“The origin of the Roman Catholic amulets and “relics” blessed by the Pope, is the same as that of the “Ephesian Spell”, or magical characters engraved either on a stone or drawn on a piece of parchment; the Jewish amulets with verses out of the Law, and called phylacteria, and the Mahometan charms with verses of the Koran. All these were used as protective magic spells; and worn by believers on their persons. Epiphanius, the worthy ex-Marcosian, who speaks of these charms when used by the Manicheans as amulets, that is to say, things worn round the neck (Periapta), and “incantations and such like trickery”, cannot well throw a slur upon the “trickery” of Pagans and Gnostics, without including the Roman Catholic and Popish amulets.
But consistency is a virtue which we fear is losing, under Jesuit influence, the slight hold it may ever have had on the Church. That crafty, learned, conscienceless, terrible soul of Jesuitism, within the body of Romanism, is slowly but surely possessing itself of the whole prestige and spiritual power that clings to it. For the better exemplification of our theme, it will be necessary to contrast the moral principles of the ancient Tanaim and Theurgists with those professed by the modern Jesuits, who practically control Romanism today, and are the hidden enemy that would-be reformers must encounter and overcome.
Throughout the whole of antiquity, where, in and what land, can we find anything like this Order or anything even approaching it? We owe a place to the Jesuits in this chapter on secret societies, for more than any other they are a secret body and have a far closer connection with actual Masonry – in France and Germany at least – than people are generally aware of. The cry of an outraged public morality was raised against this Order from its very birth. Barely fifteen years had elapsed after the bull approving its constitution was promulgated, when its members began to be driven away from one place to the other. Portugal and the Low Countries got rid of them, in 1578; France in 1594; Venice in 1606; Naples in 1622. From St. Petersburg they were expelled in 1815, and from all Russia in 1820. It was a promising child from its very teens. What it grew up to be, everyone knows well.”
H. P. Blavatsky
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 