The modernist crisis and religious Orders. The Society of Jesus in the face of Catholic integralism (1911–1914)

Abstract

In the final years of the pontificate of Pius X, that is during the Modernist crisis, the Catholic integralist circles linked to Umberto Benigni’s Sodalitium Pianum were characterized by a marked anti-Jesuitism. Suspected of “liberalism” and “modernizzantismo”, “semi-modernism”, the Society of Jesus became the object of frequent attacks. This contribution aims to shed light on the attitude taken by the Society itself, and in particular by its General Franz Xaver Wernz, in the face of integralist anti-Jesuitism, thus initiating exploration of the problem of the relationship between religious orders and modernism/ anti-modernism. To this end, some particularly indicative cases are analysed: that of the Jesuit journals Stimmen aus Maria Laach (Germany), Études (France) and La Civiltà Cattolica (Italy), as well as that of the Austrian Jesuits grappling with the accusations of the integralist newspaper Österreichs katholisches Sonntagsblatt.