JESUS CHRIST 



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JESUS CHRIST 



that such great astronomers of the nineteenth 

 century as De Vico, Perry and Secchi were 

 Jesuits. As a great educational factor, the 

 Society reached its climax about the middle of 

 the eighteenth century, when it controlled 728 

 colleges, with about 300,000 students. In 1906 

 it had 220 colleges throughout the world, with 

 more than 55,000 students. In the United 

 States it has educational institutions at Wor- 

 cester, Mass., Boston, New York City, George- 

 town, D. C., Jersey City, N. J., Washington, 

 D. C., Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, 

 Milwaukee, Omaha, Saint Louis, Saint Mary's, 

 Kans., Galveston, Mobile, New Orleans, Den- 

 ver, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Cal., Buffalo, 

 Cleveland and Spokane. It has also a college 

 at Manila, P. I. 



The Society is one of the most zealous and 

 energetic of all the missionary bodies of the 

 Church. Saint Francis Xavier, the friend and 

 companion of Ignatius, made many converts in 

 remote parts of India and Japan. At a later 

 period a band of devoted men penetrated into 

 the heart of the Chinese Empire and other 

 heathen nations. In America, Fathers Garnier, 

 Jognes, Lallemont and others were martyrs to 

 the cause. Father Marquette, who discovered 

 the Mississippi River, heroically endured un- 

 told sufferings and hardships during his work 

 among the Illinois Indians. These are but a 

 few of the vast army of devout men numbered 

 among the famous men of this Order who hesi- 

 tated at no sacrifice or danger to spread their 

 religious beliefs. 



The Jesuits have always played an impor- 

 tant part in the religious and political history 

 of the world. No body of men, with the excep- 

 tion, perhaps, of the Jews, has ever been more 

 vigorously attacked and persecuted than the 

 Society of Jesus, but despite the difficulties 

 which have always beset them, they are uni- 

 versally recognized as one of the greatest re- 

 ligious and educational forces of the world. 

 In 1914 they numbered 16,715. The present 

 head of the Order (since February 11, 1915) 

 is Father Wlodimir Ledochowski, a nephew of 

 a former cardinal of that name. G.W.M. 



Consult McCabe's Candid History of the Jesu- 

 its; Parkman's Jesuits in North America. 



JESUS CHRIST, the founder of the Chris- 

 tian religion, the Man who, of all that have 

 lived, has influenced humanity most pro- 

 foundly. In order to appreciate His influence 

 a study of the relation of Christianity to civil- 

 ization would be necessary, and that is im- 

 possible here; but to the most casual observer 



it is evident that civilization has reached its 

 highest level in those countries which have 

 come under the sway of Christianity (see CIVIL- 

 IZATION). He was, in His life, the "Man of 

 Galilee," the simple carpenter of Judea; yet 

 most of the civilized world dates its chronology 

 from His birth, and every use of the familiar 

 letters B. c. or A. D. is a reference to His name. 



Biographies of Jesus. There are four books 

 which tell all that is known of the life of 

 Jesus the New Testament gospels of Matthew, 

 Mark, Luke and John; and all the books upon 

 books which have been written about Him 

 through the ages add nothing, except in the 

 way of conjecture, to what is told in those 

 wonderfully simple narratives. Two of them, 

 the gospel of Matthew and the gospel of John, 

 were probably written by men who lived in 

 close contact with Him as Disciples, during the 

 last years of His life, the latter gospel being 

 the work of the man' who understood and loved 

 Jesus best. The other two gospels, so far as 

 critics can determine, were the work of writers 

 who drew their information from men who had 

 been companions of Jesus. Naturally, since 

 the four authors differed in their tempera- 

 ments and their interests, they viewed the 

 words and acts of Jesus from different stand- 

 points, and the various gospels place emphasis 

 on different phases of the Teacher's life and 

 works; but while they show this variation they 

 are in harmony on all essential points. The 

 sketch here merely touches the main events. 



Early Years. Time in all Christian countries 

 is counted from the birth of Christ, but when 

 the reckoning began, centuries ago, there was 

 a mistake made, and because of it we are com- 

 mitted to the error of saying that Jesus was 

 bom in 4 B. c., or perhaps in 6 B. c. His birth- 

 place was Bethlehem, a little town in that 

 Judea which had once been the seat of a 

 Hebrew king, but was now a Roman province. 

 On the imperial throne of Rome at the time 

 sat the great Augustus, and historians state 

 that for the first time in centuries the whole 

 world was at peace and the doors of the temple 

 of Janus in Rome were shut (see JANUS). The 

 mother of Jesus was Mary, wife of Joseph 

 the carpenter, and to her His coming had been 

 announced long before His birth. His name 

 of Jesus, too, which means help oj Jehovah, or 

 Saviour, was chosen for Him thus early. As 

 to the exact day of His birth there has been 

 much controversy, but since the fourth century 

 December 25 has been honored and celebrated 

 as His natal day (see CHRISTMAS). 



