Jesuit Secrets: Giovanni Battista Nicolini’s Revelations on Hidden Power

„The members of the Society are divided into four classes — the Professed, Coadjutors, Scholars, and Novices. There is also a secret fifth class, known only to the General and a few faithful Jesuits, which, perhaps more than any other, contributes to the dreaded and mysterious power of the order. It is composed of laymen of all ranks, from the minister to the humble shoe-boy . . . These are affiliated to the Society, but not bound by any vows . . . they are persons who will make themselves useful . . . they act as the spies of the order . . . and serve, often unwittingly, as the tools and accomplices in dark and mysterious crimes. [The Jesuit] Father Francis Pellico . . . candidly confesses that ‘the many illustrious friends of the Society remain occult, and obliged to be silent.’“