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Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits
approved September 27, 1540· Church or tradition· Church, doctrine & the world
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
Catholic religious order founded by the Spanish ex-soldier Ignatius of Loyola, known for its schools, missions and loyalty to the pope.
See it on the Bible & Christianity map →What it is
Ignatius, wounded at Pamplona in 1521, turned to God while recovering and later wrote the Spiritual Exercises, a month-long program of prayer. With six companions from the University of Paris he took vows in 1534; Pope Paul III approved the Society of Jesus on September 27, 1540. Members vowed special obedience to the pope for missions. By Ignatius's death in 1556 there were about 1,000 Jesuits; by 1600 they ran hundreds of colleges and had missions in India, Japan, China and the Americas.
Why it matters
They became the Catholic Reformation's spearhead and schoolmasters. Today about 14,000 Jesuits run schools and universities worldwide, including Sogang in Seoul; Pope Francis was the first Jesuit pope.
Sources and history
The 1540 founding bull, Ignatius's autobiography, nearly 7,000 of his letters and the order's detailed mission reports survive in the Jesuit archives in Rome.
Questions and debates
Why Catholic kings turned on them, expelling them and pressing the pope to suppress the order in 1773 (restored 1814), is debated: politics, wealth, court enemies or theology.
Inside this (1)
Connections (3)
▸Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits carried out the reforms of Council of Trent and the Catholic ReformationHistorical record
The connection
Two of Ignatius's first companions, Diego Laínez and Alfonso Salmerón, served at Trent as papal theologians. Afterward the Jesuits put its program into practice: they opened colleges and seminaries, preached, heard confessions, wrote catechisms (Peter Canisius's of 1555 ran to some 200 editions in his lifetime) and won back parts of Poland, Austria and southern Germany for Catholicism.
When and where
Trent, 1546–1563, for Laínez and Salmerón; then across Catholic Europe, where by 1600 the Jesuits ran hundreds of schools.
Historical evidence
Council records list the Jesuit theologians and their speeches; Jesuit college foundation records and catechism print runs document the follow-through.
Questions and debates
Historians debate how much the Catholic revival was driven from Rome and by orders like the Jesuits, versus by local bishops, rulers and lay believers.
▸Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits sent Matteo Ricci, Jesuit in ChinaHistorical record
The connection
Ricci joined the Jesuits in Rome in 1571 and trained at their Roman College under the mathematician Christopher Clavius. The order's Asia superior, Alessandro Valignano, sent him to China and backed his strategy of mastering Chinese language and culture before preaching, the 'accommodation' method Jesuits also used in India and Japan.
When and where
Rome 1571–1577; Goa 1578; Macau 1582, where Valignano assigned him to the China mission alongside Michele Ruggieri.
Historical evidence
Jesuit archives hold Ricci's letters to his superiors and Valignano's instructions; Ricci's own journal describes the mission's planning.
Questions and debates
Whether accommodation was wise adaptation or too much compromise divided Jesuits, Dominicans and Franciscans for over a century.
▸Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits ran missions as part of Christianity comes to the Americas: conquest and missionsHistorical record
The connection
Jesuits arrived in Brazil in 1549 and later worked from Canada to Paraguay. Their best-known effort was the Guaraní 'reductions' in Paraguay, self-governing mission towns that sheltered over 100,000 people at their 1730s peak from slave raiders. They also learned and recorded native languages. Portugal (1759) and Spain (1767) expelled them, partly over these missions.
When and where
Brazil from 1549 (Manuel da Nóbrega); the Paraguay reductions from 1609; New France, where Jean de Brébeuf was killed in 1649.
Historical evidence
The Jesuits' annual letters, mission censuses and surviving ruins, such as São Miguel and Trinidad, now UNESCO World Heritage sites, document the missions.
Questions and debates
Historians disagree whether the reductions protected Guaraní culture or remade it; the 1986 film The Mission dramatized the debate.