? Not so with C. F. W. Walther, who holds it in front of his Lutheran people as an example that secular authorities rightly have the power to control religious groups who threaten the state.

      It is distressing how little even today's Lutherans think of the danger of the Jesuits. A well known Wisconsin Synod (retired) professor, Dr. John Brenner, obtained his PhD from Marquette University, "a Catholic, Jesuit university in the heart of Milwaukee"!

      Readers should turn to the Wikipedia article for a fuller history of this remarkable "suppression", the: "Suppression of the Society of Jesus". 

The caption to the painting shown on Wikipedia reads:

The Society of Jesus expelled from the Kingdom of Portugal by the Royal Decree of 3 September 1759; as a carrack sets sail from Portuguese shores in the background, a bolt of lightning strikes a Jesuit priest as he attempts to set a terrestrial globe, a mitre, and a royal crown on fire; a bag of gold coins and a closed book (symbols of wealth and control of education) lie at the priest's feet.

I suspect that there are strenuous efforts to remove this offending history from the Wikipedia pages! (Proof of this is the statement in the article on the papal brief Dominus ac Redemptor: "Despite being portrayed as a threat to the peace, the Society is suppressed but not explicitly condemned by the papal brief.") I have created an archived copy today to capture this history for all time. — In the next "Excursus 2B", we present Walther's publication from the Jesuit constitution that condemns them for all time, their exception clause permitting sin. — To continue Walther's "All Glory to God" series, see the next Part AG11a. on his essay the next year which contains even more history of the Jesuits.