The Expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain, by Charles Maucourt
Most of us have met someone who, when they tell you a story, they go on many tangents; they tell you one story and then say, "I told you that story to tell you this story...", or while telling one story they break from it and tell a tangential story, then later come back and finish the initial story; some of us have met someone who will tell one story, break into a tangent, and while on that tangent they break it and go deeper into another tangent—somewhat like the film Inception. Melmoth the Wanderer, by Charles Maturin, is quite similar; it is composed primarily of embedded stories, all of which in some manner feature a strange man named John Melmoth "The Traveler", who is over a 150 years old and sold his soul to the Devil for longevity and variety of powers; but he wants out of his Faustian pact, and travels the world looking for sinners or easily corruptible individuals who are in a deplorable and hopeless situation (i.e. prison, mental asylum, near death) to take his place. Each story has its own theme, most of which are critiques and criticisms on religion, in particular Christianity, and specifically Catholicism (Maturin was an Irish Protestant clergyman); the criticisms generally center around human suffering to monasticism.
The story that is of particular interest here is the tale of Alonzo Monçada, who is forced from a young age to enter into a monastic life, which is greatly protests. The monastery he enters is that of ex-Jesuits (as Monçada's story takes place in Spain in the late 18th Century, presumably after the Spanish Jesuits were suppressed in 1767). While they are ex-Jesuits they still retain a lot of aspects of the Society of Jesus (i.e. Jesuits), such as their various titles, their strict religious observances, et cetera. Unlike Jesuits, these ex-Jesuits do not act like their former counterparts as a secret society with symbolic rites of passage and trails of trust of fraternal bondage. However, in Monçada's tale he does undergo trails that resemble rites of passage in the Society of Jesus.
To briefly summarize the beginning of Monçada's tale: he was the first son of one of Spain's first families, but he was born out of wedlock, and thus he is a child born of sin, which he must be punished for (this is Maturin's critical condemnation of Original Sin), and is forced to enter into monastic life, which he repeatedly detested. He opted to appeal to a council to have his vows nullified and to be freed—against the admonishment of his superiors and family—but this appeal is eventually denied. Reminiscent of Anges' story in Matthew Lewis' The Monk, Monçada is brought before the superior and his four closest monks, who take him into the bowels of the monastery and locked in a damp, dark dungeon as punishment, left with only a rosary, stale bread to "moisten with his tears", a mat to sleep on, and the reptiles the crawl on him. He is eventually freed from the dungeon, but everything has rendered Monçada an outcast in the monastery, and he is shunned amongst the other monks, who call him the Devil. Since he was of a prominent Spanish family, his room was originally well furnished, filled with books and beautiful prints and paintings, and everyday adorn with fresh flowers—none of which brought him any pleasure. The monks beginning to take away the flowers, the books, prints, furniture, et cetera, until he is left with only a bed and a mattress. He has also been denied entry into the church for mass and prayer, as well as denied food and water, save for the scraps that are mixed with ash and hair that the cook throws at him.
The story that is of particular interest here is the tale of Alonzo Monçada, who is forced from a young age to enter into a monastic life, which is greatly protests. The monastery he enters is that of ex-Jesuits (as Monçada's story takes place in Spain in the late 18th Century, presumably after the Spanish Jesuits were suppressed in 1767). While they are ex-Jesuits they still retain a lot of aspects of the Society of Jesus (i.e. Jesuits), such as their various titles, their strict religious observances, et cetera. Unlike Jesuits, these ex-Jesuits do not act like their former counterparts as a secret society with symbolic rites of passage and trails of trust of fraternal bondage. However, in Monçada's tale he does undergo trails that resemble rites of passage in the Society of Jesus.
To briefly summarize the beginning of Monçada's tale: he was the first son of one of Spain's first families, but he was born out of wedlock, and thus he is a child born of sin, which he must be punished for (this is Maturin's critical condemnation of Original Sin), and is forced to enter into monastic life, which he repeatedly detested. He opted to appeal to a council to have his vows nullified and to be freed—against the admonishment of his superiors and family—but this appeal is eventually denied. Reminiscent of Anges' story in Matthew Lewis' The Monk, Monçada is brought before the superior and his four closest monks, who take him into the bowels of the monastery and locked in a damp, dark dungeon as punishment, left with only a rosary, stale bread to "moisten with his tears", a mat to sleep on, and the reptiles the crawl on him. He is eventually freed from the dungeon, but everything has rendered Monçada an outcast in the monastery, and he is shunned amongst the other monks, who call him the Devil. Since he was of a prominent Spanish family, his room was originally well furnished, filled with books and beautiful prints and paintings, and everyday adorn with fresh flowers—none of which brought him any pleasure. The monks beginning to take away the flowers, the books, prints, furniture, et cetera, until he is left with only a bed and a mattress. He has also been denied entry into the church for mass and prayer, as well as denied food and water, save for the scraps that are mixed with ash and hair that the cook throws at him.
After everything is taken from him, save for a bed to sleep on, Monçada awakes in the middle of the night in his cell to be greeted by demonic images:
"I awoke one night, and saw my cell in flames; I started up in horror, but shrunk back on perceiving myself surrounded by demons, who, clothed in fire, were breathing forth clouds of it around me. Desperate with horror, I rushed against the wall, and found what I touched was cold. My recollection returned, and I comprehended, that these were hideous figures scrawled in phosphorus, to terrify me. I then returned to my bed, and as the day-light approached, observed these figures gradually decline."He protests this prank by the monks to superior, who ignores him. The next night he is then greeted by an infernal voice in his cell that speaks blasphemes to him, and tells him to trample upon the crucifix and spit upon the image of the Virgin. (While the origin of the tempting voice is never addressed, it can be concluded to be either Melmoth the Traveler or the monks further torturing him). The voice never lets him sleeps, so he is perpetually tired, hungry, scared, and overall in poor health. At one point the demonic entity comes to Monçada as the blessed Virgin Mary, to which he feels relief until the voice returns and tells him to curse the Virgin, and she disappears.
—Melmoth the Wanderer, Volume II, Chapter VI
All of this—the starvation, dehydration, solitary confinement, trails and pranks featuring demonic images and infernal voices—resemble the initiation of a novice into the Society of Jesus. Jesuits have four degrees (i.e. ranks): Coadjutores Temporaries, Scholastici, Coadjutores Spirituales, and Professi.
Initiations into the first degree, Coadjurotes Temporaries, begin with the candidate fasting for a prolonged period of time. Before the trail the candidate is given an intoxicating drink, and then he undergoes a twenty-four hour long trail of infernal scenes of "diabolical apparitions, evocations of the dead, representations of the flames of hell, skeletons, moving skulls, artificial thunder and lightning" (Heckethorn, Secret Societies, Book IX.VIII.335) and other images and dramatizations.
Monçada, after being denied his appeal to be released from his monastic vows, conspires with his brother, Juan Monçada, (who receives all the rites and benefits of a first born son, because he was the first born in wedlock—which is reminiscent of Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob, Ruben and Joseph) to escape the monastery. Juan finds a man within the monastery who could be bought and help Alonzo Monçada escape; problem is that this man murdered his own father for a small amount of money, and is now under the protection of the ex-Jesuits. This murderer leads Monçada through the catacombs under the monastery, and at one point tells Monçada to go down a narrow passage, which he nearly gets stuck in. Monçada is able to escape the snare and finds himself with his guide waiting for the sun to set again (as they were delayed a whole day by getting lost) and escape through the garden (Melmoth, Vol. II.VIII). While waiting by the exit, the murderer tells Monçada about the chamber they are sitting just outside of: it is a story that is practically stolen from Lewis' The Monk concerning the affair of Ambrosio and Matilda; according to the murderer: a very noble and pious monk becomes close friends with a younger monk, who turns out to be a woman in disguise; they have a love affair for some time until they are caught; their punishment, per the strict religious observances of Jesuits, is death, so our murderer gains their trust and makes them believe he is helping them escape, but instead leads them to this chamber in the catacombs to starve to death; our murderer locks them in the chamber and listens for days as they console each other, then turn on each other, then attacking each other, and finally die (Melmoth, Vol. II.IX).
(The similarities of this story of the monastic lovers is so strikingly similar to Ambrosio and Matilda in The Monk that I plan on discussing it in another post).
Initiations into the first degree, Coadjurotes Temporaries, begin with the candidate fasting for a prolonged period of time. Before the trail the candidate is given an intoxicating drink, and then he undergoes a twenty-four hour long trail of infernal scenes of "diabolical apparitions, evocations of the dead, representations of the flames of hell, skeletons, moving skulls, artificial thunder and lightning" (Heckethorn, Secret Societies, Book IX.VIII.335) and other images and dramatizations.
Monçada, after being denied his appeal to be released from his monastic vows, conspires with his brother, Juan Monçada, (who receives all the rites and benefits of a first born son, because he was the first born in wedlock—which is reminiscent of Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob, Ruben and Joseph) to escape the monastery. Juan finds a man within the monastery who could be bought and help Alonzo Monçada escape; problem is that this man murdered his own father for a small amount of money, and is now under the protection of the ex-Jesuits. This murderer leads Monçada through the catacombs under the monastery, and at one point tells Monçada to go down a narrow passage, which he nearly gets stuck in. Monçada is able to escape the snare and finds himself with his guide waiting for the sun to set again (as they were delayed a whole day by getting lost) and escape through the garden (Melmoth, Vol. II.VIII). While waiting by the exit, the murderer tells Monçada about the chamber they are sitting just outside of: it is a story that is practically stolen from Lewis' The Monk concerning the affair of Ambrosio and Matilda; according to the murderer: a very noble and pious monk becomes close friends with a younger monk, who turns out to be a woman in disguise; they have a love affair for some time until they are caught; their punishment, per the strict religious observances of Jesuits, is death, so our murderer gains their trust and makes them believe he is helping them escape, but instead leads them to this chamber in the catacombs to starve to death; our murderer locks them in the chamber and listens for days as they console each other, then turn on each other, then attacking each other, and finally die (Melmoth, Vol. II.IX).
(The similarities of this story of the monastic lovers is so strikingly similar to Ambrosio and Matilda in The Monk that I plan on discussing it in another post).
This passage through the monastery catacombs is similar to the rites of the second degree, Scholastici, of the Jesuits: the candidate undergoes a prolong session of fasting, is hoodwinked, and then led into a cave or catacomb where howling and roaring sounds are produced (presumably by other Jesuit monks), and finally enter a special chamber, called the Cave of Evocation or the Black Chamber. The candidate would pass the time praying, and all the while be watched by priests. If the priests found the candidate's behavior and demeanor acceptable, then two brethren would enter the chamber as angels, strip the neophyte naked and perform various rites (such as drawing crosses on his body in blood), and there will be a procession of "spectres, phantoms, angels and demons" (no, I am not exaggerating any of this), and have the candidate make an oath to his brethren (Heckethorn, Secret Societies, Book IX.VIII.335).
Monçada's tale goes on (and on and on and on... it is a long story), but what happens is irrelevant to this writing.
Now, clearly Maturin does not follow the Jesuit rites of passage point by point—if for no other reason than the fact that at the time the Jesuits were dissolved and could no longer perform their rites, but also because Monçada is the last person they would confer their rites upon—but it is easily recognizable that motifs and elements of Jesuit initiation rituals are present in Monçada's tale. Exactly why they are included in the tale is a bit of mystery to me. If anything, it seems Maturin placed them in his story for the purpose of demonstrating that he knew the rites of the Jesuits (something that became public knowledge after their dissolution). In his defense, Monçada's tale is both dark and condemning of Catholic Church's practices and the various practices they condoned, and these Jesuit rites add to his story and criticisms.
In a way, the ex-Jesuits only wanted Monçada to be a part of their monastery; they contrived "miracles" to make him believe it was God's will that he be a monk; they lie and manipulate his family to make him enter the monastery and remain there. The irony of this portion of Monçada's tale is that in order to escape his monastic life with the ex-Jesuits he had to undergo the rites of two Jesuit degrees. But this sort irony and contradiction is somewhat of a recurring theme in Melmoth the Wanderer: for instance, Melmoth the Traveler is a Faustian character, as he sold his soul to the Devil, but in order to get out of the pact he has to play the part of Mephistopheles and tempt others to take his place in the pact. A much simpler example: the Jesuit brethren curse and spit on and avoid Monçada, and he remarks how unchristian this is: "...how little of the spirit of Jesus was to be found in the house of his nominal brethren." Thus it is not capricious or whimsical for Maturin to have Monçada undergo Jesuit initiation rites, as it carries with his themes of dualism, contradiction, paradox, and irony that pervades every character, place, situation, object, and story.
Maturin, Charles. Melmoth the Wanderer.
Heckethorn, Charles. The Secret Societies of All Ages and Countries.
In a way, the ex-Jesuits only wanted Monçada to be a part of their monastery; they contrived "miracles" to make him believe it was God's will that he be a monk; they lie and manipulate his family to make him enter the monastery and remain there. The irony of this portion of Monçada's tale is that in order to escape his monastic life with the ex-Jesuits he had to undergo the rites of two Jesuit degrees. But this sort irony and contradiction is somewhat of a recurring theme in Melmoth the Wanderer: for instance, Melmoth the Traveler is a Faustian character, as he sold his soul to the Devil, but in order to get out of the pact he has to play the part of Mephistopheles and tempt others to take his place in the pact. A much simpler example: the Jesuit brethren curse and spit on and avoid Monçada, and he remarks how unchristian this is: "...how little of the spirit of Jesus was to be found in the house of his nominal brethren." Thus it is not capricious or whimsical for Maturin to have Monçada undergo Jesuit initiation rites, as it carries with his themes of dualism, contradiction, paradox, and irony that pervades every character, place, situation, object, and story.
"In some circumstances, where the whole world is against us, we begin to take its part against ourselves, to avoid the withering sensation of being alone on our own side."Further readings:
—Melmoth the Wanderer, Volume II, Chapter VI
Maturin, Charles. Melmoth the Wanderer.
Heckethorn, Charles. The Secret Societies of All Ages and Countries.
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