O "Juramento Jesuíta"

Há uns dias o João Vasco do Diário de uns Ateus publicava um artigo sobre o famoso "Juramento Jesuíta", que é uma farsa com mais de 100 anos de idade. A origem exacta do texto do "juramento" é difícil de precisar com exactidão, se bem que poderá estar parcial ou totalmente contida no romance de Charles Didier (1805-1864), Rome Souterraine.

A Internet está cheia de excertos e versões deste pretenso "juramento", sendo que as mais frequentemente citadas, com o título de "Jesuit Oath" ou "Jesuit Extreme Oath of Induction", correspondem a dois textos:

Texto depositado na Biblioteca do Congresso (Washington - EUA), índice de catálogo #66-43354
«I furthermore promise and declare that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage relentless war, secretly or openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Liberals, as I am directed to do, to extirpate and exterminate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare neither age, sex or condition; and that I will hang, burn, waste, boil, flay, strangle and bury alive these infamous heretics, rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women and crush their infants heads against the walls, in order to annihilate forever their execrable race. That when the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly use the poisoned cup, the strangulating cord, the steel of the poinard dignity, or authority of the person or persons, whatever may be their condition in life, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agent of the Pope or Superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Faith, of the Society of Jesus.
In confirmation of which, I hereby dedicate my life, my soul and all my corporeal powers, and with this dagger which I now receive, I will subscribe my name written in my own blood, in testimony thereof; and should I prove false or weaken in my determination, may my brethren and fellow soldiers of the Militia of the Pope cut off my hands and my feet, and my throat from ear to ear, my belly opened and sulphur burned therein, with all the punishment that can be inflicted upon me on earth and my soul be tortured by demons in an eternal hell forever!

All of which I, M_______ N_______ , do swear by the blessed Trinity and blessed Sacrament, which I am now to receive, to perform and on my part to keep inviolably; and do call all the heavenly and glorious host of heaven to witness these my real intentions to keep this my oath.

In testimony hereof I take this most holy and blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, and witness the same further, with my name written with the point of this dagger dipped in my own blood and sealed in the face of this holy convent.»

Escusado será dizer que se pode depositar o que se quiser na Biblioteca de Congresso dos E.U.A., bem como em muitas bibliotecas espalhadas por esse mundo fora. Basta preencher o formulário apropriado. Por isso, o facto deste texto se encontrar depositado na Library of Congress não prova nada. Faz lembrar a não menos mal-cheirosa história de uns Dossiers Secrets de um tal de Henri Lobineau, com uma lista de grão-mestres de uma "irmandade" chamada Prieuré de Sion, que tanta gente leva a sério só porque estes textos se encontram depositados na Bibliothèque Nationale em Paris, quando já se deveria saber bem que os textos foram escritos por Pierre Plantard e Phillipe de Chérisey, sendo o nome de Henri Lobineau apenas um pseudónimo.

Adiante... O texto do "juramento" também se encontra noutro local...

Texto publicado nos Registos do Congresso, ano 1913, página 3216
«I do further promise and declare that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage relentless war, secretly and openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Masons, as I am directed to do, to extirpate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare neither age, sex nor condition, and that will hang, burn, waste, boil, flay, strangle, and bury alive these infamous heretics; rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women, and crush their infants' heads against the walls in order to annihilate their execrable race. That when the same cannot be done openly I will secretly use the poisonous cup, the strangulation cord, the steel of the poniard, or the leaden bullet, regardless of the honour, rank, dignity or authority of the persons, whatever may be their condition in life, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agents of the Pope or Superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Father of the Society of Jesus.
In confirmation of which I hereby dedicate my life, soul, and all corporal powers, and with the dagger which I now receive I will subscribe my name written in my blood in testimony thereof; and should I prove false, or weaken in my determination, may my brethren and fellow soldiers of the militia of the Pope cut off my hands and feet and my throat from ear to ear, my belly be opened and sulphur burned therein with all the punishment that can be inflicted upon me on earth, and my soul shall be tortured by demons in eternal hell forever. That I will in voting always vote for a Knight of Columbus in preference to a Protestant, especially a Mason, and that I will leave my party so to do; that if two Catholics are on the ticket I will satisfy myself which is the better supporter of Mother Church and vote accordingly. That I will not deal with or employ a Protestant if in my power to deal with or employ a Catholic. That I will place Catholic girls in Protestant families that a weekly report may be made of the inner movements of the heretics. That I will provide myself with arms and ammunition that I may be in readiness when the word is passed, or I am commanded to defend the Church either as an individual or with the militia of the Pope.
All of which I,_______________, do swear by the blessed Trinity and blessed sacrament which I am now to receive to perform and on part to keep this my oath.

In testimony hereof, I take this most holy and blessed sacrament of the Eucharist and
witness the same further with my name written with the point of this dagger dipped in my
own blood and seal in the face of this holy sacrament.»

Os Congressional Records são os Registos do Congresso dos E.U.A.! Não são, como diz erradamente o João Vasco, nada que se pareça com um "Congressional de Relatórios", que é uma tradução livre e imaginativa que alguém fez da expressão "Congressional Records".

Então de onde vem tudo isto? Como é que estes dois textos, relacionados propositadamente com os Jesuítas em tantos e tantos sites na Internet, vêm parar aos Congressional Records?

Temos que regressar às eleições norte-americanas de 1912, onde para a Pensilvânia concoriam os dois candidatos Eugene C. Bonniwell (democrata) e Thomas S. Butler (republicano). O candidato Bonniwell perdeu, e objectou contra a eleição de Butler em representação do estado da Pensilvânia.
O Comité Eleitoral investigou as objecções de Bonniwell e produziu o relatório 1523 (House Report 1523). Este relatório foi submetido a 15 de Fevereiro de 1913, e a pedido do congressista Olmsted, foi incluido no Congressional Record.

Entre outras objecções, o Eugene Bonniwell fazia menção a uma querela religiosa com os apoiantes de Thomas Butler. Eis os detalhes (no original em inglês):

«The West Chester Village Record is a local newspaper largely owned and controlled by T. L. Eyre, Republican boss of Chester County, and personal representative of Thomas S. Butler. The Chester Republican is a local paper largely owned and controlled by Senator William C. Sproul, a Republican boss, and personal representative of Thomas S. Butler in Delaware County. On August 15, 1912, the West Chester Village Record published the following editorial:

"The Hon. Thomas S. Butler, the Republican nominee for Congress, was born and reared in the Society of Friends, and is proud of his Quaker ancestry. His opponent, Eugene C. Bonniwell, is a Roman Catholic."

On August 28, 1912, the Chester Republican reprinted this editorial. Coincident with the two said editorials messengers in the employ of supporters of Thomas S. Butler traversed the district, having in their possession and circulating a blasphemous and infamous libel, a copy of which is hereto attached, pretended to be an oath of the Knights of Columbus, of which body the contestant [Bonniwell] is a member. So revolting are the terms of this document and so nauseating its pledges that the injury it did not merely to the contestant but also to the Knights of Columbus and to Catholics in general can hardly be measured in terms.

I charge that the circulation of this oath and the publication of the two editorials herein referred to were part of a conspiracy . . . for the purpose of arousing religious rancor and of defeating the Democratic nominee. The Constitution of the United States prohibits any religious test for office. The organization supporting Thomas S. Butler created such a test, blazed bigotry in the hearts and minds of the ignorant, and slandered and vilified a great body of honorable men.

I file no complaint because of adverse election returns. The Democracy of Pennsylvania is inured to adversity. Nor is this complaint registered because of defeat resultant upon faith or race. In these things I own a just pride and do not protest if, because of either, political honors are to be denied men. But when a calumnious, viperish attack upon either faith or race is launched, injecting religious bigotry into the political affairs of this Nation, then this protest is made in the certain confidence that all patriotic men, mindful of the religious as well as the political liberty that the forefathers designed should be our heritage, will rise and strike down the beneficiary of such a treacherous and dastardly movement.

For myself I make no appeal to your honorable body that I may be seated... This I do maintain, that this man, receiving his election under these circumstances, adding the felonies of forged papers, perjured acknowledgements, and violated grand jury to the more wicked crime of religious slander, ought not to be tolerated in the House of Representatives.»

A este texto, Bonniwell anexou um panfleto chamado "Knights of Columbus Oath". Este novo "juramento" é só uma versão expandida do texto panfletário chamado "Juramento Jesuíta" já nosso conhecido.
Nesta página, podemos ver as diferenças entre as várias versões:
http://www.shasta.com/sphaws/jesuitoath.html

O que é curioso é que o panfleto dos apoiantes republicanos do candidado Thomas Butler não falava nos Jesuítas, mas sim numa sociedade chamada Knights of Columbus. À parte deste detalhe, o texto era o mesmo.

Thomas Butler afirmou, na sua carta de resposta, que não acreditava na veracidade do panfleto, e que não era responsável por ele:

«I do not believe in its truthfulness, and so stated my judgment concerning it on November 4, 1912 (as soon as complaint was made to me of its general circulation), through the columns of the West Chester Daily Local News...»

Porque fez parte de uma batalha eleitoral escaldante, o infame texto foi incluido nos Congressional Records. Claro que ninguém sensato assumiria que o Congresso, ao incluir o texto difamatório, o estaria a sancionar ou a validar. Contudo, é o que fazem centenas de pessoas pouco sensatas em vários locais da Internet.

Várias páginas anti-católicas socorrem-se deste pretenso "juramento", sem o enquadrar com o obscuro episódio eleitoral do qual ele fez parte. É o caso do autor Ian Paisley, em The Jesuit Oath Exposed.

Tanta falta de seriedade é chocante. Sobretudo quando o senhor Paisley deveria saber que o texto, conforme aparece nos Congressional Records, menciona uma sociedade chamada Knights of Columbus, e não os Jesuítas. Ao que parece, este texto forjado tem sido útil a muita gente. Por exemplo, uma subtil, mas importante, diferença entre as duas versões está na palavra "Masons" e "Liberals". Ou seja, quando os maçons queriam usar este texto, usavam-no na versão "masons", quando eram os liberais que o queriam aproveitar, trocavam a palavra.

Espero ter tempo para encontrar a origem verdadeira do texto, recorrendo se conseguir ao romance de Charles Didier, Rome Souterraine, que ao que parece, serviu de inspiração para muita gente.

O João Vasco estudou mal as fontes deste libelo difamatório.
Ao fazê-lo, participou na onda difamatória. A evidência de que não devemos acreditar cegamente naquilo que encontramos na Internet, mesmo que nos seja conveniente. Uma simples pesquisa como esta teria permitido ao João Vasco descartar este falso "argumento ateu". Tenho pena, porque na mediocridade intelectual do site Diário de uns Ateus, o João Vasco parece ser, de longe, o mais inteligente, abrangente e culto. Espero que ele me perdoe o atrevimento desta demonstração, porque também eu não sou um perito na matéria, e que seja capaz de aceitar a validade destes argumentos de refutação.

Que a infâmia do "Juramento dos Jesuítas" desapareça de vez.

Bernardo

Fontes:
Jesuit Oath
The Jesuit Oath Debunked
Jesuit apologetic
Guermès, Sophie, "Les écrivains de langue française témoins du Risorgimento"
Resumo de uma participação no seminário "L'Écrivain Dans l'Histoire", Universidade Marc Bloch (Strasbourg II), onde a autora fala sobre Charles Didier e a sua obra Rome Souterraine.