Conclusion

The end of the Jesuit era, which had long been anticipated even as the Austrian Province contemplated further expansion, came conclusively in 1773 with the proclamation of Dominus ac Redemptor Noster.1 Its properties confiscated, its priests and brothers pensioned off with small sums, the Society would retreat into the domains of Catherine the Great for four decades until it was allowed to return to Austria.2 In the cultural centers of the Habsburg Empire, as well as elsewhere in Europe, the end of the Society was viewed favorably by many, but in Transylvania there was little recorded reaction to the Suppression. This was in contrast to the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1608, which had been characterized by fire and sword. This time there was no banishment, no martyrdoms, no violent transfer of properties and no installation of Unitarian educators in what had been the Society’s schools. The Jesuit church in Cluj, now in the hands of the Piarists, underwent an audit that reported its total assets at 11,450 Rhenish florins, a relatively modest sum.3 By November, all former Jesuit properties had been transferred to the Piarists.4 As was the case in many other parts of the Habsburg Empire, the long-expected papal brief produced its most obvious long-term consequence in the management of educational institutions, which were,

1 The former Jesuits were still referred to as the “PP SJ” several months after the announcement of the papal brief. BB, Szentiványi 595, R XI, 84, Catalogus Clericorum Transsylvanorum Seminarii Claudiopolitani. For how the Society’s leadership had anticipated the end, even decades before, see Enrico Rosa, SI, I Gesuiti. Dalle Origini ai nostri giorni, 3rd edn, ed. Angelo Martini (Roma, 1957), pp. 240ff. Much work remains to be done on former Jesuits in Habsburg territories. The relationship between the Enlightenment and former Jesuits is explored in Antonio Trampus, I Gesuiti e l’Illuminismo: Politica e Religone in Austria e nell’Europa centrale (1773-1798) (Firenze, 2000).