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Abstract
The eighteenth century was indeed a period of reaction, when the forces of evil seemed ultimately to have triumphed over the forces of good. As the century advanced, events moved rapidly toward that religious and social crisis which was to mark its close. Christian society was touched to the quick. The philosophers, beginning a skilful war against the Church, endeavored to detach from her, minds that were already mature. But a still more dangerous conspiracy endeavored to snatch from her hands that key to souls,-— education. An illustrious Society, whose name personifies the alliance of religion and human culture, fell under the most tremendous moral assault that history records. The Holy See was overcome in its resistance and the enemies of faith boasted of having struck down Christian education in striking the Society of Jesus.