The Marquês de Pombal
Sebastiâo José de Carvalho e Mello
(1699 -1782)
PORTUGAL, 1972, the 2nd centenary of Pombal's reform of the University of Coimbra, Scott 1153
1982, the 2nd centenary of his death, Scott 1553From the time of his appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1750, possibly through the influence of a Jesuit, Pombal continued to solidify his power over other nobles and even over the king. He came into conflict, real or imagined, with the Jesuits and had them banished from the court, then seized their properties in Portuguese territories, expelled or imprisoned them, and conspired with other royal courts to force the Pope in 1773 to suppress the order entirely. More
PORTUGAL, 1999, the 3rd centenary of his death, Scott 2295
PORTUGAL, 1999, the 3rd centenary of his death, Scott 2296
PORTUGAL, ANGOLA, AZORES, CAPE VERDE, MACAO, MADEIRA, MOZAMBIQUE, NYASSA, PORTUGESE GUINEA, PORTUGUESE INDIA, SAINT THOMAS AND PRINCE ISLANDS, and TIMOR, 1925, Scott CD 28-33In order to raise money for a memorial to Pombal, Portugal in 1925 issued 3 postage tax stamps and overprinted them as 3 postage tax due stamps to collect double the amount if the first tax had not been paid. These were issued in the homeland and in eleven colonies, all using the same common designs. Thus except for denomination, color and overprinting the above three types account for 72 stamps. They show a portrait of the Marquês, a picture of him planning the reconstruction of Lisbon, and his monument in Lisbon.
Charles III of Spain
(1716 -1788)
SPAIN, 1976, Scott 2126)Charles III, the King of Spain, in 1767 issued his Pragmatic Sanction by which he expelled the Jesuits from his Spanish possessions,"moved," he said, "by very grave causes . . . which I reserve in my royal mind." More
SAN MARINO, 2005, the 3rd centenary of the Pope's birth, Scott 1661-62As Cardinal Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli was elected Pope Clement XIV, the Jesuits had been suppressed de facto in France, Spain, and Portugal. Now civil rulers pressed the new Pope to abolish the Order de jure everywhere, and even required him to make a commitment to this purpose as a prerequisite to his election. While educated by the Jesuits at Rimini and dependent even on the influence of Fr. Ricci, the General Superior of the Order, for his creation as cardinal, Clement sided with the Bourbon monarchs, persecuted the Jesuits and finally in the brief Dominus ac Redemptor suppressed the Order. The brief, however, did not impugn the Jesuits, their teaching or morals, and seemed to suppress the order for the good of the Church rather than from animosity to the Jesuits. It lacked the authority of a papal bull, and was not promulgated in the usual fashion, so that the Swiss cantons of Lucerne, Fribourg, and Solothurn as well as Frederick the Great of Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia were able to maintain the Jesuit presence in their domains. More
VATICAN CITY, 1940, the 4th centenary of the Council of Trent, Scott 121
1956, the 4th centenary of the death of Ignatius, Scott 212-213Pope Paul III, featured in the Council of Trent series, approved the Society of Jesus in 1540. The two stamps above capture the moment, with Ignatius kneeling before the Pope. Behind the Pope is his grandson, Carndinal Alessandro Farnese, another friend of the Society, who later financed the building of the Gesù in Rome. MoreCardinal Gaspar Contarini
(1483 -1542)
VATICAN CITY, 1940, the 4th centenary of the Council of Trent, Scott E10Cardinal Contarini, a friend and promoter of the Society was featured and an important figure in the Council of Trent series. More
Catherine the Great
(1729 - 1796)
RUSSIA, 1913, Scott 94, surcharged in Scott 111
Pope Clement XIV's decree suppressing the Jesuits required in each place promulgation by the secular ruler. As the decree made no specific accusations against them, not all governments were willing to cooperate. In Russia especially, the once Lutheran, now Orthodox Catherine the Great valued the Jesuits more highly than she did the Pope, and so they continued to exist there, especially in education. Some of the Jesuits elsewhere who had not been thrown into prison took refuge in Russia. When in 1778 she requested the Holy See that the Jesuits in White Russia might have a novitiate, she received the answer that the local bishop should do as he thought best. The local bishop presumably thought it best to give the Empress what she wanted. It is from the Jesuits in Russia, that the Society was later revived worldwide.
RUSSIA, 2004, Scott 6833-37Frederick the Great of Prussia
(1712-1786)
GERMANY, 1926, series of composers, Scott 355
1986, bicentennial of his death, Scott 1469
GERMANY, 1933, Potsdam Day, Scott 398-400 and postal card
When the Society of Jesus was suppressed, the Pope permitted the rulers of individual countries not to issue the bull of suppression. Catherine of Russia was the most famous of those who did not promulgate the Bull, but Frederick II of Prussia was another. On September 13 1773 he informed Pope Clement XIV that the Jesuits would not be suppressed in Prussia.
CHINA (Taiwan), 1964, Scott 1428
THE PHILIPPINES, 2006, the 50th anniversary of Xavier School which is also named in honor of Paul Hsu-Kuang-chi.
His bust is on the grounds of the school and is a replica of one found in Xu Guangqi Memorial Park in Shanghai, China, Scott 3049cPaul Hsu Kuang-chi was an erudite official of the Chinese Imperial Court and a great friend and protector of Fr. Matteo Ricci, the first Jesuit missionary to succeed in entering the previously exclusive Chinese court. His Memorial of Ricci is one example of his support for Ricci and other Jesuits.
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha
(1656 -1680)
CANADA, 1981, Kateri's beatification, Scott 885Kateri Tekakwitha, the Lily of the Mohawks, had much to do with Jesuits. They catechized and baptized her, gave her sanctuary, witnessed her miraculous transformation on her deathbed, wrote her biography, promoted devotion to her at the Shrine of the North American Martyrs at her birthplace, Auriesville, and promoted her cause in Rome. Canada honored her and Marie de l'Incarnation on the occasion of their beatification with a se-tenant pair of stamps. More
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
(1647-1690)
SPAIN, 1957, Scott 863-865Margaret Mary Alacoque's visions of the Sacred Heart, her relationship to her Jesuit spiritual director Saint Claude la Colombiere, and the Jesuits' special promotion of devotion to the Sacred Heart warrant, I think, her inclusion here. More
Mother Ignacia del Espíritu Santo
(1663-1748)Mother Ignacia del Espíritu Santo (1663-1748) was the foundress of the first congregation for Filipino women. Fr. Paul Klein, a Bohemian Jesuit who came to Manila in 1682; was Ignacia's spiritual director and gave her the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. As a result she chose to give herself to God, living alone at first in a house behind the Jesuit College of Manila. Other women were drawn to join her and thus was born the Beatas de la Compania de Jesus because of their connection with the Church of St.Ignatius, where Ignatia was eventually buried.
St. Marko Krizevcanin
(1589 -1619)
Blessed Ivan Merz
(1896-1928)
CROATIA, 1996, Scott 283-85St. Marko Krizevcanin (left) had attended the German-Hungarian College in Rome, founded by St. Ignatius, was friends with Cardinal Peter Pázmány, SJ, and worked with and was martyred with two Jesuit saints, Stephen Pongrácz and Melchior Grodziecki. The feast of the three is celebrated on September 5. One stamp se-tenant with this one refers to a miraculous crucifix kept in a former Jesuit college chapel.
The other pictures Blessed Ivan Merz (1896-1928) beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003, who is buried in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart the principal Jesuit Church in Zagreb. He was closely associated with the Jesuits, who educated him, helped him on the journey (even through the process of beatification), while he actively collaborated with them. He was a Catholic intellectual, a pillar of the Church, a leader in education and the liturgical movement and in Catholic Action. MoreMother Mary of the Incarnation
(1599 - 1672)
CANADA, 1981, Mother Marie's beatification, Scott 886Born Marie Guyart in Tours, France, Marie de l'Incarnation entered the Ursulines, her childhood dream, following the death of her husband. After reading the Jesuit Relations, the reports of Jesuit missionaries in Canada, she wished to become a missionary. The Jesuits and others were trying at this time to recruit sisters to found religious houses in Quebec, and Marie volunteered and left for Quebec in 1639. The Jesuits were her spiritual advisors, her instructors in the native languages, and assisted her also in drawing up religious constitutions adapted to life in the New World. She and Kateri Tekakwitha were beatified on the same day. Her biography may be downloaded from Project Gutenberg.
Blessed Narcisa de Jesús
(1833 - 1869)
ECUADOR, 1992, on her beatification, Scott 1295The body of Blessed Narcisa of Jesus Martillo y Morán lies in the Jesuit church in Guayaquil and the Jesuits had been promoters of her beatification.
Blessed Pedro Calungsod
(ca 1655-1672)
PHILIPPINES, 2002, Beatification of Pedro, Scott 2781-2
Pedro Calungsod was born in the region of Visayas. He accompanied Jesuit Fr. Diego Luis de San Vitores in the task of evangelizing the Marianas Islands, working as a catechist from 1668 to 1672. On April 2, 1672, the Saturday before the Passion Sunday, at about seven in the morning, both were martyred, the 17 or 18 year old catechist together with the Jesuit. They were evangelizing the natives of the village of Tumhom in present day Guam. Two natives hostile to the faith attacked them and killed them with spears, and threw their bodies into the ocean. Pedro could have escaped but tried to defend the priest. Fr. de San Vitores was beatified on October 6, 1985. He was the first apostle and founder of the Catholic community of the Marianas Islands. Fifteen years later Pope John Paul II beatified Pedro Calungsod at Saint Peter's Square in Rome.
