The Jesuit clause (Norwegian: ) was a provision in the Constitution of Norway, paragraph 2, in force from 1814 to 1956, that denied Jesuits entry into the country. Until 1897, this provision was combined with a ban on monastic orders, and until 1851 a ban on Jews, the so-called Jew clause.
The second paragraph of the Constitution originally reads:
Historian Bernt T. Oftestad has often interpreted the ban as an expression of Norwegian anti-Catholicism. Catholicism was banned in Norway until 1845, when the Dissenter Act was passed and Catholic worship was allowed in Norway, although monks continued to be banned from entering the country. As early as 1624, Norway had prohibited Catholic priests from staying in the country, under threat of the death penalty.
Restrictions on Catholic worship were gradually reduced from 1845, but the ban on Jesuits was not lifted until Norway ratified the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights in 1956. In both 1897 and 1925, proposals to lift the ban on Jesuits were discussed and voted on, but failed to gain a supermajority in 1897, and only gained the support of a minority in 1925. Thus, this provision became the last important express legal restriction on religious presence and practice in Norway.
Background
Jesuits
The Jesuit order was founded during the Reformation in Europe with the aim of reforming the Catholic Church from within. The order does not have monasteries in the usual sense, although monks who are in the same place must live together. The monks do not wear their own habit and are not bound to a place, unlike for example the Benedictine order, but are sent out by the order. The Jesuit order played a decisive role during the Counter-Reformation and in Catholic missions. For a time, it was a powerful organization within the Catholic Church. The Jesuits have fostered both missions and the establishment of educational institutions, and established a number of universities in Europe. Their missionary activity and sometimes elitist and offensive style has led to strong backlash and criticism over time, as well as the emergence of both suspicion and a number of myths associated with the order and their activities. Within Catholic circles as well, such as Jansenism and philosopher Blaise Pascal, attacks have been made on the Jesuits.
Views on the Jesuits
During the 1956 parliamentary debate on the repeal of the clause, the order was accused of being behind the Spanish Civil War and of inspiring Communists and Marxists by the then-president of the Odelsting, C. J. Hambro:
It was thought that the members of the order followed the Pope blindly and that the order followed a moral theology which justified both lying and deceit as long as the ends were good, and were for that reason given the motto "The end justifies the means". Similar ideas about the Jesuits were also common in Norway in the 20th century.
Before 1814
As the Jesuit schools and universities grew in reputation, it also became common for wealthy Norwegian official families to send their children there for the best education: in Rome, but also later in Belgium, Poland and elsewhere. For Norwegian students, the school in Braniewo on the Baltic Sea was particularly attractive. The students went to Jesuit schools, and many received tuition free. They had to attend Catholic masses, confessions and Catholic Eucharist. Many of the students converted to Catholicism, the best known being Laurentius Nicolai. The schools also gained a good reputation, with good teaching staff and pedagogically recognized methods. The education was practical and results-oriented. The schools provided education in various disciplines, such as literature, music, drama and mathematics. Several of these began missionary work in the Nordic countries, starting in Poland and Belgium. There were also some Catholics in Norway who more or less hid their faith, among them who was bishop of Stavanger and Christoffer Hjort who was headmaster at Oslo Cathedral School. In 1602, the Catholics in Norway had their own clergy for a period.
In 1604, the situation for Catholics worsened. It was then forbidden to employ anyone who had attended Jesuit schools in positions in schools and churches. In practice, students from Norway ended up no longer attending Jesuit schools, and much of the contact with Catholic countries disappeared. In 1623–1624 the Jesuits made a new missions attempt. As a result, in 1624, Catholic priests were banned from Denmark–Norway under threat of the death penalty.
But around the mid-1600s, the Catholic Church largely abandoned its missionary activities in Norway, and most active attempts to re-Catholicize Denmark–Norway ceased.