I_______________ , now in the presence of Almighty
God, the blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed St. John the Baptist, the
Holy Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, and all the saints, sacred host
of Heaven, and to you, my Ghostly Father, the superior general of the
Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius Loyola, in the pontification
of Paul the Third, and continued to the present, do by the womb of the
Virgin, the matrix of God, and the rod of Jesus Christ, declare and
swear that His Holiness, the Pope, is Christ's Vice-Regent and is the
true and only head of the Catholic or Universal Church throughout the
earth; and that by the virtue of the keys of binding and loosing given
to His Holiness by my Saviour, Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose
heretical Kings, Princes, States, Commonwealths, and Governments, and
they may be safely destroyed. Therefore to the utmost of my power I will
defend this doctrine and His Holiness's right and custom against all
usurpers of the heretical or Protestant authority whatever, especially
the Lutheran Church of Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and
the now pretended authority and Churches of England and Scotland, and
the branches of same now established in Ireland and on the continent of
America and elsewhere and all adherents in regard that they may be
usurped and heretical, opposing the sacred Mother Church of Rome. I do
now denounce and disown any allegiance as due to any heretical king,
prince or State, named Protestant or Liberal, or obedience to any of
their laws, magistrates or officers. I do further declare the doctrine
of the Churches of England and Scotland of the Calvinists, Huguenots,
and others of the name of Protestants or Masons to be damnable, and they
themselves to be damned who will not forsake the same. I do further
declare that I will help, assist, and advise all or any of His
Holiness's agents, in any place where I should be, in Switzerland,
Germany, Holland, Ireland or America, or in any other kingdom or
territory I shall come to, and do my utmost to extirpate the heretical
Protestant or Masonic doctrines and to destroy all their pretended
powers, legal or otherwise. I do further promise and declare that,
notwithstanding, I am dispensed with to assume any religion heretical
for the propagation of the Mother Church's interest; to keep secret and
private all her agents' counsels from time to time, as they entrust me,
and not to divulge, directly or indirectly, by word, writing or
circumstances whatever; but to execute all that should be proposed,
given in charge, or discovered unto me by you, my Ghostly Father, or any
of this sacred order. I do further promise and declare that I will have
no opinion or will of my own or any mental reservation whatever, even
as a corpse or cadaver (perinde ac cadaver), but will
unhesitatingly obey each and every command that I may receive from my
superiors in the militia of the Pope and of Jesus Christ. That I will go
to any part of the world whithersoever I may be sent, to the frozen
regions north, jungles of India, to the centres of civilisation of
Europe, or to the wild haunts of the barbarous savages of America
without murmuring or repining, and will be submissive in all things,
whatsoever is communicated to me. 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.
