Real cédula de S. M. y Señores del Consejo, por la cual se manda que el permiso concedido en el Real decreto de 29 de mayo de 1815 para el restablecimiento del orden de la Compañía de Jesús en las ciudades y pueblos que lo habían pedido, sea extensivo, general, y sin limitación á todos los demás de los dominios de S. M., así de España, como de las Indias é islas adyacentes, en que se hallaba establecida al tiempo de su extrañamiento, con lo demás que se expresa

Madrid: Imprenta Real, 1816. FIRST EDITION. Hardcover. Fine. Disbound. Title page with the arms of Spain. Very fine condition. Two contemporary Spanish tax stamps (for paper) on the inner bifolium. Signed by the royal secretary Bartolomé Muñoz de Torres. Ferdinand VII’s royal mandate of 3 May 1816 ordering the restoration of the Society of Jesus in all the dominions of the Spanish Empire, including New Spain and the Philippine Islands, where they had been established before the suppression of the Order on 2 April, 1767. A year earlier, 29 May 1815, King Ferdinand had lifted the so-called Pragmatic Sanction of 1767, the royal decree ordering the suppression (truncated) of the Society of Jesus. This new mandate of 2 May 1816 formally reestablished the Jesuits within the realm.

“El permiso que tengo concedido por mi Real decreto di 29 Mayo ultimo…. Para la restablecimiento de la Orden en las ciudades y pueblos del Reino que me lo habían pedido en aquella época, sea extensivo, general, y sin limitación a todos los demás de mis Dominios, así de España como de las Indias, e Islas adyacentes en que se hallaba establecida dicha Religión al tiempo de su extrañamiento.”

The mandate further restores to the Jesuits all of their churches, houses, colleges, hospices, residences, estates, and revenues, which had been forfeited and confiscated at the time of the suppression, with the exception of anything that had been sold to pay debts or expenses (such as, ironically, the funds taken from the Jesuits in 1767 to fund their expulsion.)

The Suppression:

In 1767, King Carlos III of Spain suppressed the Jesuit Order and banished all Jesuits from the Spanish Empire, including its overseas possessions in the Americas and The Philippines. The decree had been kept secret while preparations were made for the empire-wide expulsion.

As planned, in the early morning of 2 April, all of the Jesuits were taken by surprise in their colleges and houses, given twenty-four hours to gather their modest belongings, and sent to temporary housing while they awaited imminent deportation to the Papal States. Their properties and possessions were confiscated by the Crown; their missions and schools were given over to other orders, such as the Franciscans and Dominicans.

Despite the King’s stipulation that the priests should not be abused or maltreated, for many Jesuits expelled from the Americas and Philippines, the arduous journey by sea proved fatal. This was true of other Jesuits forced to endure long marches through unforgiving terrain, such as the difficult trek to the port of Veracruz undertaken by Mexican Jesuits.

1767 saw not only the Suppression of the Order in Spain but also in Malta, the Two Sicilies, and Parma. The Order had already been suppressed in the Portuguese Empire (1759) and France (1764). Finally, on 21 July 1773, Pope Clement XIV suppressed the Society worldwide.

Forty years later, on 7 August, 1814, by the Bull "Solicitudo omnium ecclesiarum" Pope Pius VII restored the Order in Catholic Europe. On 29 May, 1815, Ferdinand VII officially lifted the order of suppression. A year later, he restored the Society of Jesus in the Spanish Empire. Although this was done in part in obedience to the pope’s restoration of the Society, the restoration also furthered Ferdinand’s political aims. It should also be noted that there had already been calls from within the empire for the return of the Jesuits (e.g. from Mexico, then in the midst of the Mexican War for Independence.)

The restoration was a slow process. There were far fewer Jesuits than there had been prior to the Suppression and there were not enough members of the Company to occupy all of the former colleges, etc. There had, for instance, been 678 members in Mexico before the Suppression; 3 would go to reestablish their missions there. Also, much of their property had been sold more than once since the initial expulsion; the majority of their funds had been exhausted or redistributed. (Inventory #: 5083)