During his lifetime the Company acquired considerable wealth; and after his death it became a large owner of estates in Europe.

How was this consistent with the observance of that vow, so strictly inculcated by the founder on his first disciples, and so pompously proclaimed in their constitutions?
The professed and all their houses, as well as their churches, were bound to subsist on alms; they preached, administered the sacraments of the Church, and educated gratis.

They could inherit nothing, and were not allowed to receive money for their journeys.

But here appeared the wisdom of restricting the numbers of the professed to a small percentage of the whole Society.

The same rigid prohibition with regard to property was not imposed upon the houses of novices, colleges, and other educational establishments of the Jesuits; while the secular coadjutors were specially appointed for the administration of wealth which the professed might use but could not own.[168] In like manner, as they lived on alms, there was no objection to a priest of the order receiving valuable gifts in cash or kind from grateful recipients of his spiritual bounty.