Founding of the Society of Jesus

The event

Ignatius of Loyola, a Spanish nobleman whose military career ended with a severe leg wound and who subsequently underwent a profound religious conversion, spent years in intensive prayer, study, and the composition of his Spiritual Exercises, a structured program of meditation designed to help a person discern God's will, before gathering a small group of like-minded companions, including Francis Xavier and Peter Faber, during theological studies in Paris in the 1530s.

The group bound themselves initially by vows of poverty and chastity and an intention to serve in Jerusalem or, failing that, to place themselves entirely at the pope's disposal for whatever service the church most needed. Political obstacles prevented travel to Jerusalem, and the group instead offered themselves to Pope Paul III, who formally approved the new religious order, the Society of Jesus, in the bull Regimini militantis Ecclesiae in September 1540.

The Jesuits, as members came to be popularly known, were distinguished from earlier religious orders by a special fourth vow of direct obedience to the pope regarding missionary assignments, a strong emphasis on rigorous education (leading to the founding of an extensive global network of Jesuit schools and universities), and organizational flexibility that allowed members to be deployed wherever the church's needs were considered most urgent, rather than being bound to a single monastic community.

The order rapidly became one of the most significant institutional forces of the Catholic Counter-Reformation, providing influential confessors and advisors to European monarchs, leading vigorous theological and educational efforts to reclaim Protestant territories for Catholicism, and sending missionaries across the globe — most famously Francis Xavier to India and Japan, and later Matteo Ricci to China — establishing a Jesuit missionary presence that significantly shaped the global spread of Catholic Christianity in the following centuries.

Other witnesses

• Pope Paul III, Regimini militantis Ecclesiae (1540 bull of approval)
• Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises

Further reading

• Christian History Magazine 122: The Catholic Reformation — free full issue
• Catholic Encyclopedia (1913): The Jesuits
• Catholic Encyclopedia (1913): St. Ignatius Loyola