イエズス会

イエズス会

ラテン語: Societas Jesu
クリストグラム
略語	SJ
ニックネーム	イエズス会
形成	1540年9月27日; 484年前[1] (1540-09-27)
創設者	聖イグナチオ・デ・ロヨラ 聖フランシスコ・ザビエル 聖ペテロ・ファーバー ニコラス・ボバディージャ ディエゴ・ライネス シマン・ロドリゲス アルフォンソ・サルメロン
設立年	パリ、フランス ローマで正式に制定
タイプ	教皇位継承権を持つ聖職者修道会（男子）[1]
本部	ジェネラレート: Borgo S. Spirito 4, 00195 Prati , Rome, Italy
座標	北緯41度54分4.9秒 東経12度27分38.2秒 / 北緯41.901361度 東経12.460611度 / 41.901361; 12.460611
サービス提供地域	全世界
メンバー	13,995（2024年）[1]
モットー	ラテン語: Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam 英語:神の栄光をさらに高めるために
総長	アルトゥーロ・ソーサ神父
守護聖人	聖ヨセフ 聖母マリア（マドンナ・デッラ・ストラーダの題名）
省	宣教、教育、文学作品
主な臓器	ラ・チビルタ・カトリカ
親組織	カトリック教会
Webサイト	グローバル

イエズス会（ラテン語: Societas Iesu、略称: SJ ）は、イエズス会あるいはイエズス会（/ ˈ dʒ ɛ ʒ u ɪ t s、ˈ dʒ ɛ zj u -/ JEZH -oo-its、JEZ -ew-、^[2]ラテン語: Iesuitae）、^[3]としても知られ、ローマに本部を置くカトリック教会の男性のための教皇権を持つ正規聖職者による修道会である。1540年にイグナチオ・ロヨラと6人の仲間によって、教皇パウロ3世の承認を得て設立された。同会は112か国で福音宣教と使徒的活動に携わっている。イエズス会員は教育、研究、文化活動に取り組んでいる。イエズス会はまた、黙想会を主催し、病院や教区で牧師を務め、直接的な社会奉仕や人道奉仕を後援し、エキュメニカルな対話を促進している。

イエズス会は聖母マリアの称号であるマドンナ・デッラ・ストラーダの保護の下に奉献され、総長によって率いられています。^{[4] [5]}イエズス会の本部である総長室はローマにあります。^[6]歴史的なイグナチオの教区教会は現在、イエズス会の母教会であるジェズー教会に付属するジェズー学院の一部となっています。

イエズス会の会員は「永遠の清貧、貞潔、従順」を誓約し、「宣教に関しては教皇に特別の従順を誓う」。つまり、イエズス会員は教皇から「死体のように」指示され、たとえ極限状態で生活することを要求されても、世界のどこへでも行くよう命令を受け入れることが期待される。これは、イエズス会の指導者であるイグナチオが軍人出身の貴族だったためである。したがって、設立文書の冒頭では、この会は「神の兵士として奉仕したいと望む者、特に信仰の擁護と普及、そしてキリスト教生活と教義における魂の進歩のために努力する者」のために^設立されたと宣言されている。 [7] そのため、イエズス会員は口語的に「神の兵士」、 「神の海兵隊」、「会社」と呼ばれることがある。 ^{[ 8 ] [10]}この団体は対抗宗教改革に参加し、後に第二バチカン公会議の実施にも参加した。

イエズス会の宣教師たちは16 世紀から 18 世紀にかけて世界中に宣教団を設立し、原住民のキリスト教化において成功と失敗の両方を経験しました。イエズス会はカトリック教会内で常に物議を醸し、世俗の政府や機関と頻繁に衝突してきました。1759 年以降、カトリック教会はヨーロッパのほとんどの国とヨーロッパの植民地からイエズス会を追放しました。1773 年、教皇クレメンス 14 世は正式にこの修道会を解散しました。1814 年、教会は解散を解除しました。

スペイン北部ピレネー山脈地方出身のバスク貴族イグナチオ・デ・ロヨラは、パンプローナの戦いで受けた傷の回復中に自らの霊的使命を悟り、この団体を設立しました。彼は、イエス・キリストの教えに従うよう他の人々を助けるために『霊操』を著しました。

1534年8月15日、バスク地方の都市ロヨラ出身のスペイン人イグナチオ・デ・ロヨラ（出生名イニゴ・ロペス・デ・ロヨラ）と、主にカスティーリャ出身のパリ大学の学生6名^[11]が、パリ郊外のモンマルトルにあるサン・ドニ教会（現在のサン・ピエール・ド・モンマルトル）の地下室に集まり、清貧、貞潔、従順の誓いを立てた。^[12]イグナチオの6人の同伴者は、ナバラ（現在のスペイン）出身のフランシスコ・ザビエル、カスティーリャ（現在のスペイン）出身のアルフォンソ・サルメロン、ディエゴ・ライネス、ニコラス・ボバディージャ、サヴォワ出身のピーター・ファーベル、ポルトガル出身のシマン・ロドリゲスであった。^{[13]この会合は、}モンマルトルのサン・ドニ殉教者記念館で記念されている。彼らは自分たちを「イエスの仲間」と呼び、また「主の友」とも呼んだ。なぜなら、彼らは「キリストによって集められた」と感じていたからである。「仲間」という名称には、軍隊（おそらくイグナチオがスペイン軍の隊長だったことを反映している）と弟子（イエスの「仲間」）の響きがある。スペイン語の「仲間」は、ラテン語で「仲間」または「同志」を意味するsociusのsocietasと翻訳される。これが「イエズス会」（SJ）の由来となり、彼らはより広く知られるようになった。^[14]

中世に設立された宗教団体は、特定の人物にちなんで名付けられました。アッシジのフランチェスコ(フランシスコ会)、ドミンゴ・デ・グスマン(後に聖ドミニコとして列聖) (ドミニコ会)、ヒッポのアウグスティヌス(アウグスティノ会) などです。イグナチオ・デ・ロヨラとその信奉者たちは、イエスの名を自分たちの新しい団体に流用し、それを傲慢だと考えた他の団体の憤慨を招きました。その憤慨は、イエズス会のホセ・デ・アコスタがサント・ドミンゴ大司教との会話の中で記録しています。^[15]ある歴史家はこう述べています。「イエスの名の使用は大きな不快感を与えました。大陸でもイギリスでも、冒涜的であると非難され、国王や民事裁判所、教会裁判所に名前の変更を求める嘆願書が送られ、教皇シクストゥス5世でさえも、その名前を廃止する旨の文書に署名しました。」しかし、反対はすべて実現しませんでした。すでに三位一体や「神の娘たち」にちなんで名付けられた会衆が存在していた。^[16]

1537年、7人は教皇に修道会の認可を求めるためにイタリアへ旅しました。教皇パウロ3世は彼らに表彰状を与え、司祭に叙階することを許可しました。これらの最初のステップが、1540年の正式な創立につながりました。

彼らはヴェネツィアでアルベ司教によって叙階された（6月24日）。彼らはイタリアで説教と慈善活動に専念した。 1536年から1538年にかけて神聖ローマ皇帝カール5世、ヴェネツィア、ローマ教皇、オスマン帝国の間でイタリア戦争が再開され、エルサレムへの旅は不可能になっていた。

1540年、彼らは再びこの計画をパウルス3世に提出した。何ヶ月もの論争の後、枢機卿会議は提出された憲章に好意的な報告をし、パウルス3世は1540年9月27日、勅書「戦う教会の統治へ」によってこの修道会を承認した。これはイエズス会を正式なカトリック修道会として設立する文書である。イグナティウスが初代総長に選ばれた。パウルス3世の勅書は会員数を60人に制限していた。この制限は1550年、ユリウス3世の勅書「エクスポシット・デビトゥム」によって撤廃された。^[17]

1543年、ピーター・カニシウスがイエズス会に入会しました。イグナティウスは彼をメッシーナに派遣し、そこでシチリア島初のイエズス会大学を設立しました。

イグナティウスは、新しい修道会に対する独自のビジョンを「イエズス会憲章」^[18]にまとめました。これは「修道会の基本的な憲章であり、その後のすべての公式文書はそれを詳細にまとめたもので、従わなければなりませんでした」^[19] 。彼は、この憲章が1540 年に教皇パウロ 3 世、1550 年に教皇ユリウス 3 世によって署名された2 つの教皇勅書に含まれるようにしました。 ^[18]この憲章は、新しい修道会の本質、精神性、共同生活、使徒職を表現しています。有名な冒頭の声明は、イグナティウスの軍歴を反映しています。

十字架の旗の下に神の兵士として仕えたいと望む者は、イエスの名によって名付けられることを望んでいる私たちの会において、地上におけるキリストの代理人であるローマ法王のもとで、主と、主の配偶者である教会にのみ仕えることを望み、永遠の貞潔、清貧、従順の厳粛な誓いを立てた後、以下のことを心に留めるべきである。彼は、主にこの目的のために設立された会のメンバーである。すなわち、公の説教、講義、および神の言葉のあらゆる奉仕によって、またさらに、リトリート、子供や無学な人々のキリスト教教育、告解を聞き、その他の秘跡を施すことによるキリストの信者の精神的な慰めによって、信仰の擁護と普及、およびキリスト教生活と教義における魂の進歩のために特に努力することである。さらに、彼は疎遠になった人々を和解させ、刑務所や病院にいる​​人々を思いやりをもって援助し、奉仕し、そして神の栄光と共通の善のために必要と思われるあらゆる慈善活動を行う用意があることを示さなければなりません。^[20]

「イエズス会の定款」の使命を果たすにあたり、初期のイエズス会はいくつかの重要な活動に力を注いだ。まず、ヨーロッパ中に学校を設立した。イエズス会の教師は古典学と神学の両方の訓練を受けており、彼らの学校もそれを反映していた。これらの学校は数学とアリストテレス学派の方法をバランスよく取り入れて教えた。^{[21]次に、}福音をまだ聞いていない人々に福音を伝えるために世界中に宣教師を派遣し、現在のパラグアイ、日本、オンタリオ、エチオピアなど、さまざまな地域に宣教団を設立した。最初の7つの宣教団のうちの1つは、1541年にすでにインドに到着していた。^[22]最後に、当初はその目的で結成されたわけではないが、プロテスタントの拡大を阻止し、ローマおよび教皇との交わりを維持することを目指した。イエズス会の熱意は、ポーランド・リトアニア共和国および南ドイツにおけるプロテスタント化の動きを克服した。

イグナチオは1553年に採択されたイエズス会憲章を執筆し、中央集権的な組織を創設し、教皇が召集するあらゆる任務を受け入れることを強調した。^{[23] [24] [25]}彼の主な原則は、非公式のイエズス会のモットーとなった。 「神の栄光のために」。このフレーズは、悪ではないあらゆる仕事は、通常はあまり重要ではないと考えられていることであっても、この意図を持って実行されれば、精神生活に功徳をもたらすことができるという考えを反映するように設計されている。^[17]

イエズス会は修道会の中でも、聖職者修道会、つまり使徒職のために組織され、宗教的規則に従う司祭の団体として分類されます。

イエズス会（15世紀に由来し、「イエスの名を頻繁に使用したり盗用したりする者」を意味する）という用語は、最初にイエズス会を非難するために使用された（1544年 - 1552年）。^[26]イグナチオ・デ・ロヨラはこの用語を一度も使用しなかったが、時が経つにつれて、イエズス会のメンバーや友人たちは、この名称を肯定的な意味で採用した。^[16]

この騎士団の入団資格は男性に限られているが、オーストリアのポルトガル王女ジョアンナはこの騎士団を支持し、男性の偽名を使って密かに入団したと伝えられている。^[27]

イエズス会は、トリエント公会議（1545年～1563年）とそれに続く対抗宗教改革の直前に設立されました。対抗宗教改革はカトリック教会内に改革をもたらし、カトリックヨーロッパ全土におけるプロテスタントの宗教改革に対抗するものでした。

しかし、イグナチオと初期のイエズス会は、教会の階級制度が改革を切実に必要としていることを認識していました。彼らの最大の闘いは、カトリック教会内の腐敗、貪欲、精神的衰弱に対するものでした。イグナチオは、当時の聖職者の多くが比較的教育水準が低かったのとは対照的に、聖職者に対して高度な学問的準備を求めました。「野心的な聖職者制度」に反対するイエズス会の誓いは、前世紀に明らかになった別の問題に対抗する努力と見ることができます。

イグナチオと彼に従ったイエズス会は、教会の改革は個人の心の改心から始めなければならないと信じていました。イエズス会がこの改心をもたらすために使用した主な手段の 1 つは、霊操と呼ばれるイグナチオの黙想です。4 週間の沈黙の期間中、個人は人生の目的に関する一連の指示された瞑想とキリストの生涯についての黙想を行います。個人は霊的指導者と定期的に会い、霊的指導者は個人が行う修行の選択を指導し、キリストに対するより明確な愛を育むのを助けます。

この修練会は、ヨハネス・カシアンと砂漠の父たちの精神性の伝統における「浄化・啓蒙・統合」のパターンに従っています。イグナチオの革新は、この瞑想的神秘主義のスタイルを、活動的な生活を送るすべての人々に利用できるようにしたことでした。さらに、彼はそれを教会の精神生活を立て直す手段として使用しました。この修練会は、イエズス会の訓練の基礎となり、また、修練会の重要な奉仕活動の 1 つとなりました。つまり、「修練会」として知られるようになった活動の中で、他の人々に修練会を教えることでした。

イエズス会が後期ルネサンスに果たした貢献は、宣教団としての役割と、大学を主要かつ独自の聖職として運営した最初の宗教団体としての役割の両方において重要であった。^[21] 1556年にイグナチオが亡くなったときまでに、イエズス会はすでに3大陸で74の大学のネットワークを運営していた。自由教育の先駆けであるイエズス会の学習計画は、ルネサンス人文主義の古典的な教えをカトリック思想のスコラ哲学の構造に取り入れた。^[21]この教育方法は科学革命の文脈で重要であった。なぜなら、これらの大学は新しい科学的および数学的方法論を教えることに積極的だったからである。さらに、科学革命の多くの重要な思想家がイエズス会の大学で教育を受けた。^[21]

信仰の教えに加えて、イエズス会の『ラティオ・スタジオルム』（1599年）は、ラテン語、ギリシャ語、古典文学、詩、哲学、および非ヨーロッパの言語、科学、芸術の研究を標準化しました。さらに、イエズス会の学校では、現地語の文学と修辞学の研究が奨励され、それによって法律家や公務員の養成の重要な中心地となりました。

イエズス会の学校は、かつてはプロテスタントが主流だったヨーロッパの多くの国、特にポーランドとリトアニアをカトリックに呼び戻すのに重要な役割を果たした。今日、イエズス会の大学は世界中の 100 か国以上にある。神は創造物、特に芸術を通して出会うことができるという考えのもと、彼らはカトリックの儀式や信仰において儀式や装飾の使用を奨励した。おそらく、この芸術への理解と「すべてのものの中に神を見出す」という精神的な実践の結果として、多くの初期のイエズス会士は視覚芸術や舞台芸術、音楽で傑出した存在となった。演劇はイエズス会の学校で特に顕著な表現形式であった。^[28]

イエズス会の司祭は近世に国王の聴罪司祭を務めることが多かった。彼らは宗教改革反対運動やカトリック宣教において重要な勢力であったが、その理由の一つは、彼らの比較的緩やかな組織構造（共通の生活や時課の典礼の遵守の要件がない）により、柔軟性があり、当時生じていた多様なニーズを満たすことができたからである。^[29]

神学の訓練と経験を積んだ後、イエズス会は世界中を回ってキリスト教への改宗者を探した。献身的な活動にもかかわらず、フィリピンを除いてアジアではほとんど成果がなかった。例えば、日本における初期の宣教活動の結果、1580年に政府はイエズス会に長崎の封建領地を与えた。しかし、影響力の拡大を恐れたため、1587年にこの領地は剥奪された。^[30]しかし、イエズス会はラテンアメリカでは大きな成功を収めた。17世紀にはアメリカ大陸の社会におけるイエズス会の台頭が加速し、ペルー、コロンビア、ボリビアに新しい宣教地が設立された。1603年には早くも、メキシコだけで345人のイエズス会司祭がいた。 ^[31]

ロヨラの最初の同行者の一人であるフランシスコ・ザビエルは、インドで伝道活動を行うため、1541年にゴア（ポルトガル領インド）に到着しました。1545年にポルトガル国王ジョアン3世に宛てた手紙の中で、隠れユダヤ教や隠れイスラム教などの異端と戦うため、ゴアに異端審問所を設置するよう要請しました。ポルトガル王室の支援の下、イエズス会はゴアで繁栄し、1759年までに教育と医療の分野に活動を拡張しました。1594年、イエズス会は中国のマカオに東洋初のローマ式の学術機関、セントポール・イエズス会大学を設立しました。アレッサンドロ・ヴァリニャーノによって設立されたこの大学は、宣教師イエズス会による東洋の言語（中国語と日本語）と文化の学習に大きな影響を与え、マッテオ・リッチなどの西洋初の中国学者の拠点となりました。ゴアにおけるイエズス会の活動は、1759年にポルトガルの国務長官であった有力なポンバル侯爵によってポルトガル領からイエズス会が追放されたことで中断された。 ^[32]

ポルトガルのイエズス会士アントニオ・デ・アンドラーデは、 1624年に西チベットに布教所を設立しました（「チベットのカトリック教会」も参照）。2人のイエズス会宣教師、ヨハン・グルーバーとアルバート・ドルヴィルは、 1661年にチベットのラサに到着しました。イタリアのイエズス会士イッポリト・デシデリは、ラサと中央チベットに新しいイエズス会の布教所を設立し（1716年～1721年）、チベット語とチベット文化に並外れた習熟度を身につけ、チベットとその宗教に関する長く非常に詳細な記述や、仏教の主要な考えに反論し、カトリックキリスト教の真実を確立しようとするチベット語の論文を執筆しました。

アメリカ大陸におけるイエズス会の布教は、ヨーロッパ、特にスペインとポルトガルで物議を醸した。イエズス会は、王室政府の正当な植民地事業を妨害していると見なされた。イエズス会は、しばしば先住民と奴隷制度の間に立つ唯一の勢力であった。彼らは南米全土、特に現在のブラジルとパラグアイで、「リダクション」と呼ばれる先住民キリスト教都市国家を形成した。これらは、理想的な神権政治モデルに従って設立された社会であった。アントニオ・ルイス・デ・モントーヤのようなイエズス会士が、スペインとポルトガルの植民者による奴隷化から先住民を守ろうとした努力は、社会の弾圧を求める声に寄与した。マヌエル・ダ・ノブレガやホセ・デ・アンシエタなどのイエズス会司祭は、16世紀にブラジルのサンパウロやリオデジャネイロを含むいくつかの町を創設し、先住民族の鎮圧、宗教的改宗、教育に大きな影響力を持った。彼らはまた、学校を建設し、人々を村落に組織し、ブラジルの現地語の表記体系を作った。^[31]ホセ・デ・アンシエタとマヌエル・ダ・ノブレガは、イグナシオ・デ・ロヨラがアメリカ大陸に派遣した最初のイエズス会員であった。^[33]

外国宣教地で活動していたイエズス会の学者たちは現地の言語の研究に熱心に取り組み、ラテン語化された文法書や辞書の作成に努めた。これには日本語（1603年に書かれた日本語-ポルトガル語辞書である『日葡辞書』を参照）、ベトナム語（ポルトガルの宣教師がベトナム語アルファベットを作成した。^{[34] [35]}これは後にアヴィニョンの宣教師アレクサンドル・ド・ロードが1651年に三か国語辞書で公式化した）、トゥピ語（ブラジルの主要言語）、そして1740年代の ジャン・フランソワ・ポンスによる西洋におけるサンスクリットの先駆的な研究などが含まれる。

イエズス会の宣教師たちは北アメリカのヌーベルフランスの先住民の間で活動し、その多くが学んだ先住民族やアメリカ先住民の言語の辞書や用語集を編集した。例えば、ミシシッピ川流域のイリノイ伝道所の総司祭であったジャック・グラヴィエは、1708年に亡くなる前に、宣教師の著作の中で最も広範囲にわたると考えられているマイアミ・イリノイ・フランス語辞書を編集した。 ^{[36]広範囲にわたる文書は、1632年から1673年まで毎年出版された}『イエズス会関係』の形で残されている。

イエズス会は16世紀に英国で活動していたが、エリザベス朝時代のカトリック教徒の迫害のため、イングランド管区が設立されたのは1623年になってからであった。 ^{[37]現在の}英国における初期のイエズス会にとっての最初の差し迫った課題は、司祭を養成する場所を設立することであった。ローマにイングリッシュ・カレッジが開設された後（1579年）、バリャドリッドにイエズス会の神学校が開設され（1589年）、続いてセビリアに神学校が開設され（1592年）、最終的にルーヴァンに研究の場が開設された（1614年）。これが、後にヘイスロップ・カレッジと呼ばれるようになるものの最も初期の設立であった。 1896年に設立されたキャンピオン・ホールは、それ以来 オックスフォード大学内に存在している。

16世紀と17世紀に司祭を養成するために設立されたイエズス会の施設は、英国におけるカトリック教徒迫害の温床となり、カトリックの司祭と疑われた男性は日常的に投獄され、拷問を受け、処刑された。殺害された者の中には、キャンピオン・ホールの名を冠した人物や、ブライアン・キャンズフィールド、ラルフ・コービントンなど多くのイエズス会員も含まれていた。彼らの多くは、イングランドとウェールズの40人の殉教者の一人として列聖された。

現在でもロンドンにはイエズス会の教会が4つ残っており、イングランドにはさらに3つの礼拝所、スコットランドには2つの礼拝所が残っている。^[38]

イエズス会は最初、マカオのポルトガル人居住地を通じて中国に入り、そこで緑島に定住してセントポール大学を設立した。

16世紀と17世紀のイエズス会中国宣教団は、当時革命の過程にあった西洋の科学と天文学を中国にもたらした[ 39 ] 。イエズス^{会がもたらした}科学革命は、中国で科学革新が衰退していた時期と一致していた。

[イエズス会は]西洋の数学的および天文学的著作を中国語に翻訳する努力をし、これらの科学に対する中国の学者の関心を喚起した。彼らは非常に広範囲にわたる天文観測を行い、中国で最初の近代的な地図作成作業を行った。彼らはまた、この古代文化の科学的成果を評価することを学び、それをヨーロッパに知らせた。彼らの書簡を通じて、ヨーロッパの科学者は初めて中国の科学と文化について知った。^[40]

1世紀以上にわたり、ミケーレ・ルッジェーリ、マッテオ・リッチ、^[41] ディエゴ・デ・パントーヤ、フィリップ・クプレ、ミハル・ボイム、フランソワ・ノエルなどのイエズス会士は翻訳を洗練させ、中国の知識、文化、歴史、哲学をヨーロッパに広めました。彼らのラテン語の著作は「孔子」という名前を広め、理神論者や他の啓蒙思想家に大きな影響を与えました。彼らの中には、儒教の道徳とカトリックの調和を図ろうとするイエズス会の試みに興味をそそられた人もいました。^[42]

フランシスコ会や他の修道会が到着すると、イエズス会が中国文化や儀式を取り入れたことで、長く続く中国儀式論争が起きた。康熙帝や多くのイエズス会改宗者が、中国人の祖先や孔子への崇拝は非宗教的な敬意の表れであると個人的に証言していたにもかかわらず、 1704年にクレメンス11世は教皇勅書 「神にとって最適」で、そのような行為は許されない偶像崇拝や迷信であると裁定した。^{[43]この判決を}康熙帝に報告する任務 を負った特使トゥルノンと福建省の司教シャルル・メグロは極度の無知を示​​したため、康熙帝はリッチの中国の教理問答の条件を遵守できないキリスト教宣教師の追放を命じた。^{[44] [45] [46] [47]}トゥルノンによるクレメント1世の勅令^[48]に違反した者に対する自動破門は 、1715年の勅書Ex Illa Dieによって支持され 、中国のすべての宣教団の急速な崩壊を招いた。^[45]最後のイエズス会士は1721年以降に追放された。^[49]

アイルランド初のイエズス会学校は、ローマ教皇庁の使徒的訪問者であるデイヴィッド・ウルフによってリムリックに設立された。ウルフは、イエズス会第3代総長ディエゴ・レイネスの同意を得て、教皇ピウス4世によってアイルランドに派遣された。^[50]彼は「人々の深い無知に対する救済策として」文法学校を設立する任務を負った。^[51]

ウルフのアイルランドでの使命は、当初は硬直化したアイルランド教会を健全な基盤に据え、トリエント公会議の改革を導入し、空席となった司教座を埋めるのに適した人物を見つけることに集中した。彼はリムリックにメナボクタ（「貧しい女性」）として知られる修道女の家を設立し、1565年にはリムリックに学校を設立する準備を始めた。^[52]

彼の唆しにより、リムリック教区の司祭リチャード・クリーは空席となっていたアーマー大司教区を引き受けるよう説得され、1564年にローマで叙階された。

リムリックの初期の学校であるクレセント カレッジは、困難な状況下で運営されていました。1566 年 4 月、ウィリアム グッドはポルトガルのイエズス会を通じて、ローマに自身の活動に関する詳細な報告書を送りました。彼はイエズス会の総長に、自分とエドマンド ダニエルが 2 年前にリムリック市に到着し、そこでの状況が危険であったことを伝えました。2 人とも非常に悪い健康状態で市に到着しましたが、人々の親切により回復しました。

彼らはウルフと連絡を取ったが、イギリス当局が使節を逮捕しようとしていたため、夜しか会うことができなかった。ウルフは当初、彼らにリムリックの少年たちに宗教教育に重点を置いた教育を命じ、グッドはこの目的のためにラテン語の教理問答を英語に翻訳した。彼らは8か月間市内に滞在した後、 1565年12月にデズモンド伯爵の保護下でキルマロックに移り、市内で経験した原始的な状況よりも快適な生活を送っていた。しかし、キルマロックでは生活を維持できず、3か月後の1566年のイースターに市内に戻り、奇妙なことに、影響力のある友人から紹介されたアイルランド総督の所有する宿泊施設に家を構えた。^[53]

彼らはキャッスル・レーンでの教授と秘跡の授けを再開したが、王立委員の到着により活動は制限された。グッドは、彼がイギリス人であったため、市内のイギリス人役人が彼を教育し、何度か彼らとの食事に招かれたが、学生や会衆にペトロの首位権と秘跡の中でのミサの優先性を宣伝しないように慎重に行動し、逮捕を避けたいのであれば、説教で世俗の君主への服従を強調するように警告されたと報告した。^[53]

彼らの保護下にある生徒の数は非常に少なかった。アイルランドにおける初期の学校劇の例は、グッドの報告書の1つに収められており、1566年の聖ヨハネ祭で上演された。学校は1つの大きなアウラで運営されていたが、生徒は別々のクラスに分かれていた。グッドは教えられたカリキュラムについて非常に詳細な報告をしており、最上級クラスはヨハネス・デスパウテリウスの『文法解説』の第1部と第2部を学び、キケロの手紙やフルシウスの対話篇（アンドレ・デ・フロワ神父）をいくつか読んだ。第2クラスはドナトゥスのラテン語テキストを暗記し、対話篇やエヴァルドゥス・ガルスの作品を読んでいた。第3クラスの生徒はドナトゥスを暗記したが、ラテン語ではなく英語に翻訳されていた。第4クラスの少年たちは読み方を教えられた。同時に授業を行う教師が少なすぎたため、進歩は遅かった。^[53]

14年前に設立されたイグナチオ・ローマ・カレッジの精神を受け継ぎ、生徒には授業料を請求しなかったが、その結果、この2人のイエズス会士は非常に貧しい環境で暮らし、一般の人々への教育と秘跡の執行で非常に働き詰めだった。1568年後半、ダニエルとグッドのいるキャッスル・レーン・スクールは、マンスターの平定中にサー・トーマス・キューザックが派遣した政府職員によって襲撃され、略奪された。 ^[54]ピウス5世がエリザベス1世女王を正式に破門するに至る過程で、政治的、宗教的な風潮はより不安定になり、その結果、イングランドとアイルランドでカトリックに対する新たな弾圧の波が起こった。1568年末、ミース州の英国国教会の司教ヒュー・ブレイディが、イエズス会士を探し出して追放する王立委員会の任務を帯びてリムリックに派遣された。ダニエルは直ちに市を離れるよう命じられ、リスボンに行き、ポルトガルのイエズス会士のもとで勉強を再開した。^{[54]グッドは}クロンメルに移り、その後1577年までユーガルに定住した。^[55]

1571年、ウルフが捕らえられダブリン城に投獄された後、ダニエルはポルトガル領を説得してウルフの身代金の保証人に同意させたが、ウルフは釈放後すぐに追放された。ダニエルは翌年アイルランドに戻ったが、すぐに捕らえられ、彼の所持品から有罪を示す文書が発見され、それがデズモンド伯爵の反逆的な従兄弟ジェームズ・フィッツモーリスとスペインの陰謀への関与の証拠とされた。^{[56]彼はリムリックから連れ去られ、「泥棒か悪名高い犯罪者」であるかのようにコークに連行された。マンスターのジョン}・ペロー卿によって軍法会議にかけられた後、彼は反逆罪で絞首刑、引き裂き刑、四つ裂きの刑を宣告され、国王至上法に誓約することと引き換えの恩赦を拒否された。彼の処刑は1572年10月25日に行われ、その報告書は1576年にフィッツモーリスによってイエズス会の総長に送られ、その中で彼はダニエルが「私のせいで残酷に殺された」と述べた。^[57]

ダニエルが亡くなり、ウルフが解雇されたことで、アイルランドのイエズス会の設立は大きな挫折を味わった。グッドは1577年までにローマに居住していたことが記録されており、1586年にはデズモンド伯爵の領地が押収された結果、マンスターに新たな恒久的なプロテスタント農園が作られ、リムリック学校の存続は一時不可能になった。イエズス会の宣教団が再び市内に定着したのは1600年代初頭になってからだったが、イエズス会はあちこちの宿舎で目立たない存在であり続けた。例えば、ニコラス・レイナー神父が率いる宣教団は1601年にリムリックに定着したが、^[58]その後数年間、市内のイエズス会の数は一度に1、2人程度にとどまった。

1604年、マンスターの長官ヘンリー・ブラウンカー卿はリムリックで、すべてのイエズス会員に市内と州から出国するよう命じ、イエズス会の司祭を当局に引き渡す者には7ポンド、神学生には5ポンドの罰金を課した。^[59]その後の数年間、州中のイエズス会の施設や学校は定期的に取り締まりを受け、時折学校が破壊され、教師が投獄され、親に多額の罰金が課されたことが当時の出版物に記録されている。1615年から1617年にかけて、ダブリンの英国国教会大司教トーマス・ジョーンズによって書かれた王室訪問記録には、ウォーターフォード、リムリック、ゴールウェイのイエズス会の学校が弾圧されたことが記録されている。^[60]しかし、このような時折の迫害にもかかわらず、イエズス会は州内とリムリックである程度の影響力を及ぼすことができた。例えば、1606年には、彼らの努力のおかげで、カトリック教徒のクリストファー・ホーリーウッドが市長に選出された。^[61]その4年前には、この町に住むイエズス会士が市内に病院を建設するために「200クルザード」を集めていたが、この計画は深刻なペストの流行と大統領による弾圧で中断された^[62]。

当時のこの修道会の市内での主な活動は、説教、秘跡の執行、教育であった。学校は、ラヒフィーズ レーン近くのキャッスル レーン周辺で断続的に開校したり閉校したりしていた。19 世紀、取り壊し作業中に、セント メアリーズ チャペル近くの皮なめし工場の裏の壁に、IHS、1642、1609 と刻まれた石が埋め込まれているのが発見された。レニハンによると、この石は初期のイエズス会学校と礼拝堂があった場所を示すものと考えられていた。この建物は、他の時期にはダンス ハウスやキャンドル工場としても機能していた。^[63]

For much of the 17th century, the Limerick Jesuit foundation established a more permanent and stable presence and the Jesuit Annals record a 'flourishing' school at Limerick in the 1640s.^[64] During the Confederacy the Jesuits had been able to go about their business unhindered and were invited to preach publicly from the pulpit of St. Mary's Cathedral on 4 occasions. Cardinal Giovanni Rinuccini wrote to the Jesuit general in Rome praising the work of the Rector of the Limerick College, Fr. William O'Hurley, who was aided by Fr. Thomas Burke.^[65] However just a few years later, during the Protectorate era, only 18 of the Jesuits resident in Ireland managed to avoid capture by the authorities. Lenihan records that the Limerick Crescent College in 1656 moved to a hut in the middle of a bog which was difficult for the authorities to find. This foundation was headed up by Fr. Nicholas Punch who was aided by Frs. Maurice Patrick, Piers Creagh and James Forde and the school attracted a large number of students from around the locality.^[66]

At the Restoration of Charles II, the school moved back to Castle Lane, and remained largely undisturbed for the next 40 years, until the surrender of the city to Williamite forces in 1692. In 1671, Dr. James Douley was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Limerick and during his visitation to the diocese reported to the Holy See that the Jesuits had a house and "taught schools with great fruit, instructing the youth in the articles of faith and good morals."^[67] Douley also noted that this and other Catholic schools operating in the Diocese were also attended by local Protestants.^[68]

The Jesuit presence in Ireland, in the so-called Penal era after the Battle of the Boyne, ebbed and flowed. By 1700 they were only 6 or 7, recovering to 25 by 1750. Small Jesuit houses and schools existed at Athlone, Carrick-on-Suir, Cashel, Clonmel, Kilkenny, Waterford, New Ross, Wexford, and Drogheda, as well as Dublin and Galway. At Limerick there appears to have been a long hiatus following the defeat of the Jacobite forces and Begley states that Fr. Thomas O'Gorman was the first Jesuit to return to Limerick after the siege, arriving in 1728 and he took up residence in Jail Lane, near the Castle in the Englishtown. There he opened a school to "impart the rudiments of the classics to the better class youth of the city."^[69] O'Gorman left in 1737 and was succeeded by Fr. John McGrath.^[70] Next came Fr. James McMahon, who was a nephew of the Primate of Armagh, Hugh MacMahon. McMahon lived at Limerick for thirteen years until his death in 1751. In 1746 Fr Joseph Morony was sent from Bordeaux to join McMahon and the others.^[71] Morony remained at the Jail Lane site teaching at what Begley states was a "high class school" until 1773 when he was ordered to close the school and oratory following the papal suppression of the Society of Jesus,^[72] 208 years after its foundation by Wolfe. Morony then went to live in Dublin and worked as a secular priest.

Despite the efforts of the Castle authorities and English government the Limerick school managed to survive the Protestant Reformation, the Cromwellian invasion and Williamite Wars, and subsequent Penal Laws. It was finally forced to close, not for religious or confessional reasons, but due to the political difficulties of the Jesuit Order elsewhere.

Following the restoration of the Society of Jesus in 1814, the Jesuits gradually re-established a number of their schools throughout the country, starting with foundations at Kildare and Dublin. They returned to Limerick at the invitation of the Bishop of Limerick, John Ryan, in 1859 and also re-established a school at Galway in the same year.

During the French colonisation of New France in the 17th century, Jesuits played an active role in North America. Samuel de Champlain established the foundations of the French colony at Québec in 1608. The native tribes that inhabited modern day Ontario, Québec, and the areas around Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay were the Montagnais, the Algonquins, and the Huron.^[73] Champlain believed that these had souls to be saved, so in 1614 he obtained the Recollects, a reform branch of the Franciscans in France, to convert the native inhabitants.^[74] In 1624 the French Recollects realized the magnitude of their task^[75] and sent a delegate to France to invite the Society of Jesus to help with this mission. The invitation was accepted, and Jesuits Jean de Brébeuf, Énemond Massé, and Charles Lalemant arrived in Quebec in 1625.^[76] Lalemant is considered to have been the first author of one of the Jesuit Relations of New France, which chronicled their evangelization during the 17th century.

The Jesuits became involved in the Huron mission in 1626 and lived among the Huron peoples. Brébeuf learned the native language and created the first Huron language dictionary. Outside conflict forced the Jesuits to leave New France in 1629 when Quebec was surrendered to the English. In 1632, Quebec was returned to the French under the Treaty of Saint Germain-en-Laye and the Jesuits returned to the Huron territory.^[77] After a series of epidemics of European-introduced diseases beginning in 1634, some Huron began to mistrust the Jesuits and accused them of being sorcerers casting spells from their books.^[78]

In 1639, Jesuit Jerome Lalemant decided that the missionaries among the Hurons needed a local residence and established Sainte-Marie near present-day Midland, Ontario, which was meant to be a replica of European society.^[79] It became the Jesuit headquarters and an important part of Canadian history. Throughout most of the 1640s the Jesuits had modest success, establishing five chapels in Huronia and baptising more than one thousand Huron out of a population which may have exceeded 20,000 before the epidemics of the 1630s.^[80] However, the Iroquois of New York, rivals of the Hurons, grew jealous of the Hurons' wealth and control of the fur trade system and attacked Huron villages in 1648. They killed missionaries and burned villages, and the Hurons scattered. Both de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant were tortured and killed in the Iroquois raids; for this, they have been canonized as martyrs in the Catholic Church.^[81]

The Jesuit Paul Ragueneau burned down Sainte-Marie instead of allowing the Iroquois the satisfaction of destroying it. By late June 1649, the French and some Christian Hurons built Sainte-Marie II on Christian Island (Isle de Saint-Joseph). However, facing starvation, lack of supplies, and constant threats of Iroquois attack, the small Sainte-Marie II was abandoned in June 1650; the remaining Christian Hurons and Jesuits departed for Quebec and Ottawa.^[81] As a result of the Iroquois raids and outbreak of disease, many missionaries, traders, and soldiers died.^[82] Today, the Huron tribe, also known as the Wyandot, have a First Nations reserve in Quebec, Canada, and three major settlements in the United States.^[83]

After the collapse of the Huron nation, the Jesuits undertook the task of converting the Iroquois, something they had attempted in 1642 with little success. In 1653 the Iroquois nation had a fallout with the Dutch. They then signed a peace treaty with the French and a mission was established. The Iroquois soon turned on the French again. In 1658, the Jesuits were having little success and were under constant threat of being tortured or killed,^[82] but continued their effort until 1687 when they abandoned their permanent posts in the Iroquois homeland.^[84]

By 1700, Jesuits turned to maintaining Quebec, Montreal, and Ottawa without establishing new posts.^[85] During the Seven Years' War, Quebec was captured by the British in 1759 and New France came under British control. The British barred the immigration of more Jesuits to New France, and by 1763, only 21 Jesuits were stationed in New France. By 1773 only 11 Jesuits remained. During the same year the British crown declared that the Society of Jesus in New France was dissolved.^[86]

The dissolution of the order left in place substantial estates and investments, amounting to an income of approximately £5,000 a year, and the Council for the Affairs of the Province of Quebec, later succeeded by the Legislative Assembly of Quebec, assumed the task of allocating the funds to suitable recipients, chiefly schools.^[87]

The Jesuit mission in Quebec was re-established in 1842. There were a number of Jesuit colleges founded in the decades following; one of these colleges evolved into present-day Laval University.^[88]

In the United States, the order is best known for its missions to the Native Americans in the early 17th century, its network of colleges and universities, and (in Europe before 1773) its politically conservative role in the Catholic Counter Reformation.

The Society of Jesus, in the United States, is organized into geographic provinces, each of which being headed by a provincial superior. Today, there are four Jesuit provinces operating in the United States: the USA East, USA Central and Southern, USA Midwest, and USA West Provinces. At their height, there were ten provinces. Though there had been mergers in the past, a major reorganization of the provinces began in early 21st century, with the aim of consolidating into four provinces by 2020.^[89]

The Church of the Society of Jesus (Spanish: La Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús), known colloquially as la Compañía, is a Jesuit church in Quito, Ecuador. It is among the best-known churches in Quito because of its large central nave, which is profusely decorated with gold leaf, gilded plaster and wood carvings. Inspired by two Roman Jesuit churches – the Chiesa del Gesù (1580) and the Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola (1650) – la Compañía is one of the most significant works of Spanish Baroque architecture in South America and Quito's most ornate church.

Over the 160 years of its construction, the architects of la Compañía incorporated elements of four architectural styles, although the Baroque is the most prominent. Mudéjar (Moorish) influence is seen in the geometrical figures on the pillars; the Churrigueresque characterizes much of the ornate decoration, especially in the interior walls; finally the Neoclassical style adorns the Chapel of Saint Mariana de Jesús (in early years a winery).

The Jesuits in New Spain distinguished themselves in several ways. They had high standards for acceptance to the order and many years of training. They attracted the patronage of elite families whose sons they educated in rigorous newly founded Jesuit colegios ("colleges"), including Colegio de San Pedro y San Pablo, Colegio de San Ildefonso, and the Colegio de San Francisco Javier, Tepozotlan. Those same elite families hoped that a son with a vocation to the priesthood would be accepted as a Jesuit. Jesuits were also zealous in evangelization of the indigenous, particularly on the northern frontiers.

To support their colegios and members of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits acquired landed estates that were run with the best-practices for generating income in that era. A number of these haciendas were donated by wealthy elites. The donation of a hacienda to the Jesuits was the spark igniting a conflict between 17th-century Bishop Don Juan de Palafox of Puebla and the Jesuit colegio in that city. Since the Jesuits resisted paying the tithe on their estates, this donation effectively took revenue out of the church hierarchy's pockets by removing it from the tithe rolls.^[90]

Many of Jesuit haciendas were huge, with Palafox asserting that just two colleges owned 300,000 head of sheep, whose wool was transformed locally in Puebla to cloth; six sugar plantations worth a million pesos and generating an income of 100,000 pesos.^[90] The immense Jesuit hacienda of Santa Lucía produced pulque, the alcoholic drink made from fermented agave sap whose main consumers were the lower classes and Indigenous peoples in Spanish cities. Although most haciendas had a free work force of permanent or seasonal labourers, the Jesuit haciendas in Mexico had a significant number of enslaved people of African descent.^[91]

The Jesuits operated their properties as an integrated unit with the larger Jesuit order; thus revenues from haciendas funded their colegios. Jesuits did significantly expand missions to the Indigenous in the northern frontier area and a number were martyred, but the crown supported those missions.^[90] Mendicant orders that had real estate were less economically integrated, so that some individual houses were wealthy while others struggled economically. The Franciscans, who were founded as an order embracing poverty, did not accumulate real estate, unlike the Augustinians and Dominicans in Mexico.

The Jesuits engaged in conflict with the episcopal hierarchy over the question of payment of tithes, the ten percent tax on agriculture levied on landed estates for support of the church hierarchy from bishops and cathedral chapters to parish priests. Since the Jesuits were the largest religious order holding real estate, surpassing the Dominicans and Augustinians who had accumulated significant property, this was no small matter.^[90] They argued that they were exempt, due to special pontifical privileges.^[92] Bishop De Palafox took on the Jesuits over this matter and was so soundly defeated that he was recalled to Spain, where he became the bishop of the minor Diocese of Osma.

As elsewhere in the Spanish empire, the Jesuits were expelled from Mexico in 1767. Their haciendas were sold off and their colegios and missions in Baja California were taken over by other orders.^[93] Exiled Mexican-born Jesuit Francisco Javier Clavijero wrote an important history of Mexico while in Italy, a basis for creole patriotism. Andrés Cavo also wrote an important text on Mexican history that Carlos María de Bustamante published in the early 19th century.^[94] An earlier Jesuit who wrote about the history of Mexico was Diego Luis de Motezuma (1619–99), a descendant of the Aztec monarchs of Tenochtitlan. Motezuma's Corona mexicana, o Historia de los nueve Motezumas was completed in 1696. He "aimed to show that Mexican emperors were a legitimate dynasty in the 17th-century in the European sense".^[95][96]

The Jesuits were allowed to return to Mexico in 1840 when General Antonio López de Santa Anna was once more president of Mexico. Their re-introduction to Mexico was "to assist in the education of the poorer classes and much of their property was restored to them".^[97]

The Jesuits arrived in the Viceroyalty of Peru by 1571; it was a key area of the Spanish Empire, with not only dense indigenous populations but also huge deposits of silver at Potosí. A major figure in the first wave of Jesuits was José de Acosta (1540–1600), whose book Historia natural y moral de las Indias (1590) introduced Europeans to Spain's American empire via fluid prose and keen observation and explanation, based on 15 years in Peru and some time in New Spain (Mexico). Viceroy of Peru Don Francisco de Toledo urged the Jesuits to evangelize the Indigenous peoples of Peru, wanting to put them in charge of parishes, but Acosta adhered to the Jesuit position that they were not subject to the jurisdiction of bishops and to catechize in Indigenous parishes would bring them into conflict with the bishops. For that reason, the Jesuits in Peru focused on education of elite men rather than the indigenous populations.^[98]

To minister to newly arrived African slaves, Alonso de Sandoval (1576–1651) worked at the port of Cartagena de Indias. Sandoval wrote about this ministry in De instauranda Aethiopum salute (1627),^[99] describing how he and his assistant Peter Claver, later canonized, met slave transport ships in the harbour, went below decks where 300–600 slaves were chained, and gave physical aid with water, while introducing the Africans to Christianity. In his treatise, he did not condemn slavery or the ill-treatment of slaves, but sought to instruct fellow Jesuits to this ministry and describe how he catechized the slaves.^[100]

Rafael Ferrer was the first Jesuit of Quito to explore and found missions in the upper Amazon regions of South America from 1602 to 1610, which belonged to the Audiencia (high court) of Quito that was a part of the Viceroyalty of Peru until it was transferred to the newly created Viceroyalty of New Granada in 1717. In 1602, Ferrer began to explore the Aguarico, Napo, and Marañon rivers (Sucumbios region, in what is today Ecuador and Peru), and between 1604 and 1605 set up missions among the Cofane natives. He was martyred by an apostate native in 1610.

In 1639, the Audiencia of Quito organized an expedition to renew its exploration of the Amazon river and the Quito Jesuit (Jesuita Quiteño) Cristóbal de Acuña was a part of this expedition. The expedition disembarked from the Napo river 16 February 1639 and arrived in what is today Pará, Brazil, on the banks of the Amazon river on 12 December 1639. In 1641, Acuña published in Madrid a memoir of his expedition to the Amazon river entitled Nuevo Descubrimiento del gran rio de las Amazonas, which for academics became a fundamental reference on the Amazon region.

In 1637, the Jesuits Gaspar Cugia and Lucas de la Cueva from Quito began establishing the Mainas missions in territories on the banks of the Marañón River, around the Pongo de Manseriche region, close to the Spanish settlement of Borja. Between 1637 and 1652 there were 14 missions established along the Marañón River and its southern tributaries, the Huallaga and the Ucayali rivers. Jesuit de la Cueva and Raimundo de Santacruz opened up two new routes of communication with Quito, through the Pastaza and Napo rivers.

Between 1637 and 1715, Samuel Fritz founded 38 missions along the length of the Amazon river, between the Napo and Negro rivers, that were called the Omagua Missions. These missions were continually attacked by the Brazilian Bandeirantes beginning in the year 1705. In 1768, the only Omagua mission that was left was San Joaquin de Omaguas, since it had been moved to a new location on the Napo river away from the Bandeirantes.

In the immense territory of Maynas, the Jesuits of Quito made contact with a number of indigenous tribes which spoke 40 different languages, and founded a total of 173 Jesuit missions encompassing 150,000 inhabitants. Because of the constant epidemics (smallpox and measles) and warfare with other tribes and the Bandeirantes, the total number of Jesuit Missions were reduced to 40 by 1744. The Jesuit missions offered the Indigenous people Christianity, iron tools, and a small degree of protection from the slavers and the colonists. In exchange, the Indigenous had to submit to Jesuit discipline and adopt, at least superficially, a lifestyle foreign to their experience. The population of the missions was only sustained by frequent expeditions into the jungle by Jesuits, soldiers, and Christian Indians to capture Indigenous people and force them to return or to settle in the missions.^[101] At the time when the Jesuits were expelled from Spanish America in 1767, the Jesuits registered 36 missions run by 25 Jesuits in the Audiencia of Quito – 6 in the Napo and Aguarico Missions and 19 in the Pastaza and Iquitos Missions, with a population at 20,000 inhabitants.^[102]

The Guaraní people of eastern Paraguay and neighboring Brazil and Argentina were in crisis in the early 17th century. Recurrent epidemics of European diseases had reduced their population by up 50 percent and the forced labor of the encomiendas by the Spanish and mestizo colonists had made virtual slaves of many. Franciscan missionaries began establishing missions called reductions in the 1580s.^[103] The first Jesuits arrived in Asunción in 1588 and founded their first mission (or reduction) of San Ignacio Guazú in 1609. The objectives of the Jesuits were to make Christians of the Guaraní, impose European values and customs (which were regarded as essential to a Christian life), and isolate and protect the Guaraní from European colonists and slavers.^[103][104]

In addition to recurrent epidemics, the Guaraní were threatened by the slave-raiding Bandeirantes from Brazil, who captured natives and sold them as slaves to work in sugar plantations or as concubines and household servants. Having depleted native populations near São Paulo, they discovered the richly populated Jesuit missions. Initially, the missions had few defenses against the slavers and thousands of Guaraní were captured and enslaved.

Beginning in 1631, the Jesuits moved their missions from the Guayrá province (present day Brazil and Paraguay), about 500 km (310 mi) southwest to the three borders region of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. About 10,000 of 30,000 Guaraní in the missions chose to accompany the Jesuits. In 1641 and 1642, armed by the Jesuits, Guaraní armies defeated the Bandeirantes and ended the worst of the slave trade in their region. From this point on the Jesuit missions enjoyed growth and prosperity, punctuated by epidemics. At the peak of their importance in 1732, the Jesuits presided over 141,000 Guaraní (including a sprinkling of other peoples) who lived in about 30 missions.^[105]

The opinions of historians differ with regard to the Jesuit missions. The missions are much-romanticized with the Guaraní portrayed as innocent children of nature and the Jesuits as their wise and benevolent guides to an earthly utopia. "Proponents...highlight that the Jesuits protected the Indians from exploitation and preserved the Guaraní language and other aspects of indigenous culture." ^[106] "By means of religion," wrote the 18th century philosopher Jean d'Alembert, "the Jesuits established a monarchical authority in Paraguay, founded solely on their powers of persuasion and on their lenient methods of government. Masters of the country, they rendered happy the people under their sway." Voltaire called the Jesuit missions "a triumph of humanity".^[107]

Detractors say that "the Jesuits took away the Indians' freedom, forced them to radically change their lifestyle, physically abused them, and subjected them to disease." Moreover, the missions were inefficient and their economic success "depended on subsidies from the Jesuit order, special protection and privileges from the Crown, and the lack of competition"^[106] The Jesuits are portrayed as "exploiters" who "sought to create a kingdom independent of the Spanish and Portuguese Crowns."^[108]

The Comunero Revolt (1721 to 1735) was a serious protest by Spanish and mestizo Paraguayans against the Jesuit missions. The residents of Paraguay violently protested the pro-Jesuit government of Paraguay, Jesuit control of Guaraní labor, and what they regarded as unfair competition for the market for products such as yerba mate. Although the revolt ultimately failed and the missions remained intact, the Jesuits were expelled from institutions they had created in Asunción.^[109] In 1756, the Guaraní protested the relocation of seven missions, fighting (and losing) a brief war with both the Spanish and Portuguese. The Jesuits were accused of inciting the Guaraní to rebel.^[110] In 1767, Charles III of Spain (1759–88) expelled the Jesuits from the Americas. The expulsion was part of an effort in the Bourbon Reforms to assert more Spanish control over its American colonies.^[111] In total, 78 Jesuits departed from the missions leaving behind 89,000 Guaraní in 30 missions.^[112]

The Jesuits were among the original five Catholic religious orders, alongside the Augustinians, Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustinian Recollects, who evangelized the Philippines in support of Spanish colonization.^[113] The Jesuits worked particularly hard in converting the Muslims of Mindanao and Luzon from Islam to Christianity, in which case, they were successful among the cities of Zamboanga and Manila.^[114] Zamboanga in particular was run like the Jesuit reductions in Paraguay and housed a large population of Peruvian and Latin American immigrants whereas Manila eventually became the capital of the Spanish colony.^[115][116]

In addition to missionary work, the Jesuits compiled artifacts and chronicled the precolonial history and culture of the Philippines. Jesuit chronicler Pedro Chirino chronicled the history of the Kedatuan of Madja-as in Panay and its war against Rajah Makatunao of Sarawak as well as the histories of other Visayan kingdoms.^[117] Meanwhile, another Jesuit, Francisco Combés, chronicled the history of the Venice of the Visayas, the Kedatuan of Dapitan, its temporary conquest by the Sultanate of Ternate, its re-establishment in Mindanao and its alliance against the Sultanates of Ternate and Lanao as vassals under Christian Spain.

The Jesuits also established the first missions in Hindu-dominated Butuan, to convert it to Christianity.^[118] The Jesuits also founded many towns, farms, haciendas, educational institutes, libraries, and an observatory in the Philippines.^[119] The Jesuits were instrumental in the sciences of medicine, botany, zoology, astronomy and seismology. They trained the Philippines' second saint, Pedro Calungsod, who was martyred in Guam alongside the Jesuit priest Diego Luis de San Vitores.^[120]

The eventual temporary suppression of the Jesuits due their role in anti-colonial and anti-slavery revolts among the Paraguay reductions,^[104] alongside cooperation with the Recollects, allowed their vacated parishes to be put under control by the local nationalistic diocesan clergy; the martyrdom of three of them, the diocesan priests known as Gomburza,^[121] inspired José Rizal (also Jesuit-educated upon the restoration of the order), who became the Philippines' national hero. He successfully started the Philippine Revolution against Spain.

The Jesuits largely discredited the Freemasons, who claimed responsibility for the American and French Revolutions, by reverting Jose Rizal from Freemasonry back to Catholicism.^[122] They argued that since the Philippine Revolution was inspired by the allegedly Masonic ideals behind the French and American revolutions, the French and American Freemasons themselves betrayed their own founding ideals when the American Freemasons annexed the Philippines in the Philippine-American War and the French Freemasons assented to the Treaty of Paris (1898).^{[123][124][125]}

In 1953, after being expelled from China by the Communists, the Jesuits relocated their organization's nexus in Asia from China to the Philippines and brought along a sizeable Chinese diaspora.^[126] The Jesuits currently play a pivotal role in the nation-building of the Philippines with its various Ateneos and educational institutes training the country's intellectual elites.^[127][128]

Tomé de Sousa, first Governor General of Brazil, brought the first group of Jesuits to the colony. The Jesuits were officially supported by the King, who instructed Tomé de Sousa to give them all the support needed to Christianize the indigenous peoples.

The first Jesuits, guided by Manuel da Nóbrega, Juan de Azpilcueta Navarro, Leonardo Nunes, and later José de Anchieta, established the first Jesuit missions in Salvador and in São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga, the settlement that gave rise to the city of São Paulo. Nóbrega and Anchieta were instrumental in the defeat of the French colonists of France Antarctique by managing to pacify the Tamoio natives, who had previously fought the Portuguese. The Jesuits took part in the foundation of the city of Rio de Janeiro in 1565.

The success of the Jesuits in converting the Indigenous peoples is linked to their efforts to understand the native cultures, especially their languages. The first grammar of the Tupi language was compiled by José de Anchieta and printed in Coimbra in 1595. The Jesuits often gathered the natives in communities (the Jesuit reductions), where the natives worked for the community and were evangelised.

The Jesuits had frequent disputes with other colonists who wanted to enslave the natives. The action of the Jesuits saved many natives from being enslaved by Europeans, but also disturbed their ancestral way of life and inadvertently helped spread infectious diseases against which the natives had no natural defenses. Slave labor and trade were essential for the economy of Brazil and other American colonies, and the Jesuits usually did object to the enslavement of African peoples, criticized the conditions of slavery.^[129] In cases where individual Jesuit priests criticized the institution of African slavery, they were censored and sent back to Europe.^[130]

The suppression of the Jesuits alienated the colonial empires from the natives they governed in the Americas and Asia, as the Jesuits were active protectors of native rights against the colonial empires. With the supression of the Order, the profitable Jesuit reductions which gave wealth and protection to natives were sequestered by royal authorities and the natives enslaved. Faced with this supression; the natives, mestizos, and creoles were galvinized into starting the Latin American Wars of Independence.^[131] The suppression of the Jesuits in Portugal, France, the Two Sicilies, Parma, and the Spanish Empire by 1767 was deeply troubling to Pope Clement XIII, the society's defender.^[132] On 21 July 1773 his successor, Pope Clement XIV, issued the papal brief Dominus ac Redemptor, decreeing:

Having further considered that the said Company of Jesus can no longer produce those abundant fruits, ... in the present case, we are determining upon the fate of a society classed among the mendicant orders, both by its institute and by its privileges; after a mature deliberation, we do, out of our certain knowledge, and the fulness of our apostolical power, suppress and abolish the said company: we deprive it of all activity whatever. ...And to this end a member of the regular clergy, recommendable for his prudence and sound morals, shall be chosen to preside over and govern the said houses; so that the name of the Company shall be, and is, for ever extinguished and suppressed.

— Dominus ac Redemptor^[133]

The suppression was carried out on political grounds in all countries except Prussia for a time, and Russia, where Catherine the Great had forbidden its promulgation. Because millions of Catholics (including many Jesuits) lived in the Polish provinces recently part-annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia, the Society was able to maintain its continuity and carry on its work all through the stormy period of suppression. Subsequently, Pope Pius VI granted formal permission for the continuation of the society in Russia and Poland, with Stanisław Czerniewicz elected superior of the province in 1782. He was followed by Gabriel Lenkiewicz, Franciszek Kareu and Gabriel Gruber until 1805, all elected locally as Temporary Vicars General. Pope Pius VII had resolved during his captivity in France to restore the Jesuits universally, and on his return to Rome he did so without much delay. On 7 August 1814, with the bull Sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum, he reversed the suppression of the society, and therewith another Polish Jesuit, Tadeusz Brzozowski, who had been elected as superior in Russia in 1805, acquired universal jurisdiction. On his death in 1820 the Jesuits were expelled from Russia by tsar Alexander I.

The period following the Restoration of the Jesuits in 1814 was marked by tremendous growth, as evidenced by the large number of Jesuit colleges and universities established during the 19th century. During this time in the United States, 22 of the society's 28 universities were founded or taken over by the Jesuits. It has been suggested that the experience of suppression had served to heighten orthodoxy among the Jesuits. While this claim is debatable, Jesuits were generally supportive of papal authority within the church, and some members became associated with the Ultramontanist movement and the declaration of papal infallibility in 1870.^[134]

In Switzerland, the constitution was modified and Jesuits were banished in 1848, following the defeat of the Sonderbund Catholic defence alliance. The ban was lifted on 20 May 1973, when 54.9 per cent of voters accepted a referendum modifying the constitution.^[135]

In the Constitution of Norway from 1814, a relic from the earlier anti-Catholic laws of Denmark–Norway, Paragraph 2, known as the Jesuit clause, originally read: "The Evangelical-Lutheran religion remains the public religion of the State. Those inhabitants, who confess thereto, are bound to raise their children to the same. Jesuits and monastic orders are not permitted. Jews are still prohibited from entry to the Realm." Jews were first allowed into the realm in 1851 after the famous Norwegian poet Henrik Wergeland had campaigned for this permission. Monastic orders were permitted in 1897, but the ban on Jesuits was only lifted in 1956.^[136]

Republican Spain in the 1930s passed laws banning the Jesuits on grounds that they were obedient to a power different from the state. Pope Pius XI wrote about this: "It was an expression of a soul deeply hostile to God and the Catholic religion, to have disbanded the Religious Orders that had taken a vow of obedience to an authority different from the legitimate authority of the State. In this way it was sought to do away with the Society of Jesus – which can well glory in being one of the soundest auxiliaries of the Chair of Saint Peter – with the hope, perhaps, of then being able with less difficulty to overthrow in the near future, the Christian faith and morale in the heart of the Spanish nation, which gave to the Church of God the grand and glorious figure of Ignatius Loyola."^[137]

The 20th century witnessed both growth and decline of the order. Following a trend within the Catholic priesthood at large, Jesuit numbers peaked in the 1950s and have declined steadily since. Meanwhile, the number of Jesuit institutions has grown considerably, due in large part to a post–Vatican II focus on the establishment of Jesuit secondary schools in inner-city areas and an increase in voluntary lay groups inspired in part by the Spiritual Exercises. Among the notable Jesuits of the 20th century, John Courtney Murray was called one of the "architects of the Second Vatican Council" and drafted what eventually became the council's endorsement of religious freedom, Dignitatis humanae.

In Latin America, the Jesuits had significant influence in the development of liberation theology, a movement that was controversial in the Catholic community after the negative assessment of it by Pope John Paul II in 1984.^[138]

Under Superior General Pedro Arrupe, social justice and the preferential option for the poor emerged as dominant themes of the work of the Jesuits. When Arrupe was paralyzed by a stroke in 1981, Pope John Paul II, not entirely pleased with the progressive turn of the Jesuits, took the unusual step of appointing the venerable and aged Paolo Dezza for an interim to oversee "the authentic renewal of the Church",^[139] instead of the progressive American priest Vincent O'Keefe whom Arrupe had preferred.^[140] In 1983 John Paul gave leave for the Jesuits to appoint a successor to Arrupe.

On 16 November 1989, six Jesuit priests (Ignacio Ellacuría, Segundo Montes, Ignacio Martín-Baró, Joaquin López y López, Juan Ramon Moreno, and Amado López), Elba Ramos their housekeeper, and Celia Marisela Ramos her daughter, were murdered by the Salvadoran military on the campus of the University of Central America in San Salvador, El Salvador, because they had been labeled as subversives by the government.^[141] The assassinations galvanized the society's peace and justice movements, including annual protests at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation at Fort Benning, Georgia, United States, where several of the assassins had been trained under US government sponsorship.^[142]

On 21 February 2001, the Jesuit priest Avery Dulles, an internationally known author, lecturer, and theologian, was created a cardinal of the Catholic Church by Pope John Paul II. The son of former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, Avery Dulles was long known for his carefully reasoned argumentation and fidelity to the teaching office of the church. An author of 22 books and over 700 theological articles, Dulles died on 12 December 2008 at Fordham University, where he had taught for twenty years as the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society. He was, at his passing, one of ten Jesuit cardinals in the Catholic Church.

In 2002, Boston College president and Jesuit priest William P. Leahy initiated the Church in the 21st Century program as a means of moving the church "from crisis to renewal". The initiative has provided the society with a platform for examining issues brought about by the worldwide Catholic sex abuse cases, including the priesthood, celibacy, sexuality, women's roles, and the role of the laity.^[143]

In April 2005, Thomas J. Reese, editor of the American Jesuit weekly magazine America, resigned at the request of the society. The move was widely published in the media as the result of pressure from the Vatican, following years of criticism by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on articles touching subjects such as HIV/AIDS, religious pluralism, homosexuality, and the right of life for the unborn. Following his resignation, Reese spent a year-long sabbatical at Santa Clara University before being named a fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center in Washington, D.C., and later senior analyst for the National Catholic Reporter. President Barack Obama appointed him to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom in 2014 and again in 2016.^[144]

On 2 February 2006, Peter Hans Kolvenbach informed members of the Society of Jesus that, with the consent of Pope Benedict XVI, he intended to step down as superior general in 2008, the year he would turn 80.

On 22 April 2006, the Feast of Our Lady, Mother of the Society of Jesus, Pope Benedict XVI greeted thousands of Jesuits on pilgrimage to Rome, and took the opportunity to thank God "for having granted to your Company the gift of men of extraordinary sanctity and of exceptional apostolic zeal such as St Ignatius of Loyola, St Francis Xavier, and Blessed Peter Faber". He said "St Ignatius of Loyola was above all a man of God, who gave the first place of his life to God, to his greater glory and his greater service. He was a man of profound prayer, which found its center and its culmination in the daily Eucharistic Celebration."^[145]

In May 2006, Benedict XVI also wrote a letter to Kolvenbach on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Pope Pius XII's encyclical Haurietis aquas, on devotion to the Sacred Heart, because the Jesuits have always been "extremely active in the promotion of this essential devotion".^[146] In his 3 November 2006 visit to the Pontifical Gregorian University, Benedict XVI cited the university as "one of the greatest services that the Society of Jesus carries out for the universal Church".^[147]

The 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus convened on 5 January 2008 and elected Adolfo Nicolás as the new superior general on 19 January 2008. In a letter to the order, Benedict XVI wrote:^[148]

As my Predecessors have said to you on various occasions, the Church needs you, relies on you and continues to turn to you with trust, particularly to reach those physical and spiritual places which others do not reach or have difficulty in reaching. Paul VI's words remain engraved on your hearts: "Wherever in the Church, even in the most difficult and extreme fields, at the crossroads of ideologies, in the social trenches, there has been and there is confrontation between the burning exigencies of man and the perennial message of the Gospel, here also there have been, and there are, Jesuits".

— Address to the 32nd General Congregation of the Jesuits, 3 December 1974; ORE, 12 December, n. 2, p. 4.

In 2013, the Jesuit cardinal Jorge Bergoglio became Pope Francis. Before he became pope, he had been appointed a bishop when he was in "virtual estrangement from the Jesuits" since he was seen as "an enemy of liberation theology" and viewed by others as "still far too orthodox". He was criticised for colluding with the Argentine junta, while biographers characterised him as working to save the lives of other Jesuits.^{[149][150][151]} As a Jesuit pope, he has stressed discernment over following rules, changing the culture of the clergy to steer away from clericalism and to move toward an ethic of service, i.e. to have the "smell of sheep," staying close to the people.^[152] After his papal election, Superior General Adolfo Nicolás praised Pope Francis as a "brother among brothers".^[149]

On 2 October 2016, General Congregation 36 convened in Rome, convoked by Nicolás, who had announced his intention to resign at age 80.^{[153][154][155]} On 14 October, the 36th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus elected Arturo Sosa, a Venezuelan, as its thirty-first superior general.^[156]

The General Congregation that elected Arturo Sosa in 2016 asked him to bring to completion the process of discerning Jesuit priorities for the time ahead. Sosa devised a plan that enlisted all Jesuits and their lay collaborators in the process of discernment over a 16-month period. Then in February 2019 he presented the results of the discernment, a list of four priorities for Jesuit ministries for the next ten years.^[157]

1. To show the way to God through discernment and the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola;
2. To walk with the poor, the outcasts of the world, those whose dignity has been violated, in a mission of reconciliation and justice;
3. To accompany young people in the creation of a hope-filled future;
4. To collaborate in the care of our Common Home.

Pope Francis gave his approval to these priorities, saying that they were in harmony with the church's present priorities and with the programmatic letter of his pontificate, Evangelii gaudium.^[158]

The spirituality practiced by the Jesuits, called Ignatian spirituality, ultimately based on the Catholic faith and the gospels, is drawn from the Constitutions, The Letters, and Autobiography, and most specially from Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises, whose purpose is "to conquer oneself and to regulate one's life in such a way that no decision is made under the influence of any inordinate attachment". The Exercises culminate in a contemplation whereby one develops a facility to "find God in all things".

The formation (training) of Jesuits seeks to prepare men spiritually, academically, and practically for the ministries they will be called to offer the church and world. Ignatius was strongly influenced by the Renaissance, and he wanted Jesuits to be able to offer whatever ministries were most needed at any given moment and, especially, to be ready to respond to missions (assignments) from the pope. Formation for priesthood normally takes between eight and fourteen years, depending on the man's background and previous education, and final vows are taken several years after that, making Jesuit formation among the longest of any of the religious orders.

The society is headed by a Superior General with the formal title Praepositus Generalis, Latin for "provost-general", more commonly called Father General. He is elected by the General Congregation for life or until he resigns; he is confirmed by the pope and has absolute authority in running the Society. The current Superior General of the Jesuits is the Venezuelan Arturo Sosa who was elected on 14 October 2016.^[159]

The Father General is assisted by "assistants", four of whom are "assistants for provident care" and serve as general advisors and a sort of inner council, and several other regional assistants, each of whom heads an "assistancy", which is either a geographic area (for instance the North American Assistancy) or an area of ministry (for instance higher education). The assistants normally reside with Father General in Rome and along with others form an advisory council to the General. A vicar general and secretary of the society run day-to-day administration. The General is also required to have an admonitor, a confidential advisor whose task is to warn the General honestly and confidentially when he might be acting imprudently or contrary to the church's magisterium. The central staff of the General is known as the Curia.^[159]

The society is divided into geographic areas called provinces, each of which is headed by a Provincial Superior, formally called Father Provincial, chosen by the Superior General. He has authority over all Jesuits and ministries in his area, and is assisted by a socius who acts as a sort of secretary and chief of staff. With the approval of the Superior General, the Provincial Superior appoints a novice master and a master of tertians to oversee formation, and rectors of local communities of Jesuits.^[160] For better cooperation and apostolic efficacy in each continent, the Jesuit provinces are grouped into six Jesuit Conferences worldwide.

Each Jesuit community within a province is normally headed by a rector who is assisted by a "minister", from the Latin word for "servant", a priest who helps oversee the community's day-to-day needs.^[161]

The General Congregation is a meeting of all of the assistants, provincials, and additional representatives who are elected by the professed Jesuits of each province. It meets irregularly and rarely, normally to elect a new superior general and/or to take up some major policy issues for the order. The Superior General meets more regularly with smaller councils composed of just the provincials.^[162]

As of 2012^[update], the Jesuits formed the largest single religious order of priests and brothers in the Catholic Church.^[166] The Jesuits have experienced a decline in numbers in recent decades. As of 2022, the society had 14,439 members (10,432 priests, 837 brothers, 2,587 scholastics, and 583 novices).^[163] This represents a 59% percent decline since the Second Vatican Council (1965), when the society had a total membership of 36,038, of which 20,301 were priests.^[167] This decline is most pronounced in Europe and the Americas, with relatively modest membership gains occurring in Asia and Africa.^[168][169] According to Patrick Reilly of the National Catholic Register, there seems to be no "Pope Francis effect" in counteracting the fall of vocations among the Jesuits.^[170] Twenty-eight novices took first vows in the Jesuits in the United States and Haiti in 2019.^[171] In September 2019, the superior general of the Jesuits, Arturo Sosa, estimated that by 2034 the number would decrease to about 10,000 Jesuits, with a much younger average age than in 2019, and with a shift away from Europe and into Latin America, Africa, and India.^[172] In 2008, their average age was 57.3 years: 63.4 years for priests, 29.9 years for scholastics, and 65.5 years for brothers.^[20]

The current Superior General of the Jesuits is Arturo Sosa. The society is characterized by its ministries in the fields of missionary work, human rights, social justice and, most notably, higher education. It operates colleges and universities in various countries around the world and is particularly active in the Philippines and India. In the United States the Jesuits have historical ties to 27 colleges and universities and 61 high schools. The degree to which the Jesuits are involved in the administration of each institution varies. As of September 2018, 15 of the 27 Jesuit universities in the US had non-Jesuit lay presidents.^[173] According to a 2014 article in The Atlantic, "the number of Jesuit priests who are active in everyday operations at the schools isn't nearly as high as it once was".^[174] Worldwide it runs 322 secondary schools and 172 colleges and universities. A typical conception of the mission of a Jesuit school will often contain such concepts as proposing Christ as the model of human life, the pursuit of excellence in teaching and learning, lifelong spiritual and intellectual growth,^[175] and training men and women for others.^[176]

Jesuits do not have an official habit. The society's Constitutions gives the following instructions: "The clothing too should have three characteristics: first, it should be proper; second, conformed to the usage of the country of residence; and third, not contradictory to the poverty we profess." (Const. 577)

The traditional Jesuit-style cassock, called a "soutane" is similar to a robe which is wrapped around the body and was tied with a cincture, rather than the customary buttoned front cassock worn by diocesan priests.^[177] A tuftless biretta (only diocesan clergy wore tufts) and a ferraiolo (cape) completed the look.^[178]

Today, most Jesuits in the United States wear the clerical collar and black clothing of diocesan priests^[179] while most Jesuits in Europe are dressed in civilian clothes.

Jesuit scholar Andrew Dial has calculated that the Jesuits owned more than 20,000 slaves worldwide in 1760, the great majority of them in the Americas.^[180] The Jesuits in some places protected the indigenous people of the Americas from slavers, notably the Guaraní in South America, but in other places they enslaved indigenous people after "just wars" in which indigenous people who resisted European colonization were defeated.

The Jesuits also participated in the Atlantic slave trade, working thousands of African slaves on their large plantations scattered throughout the Americas. Antoine Lavalette, a slave-owning French Jesuit in Martinique, accumulated large debts which he was unable to pay which led to the banning of the Jesuits in France in 1764.

In the United States, tobacco plantations utilizing African-American slave labor in Maryland and other states supported Jesuit institutions such as Georgetown University, from which were infamously sold 272 slaves in 1838.

In the 16th century, Jesuits were also complicit in the Portuguese trade in enslaved East Asians. In other parts of Europe, slaves were probably employed in Jesuit schools and institutions.

The Jesuits justified their ownership of slaves and participation in the slave trade as a means of converting slaves to Catholicism. "Enslaved people...were a captive audience for evangelization."^[181][182]

The Monita Secreta (Secret Instructions of the Jesuits), published in 1612 and in 1614 in Kraków, is alleged to have been written by Claudio Acquaviva, the fifth general of the society, but was probably written by former Jesuit Jerome Zahorowski. It purports to describe the methods to be adopted by Jesuits for the acquisition of greater power and influence for the society and for the Catholic Church. The Catholic Encyclopedia states the book is a forgery, fabricated to ascribe a sinister reputation to the Society of Jesus.^[183]

The Jesuits were temporarily banished from France in 1594 after a man named Jean Châtel tried to assassinate the king of France, Henri IV. Under questioning, Châtel revealed that he had been educated by the Jesuits of the Collège de Clermont. The Jesuits were accused of inspiring Châtel's attack. Two of his former teachers were exiled and a third was hanged.^[184] The Collège de Clermont was closed, and the building was confiscated. The Jesuits were banned from France, although this ban was quickly lifted and the school eventually reopened.^[185]

In England, Henry Garnet, one of the leading English Jesuits, was hanged for misprision of treason because of his knowledge of the Gunpowder Plot (1605). The Plot was the attempted assassination of James VI and I, his family, and most of the Protestant aristocracy in a single attack, by exploding the Houses of Parliament. Another Jesuit, Oswald Tesimond, managed to escape arrest for his involvement in this plot.^[186]

Jesuits have been accused of using casuistry to obtain justifications for unjustifiable actions (cf. formulary controversy and Lettres Provinciales, by Blaise Pascal).^[187] Hence, the Concise Oxford Dictionary of the English language lists "equivocating" as a secondary denotation of the word "Jesuit". Modern critics of the Society of Jesus include Avro Manhattan, Alberto Rivera, and Malachi Martin, the latter being the author of The Jesuits: The Society of Jesus and the Betrayal of the Roman Catholic Church (1987).^[188]

Although in the first 30 years of the existence of the Society of Jesus there were many Jesuits who were conversos (Catholic-convert Jews and Muslims and their descendants), an anti-converso faction led to the Decree de genere (1593) which proclaimed that either Jewish or Muslim ancestry, no matter how distant, was an insurmountable impediment for admission to the Society of Jesus.^[189] This new rule was contrary to the original wishes of Ignatius who "said that he would take it as a special grace from our Lord to come from Jewish lineage".^[190] The 16th-century Decree de genere was repealed in 1946.^[b] Bylaws requiring "blood purity" became common across Early Modern Spain and Portugal.

Within the Catholic Church, there has existed a sometimes tense relationship between Jesuits and the Holy See, due to questioning of official church teaching and papal directives, such as those on abortion,^{[irrelevant citation][193][194]} birth control,^{[195][196][197][198]} women deacons,^[199] homosexuality, and liberation theology.^[200][201] At the same time, Jesuits have been appointed to prominent doctrinal and theological positions in the church; under Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Luis Ladaria Ferrer was Secretary and later, under Pope Francis, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. ^[202][203]

In the quest to evangelize, Jesuits persecuted people of other religions, including Hindus, Muslims and other Christians. The Goan Inquisition was one among various persecutions that Jesuits were involved in. Voltaire wrote that:^[204][205]

Goa is sadly famous for its inquisition, equally contrary to humanity and commerce. The Portuguese monks made us believe that the people worshipped the devil, and it is they who have served him.

The Catholic Church faced persecution in Nazi Germany. Hitler was anticlerical and had particular disdain for the Jesuits. According to John Pollard, the Jesuits' "ethos represented the most intransigent opposition to the philosophy of Nazism",^[206] and so the Nazis considered them as one of their most dangerous enemies. A Jesuit college in the city of Innsbruck served as a center for anti-Nazi resistance and was closed down by the Nazis in 1938.^[207] Jesuits were a target for Gestapo persecution, and many Jesuit priests were deported to death camps.^[208] Jesuits made up the largest contingent of clergy imprisoned in the Priest Barracks of Dachau Concentration Camp.^[209] Vincent Lapomarda lists some 30 Jesuits as having died at Dachau.^[210] Of the total of 152 Jesuits murdered by the Nazis across Europe, 43 died in the death camps and an additional 27 died from captivity or its results.^[211]

The Superior General of Jesuits at the outbreak of war was Wlodzimierz Ledóchowski, a Pole. The Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland was particularly severe. Lapomarda wrote that Ledóchowski helped "stiffen the general attitude of the Jesuits against the Nazis" and that he permitted Vatican Radio to carry on its campaign against the Nazis in Poland. Vatican Radio was run by the Jesuit Filippo Soccorsi and spoke out against Nazi oppression, particularly with regard to Poland and to Vichy-French antisemitism.^[212]

Several Jesuits were prominent in the small German Resistance.^[214] Among the central membership of the Kreisau Circle of the Resistance were the Jesuit priests Augustin Rösch, Alfred Delp, and Lothar König.^[215] The Bavarian Jesuit Provincial, Augustin Rosch, ended the war on death row for his role in the July Plot to overthrow Hitler. Another non-military German Resistance group, dubbed the "Frau Solf Tea Party" by the Gestapo, included the Jesuit priest Friedrich Erxleben. ^[216] The German Jesuit Robert Leiber acted as intermediary between Pius XII and the German Resistance.^[217][218]

Among the Jesuit victims of the Nazis, Germany's Rupert Mayer has been beatified. Mayer was a Bavarian Jesuit who clashed with the Nazis as early as 1923. Continuing his critique following Hitler's rise to power, Mayer was imprisoned in 1939 and sent to Sachsenhausen death camp. As his health declined, the Nazis feared the creation of a martyr and sent him to the Abbey of Ettal in 1940. There he continued to give sermons and lectures against the evils of the Nazi régime, until his death in 1945.^[219][220]

In his history of the heroes of the Holocaust, the Jewish historian Martin Gilbert notes that in every country under German occupation, priests played a major part in rescuing Jews, and that the Jesuits were one of the Catholic Orders that hid Jewish children in monasteries and schools to protect them from the Nazis.^[221][222] Fourteen Jesuit priests have been formally recognized by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem, for risking their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust of World War II: Roger Braun (1910–1981) of France,^[223] Pierre Chaillet (1900–1972) of France,^[224] Jean-Baptist De Coster (1896–1968) of Belgium,^[225] Jean Fleury (1905–1982) of France,^[226] Emile Gessler (1891–1958) of Belgium, Jean-Baptiste Janssens (1889–1964) of Belgium, Alphonse Lambrette (1884–1970) of Belgium, Emile Planckaert (1906–2006) of France, Jacob Raile (1894–1949) of Hungary, Henri Revol (1904–1992) of France, Adam Sztark (1907–1942) of Poland, Henri Van Oostayen (1906–1945) of Belgium, Ioannes Marangas (1901–1989) of Greece, and Raffaele de Chantuz Cubbe (1904–1983) of Italy.^[227]

Several other Jesuits are known to have rescued or given refuge to Jews during that period.^[228] A plaque commemorating the 152 Jesuit priests who gave their lives during the Holocaust was installed in April 2007 at the Jesuits' Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, United States.

Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, the teaching of science in Jesuit schools, as laid down in the Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum Societatis Iesu ("The Official Plan of studies for the Society of Jesus") of 1599,^[229] was almost entirely based on the works of Aristotle.

The Jesuits, nevertheless, have made numerous significant contributions to the development of science.^[21] For example, the Jesuits have dedicated significant study to fields from cosmology to seismology, the latter of which has been described as "the Jesuit science".^[230] The Jesuits have been described as "the single most important contributor to experimental physics in the seventeenth century".^[231] According to Jonathan Wright in his book God's Soldiers, by the eighteenth century the Jesuits had "contributed to the development of pendulum clocks, pantographs, barometers, reflecting telescopes and microscopes – to scientific fields as various as magnetism, optics, and electricity. They observed, in some cases before anyone else, the colored bands on Jupiter's surface, the Andromeda nebula, and Saturn's rings. They theorized about the circulation of the blood (independently of Harvey), the theoretical possibility of flight, the way the moon affected the tides, and the wave-like nature of light."^[232]

The Jesuit China missions of the 16th and 17th centuries introduced Western science and astronomy. One modern historian writes that in late Ming courts, the Jesuits were "regarded as impressive especially for their knowledge of astronomy, calendar-making, mathematics, hydraulics, and geography".^[233] The Society of Jesus introduced, according to Thomas Woods, "a substantial body of scientific knowledge and a vast array of mental tools for understanding the physical universe, including the Euclidean geometry that made planetary motion comprehensible".^[234]

Notable Jesuits include missionaries, educators, scientists, artists, philosophers, and a pope. Among many distinguished early Jesuits was Francis Xavier, a missionary to Asia who converted more people to Catholicism than anyone before, and Robert Bellarmine, a Doctor of the Church. José de Anchieta and Manuel da Nóbrega, founders of the city of São Paulo, Brazil, were Jesuit priests. Another famous Jesuit was Jean de Brébeuf, a French missionary who was martyred during the 17th century in what was once New France (in the portion of which, is now Ontario) in Canada.

In Spanish America, José de Acosta wrote a major work on early Peru and New Spain with important material on indigenous peoples. In South America, Peter Claver was notable for his mission to African slaves, building on the work of Alonso de Sandoval. Francisco Javier Clavijero was expelled from New Spain during the Suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1767 and wrote an important history of Mexico during his exile in Italy. Eusebio Kino is renowned in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico (an area then called the Pimería Alta). He founded numerous missions and served as the peace-bringer between the tribes and the government of New Spain. Antonio Ruiz de Montoya was an important missionary in the Jesuit reductions of Paraguay.

Baltasar Gracián was a 17th-century Spanish Jesuit and baroque prose writer and philosopher. He was born in Belmonte, near Calatayud (Aragon). His writings, particularly El Criticón (1651–57) and Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia ("The Art of Prudence", 1647) were lauded by Schopenhauer and Nietzsche.

In Scotland, John Ogilvie, a Jesuit, is the nation's only post-Reformation saint.

Gerard Manley Hopkins was one of the first English poets to use sprung verse. Anthony de Mello was a Jesuit priest and psychotherapist who became widely known for his books which introduced Westerners to the East Indian traditions of spirituality.

Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina was elected Pope Francis on 13 March 2013 and is the first Jesuit to be elected pope.^[235]

The Feast of All Jesuit Saints and Blesseds is celebrated on 5 November.^[236]

• 
  The Church of the Gesù in Rome, is the mother church of the Jesuits.
• 
  Iglesia de La Compañía, Quito, Ecuador, interior with gold leaf
• 
  Church of Saint-Pierre de Montmartre, Paris, France
• 
  Jesuit church, Cuzco, Peru
• 
  Colegio de Belén, Havana, "The Palace of Education"
• 
  Christ the King Church in the Ateneo de Naga University campus, Naga City, Philippines
• 
  Fordham University Church at Rose Hill, Bronx, New York, US
• 
  St. John's Church in Creighton University campus, Omaha, Nebraska, US
• 
  Holy Name of Jesus Church in the Loyola University New Orleans campus, New Orleans Louisiana US
• 
  The Church of the Gesu in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, is the school church of Marquette University.
• 
  St. Francis Xavier Church, a Jesuit parish church across the street from the Rockhurst University campus, Kansas City, Missouri, US
• 
  St. Francis Xavier College Church in the Saint Louis University campus, St. Louis, Missouri, US
• 
  The Santa Clara University's Mission Church is at the heart of Santa Clara University's historic campus Santa Clara, California, US.
• 
  St. Ignatius Church, parish church of the University of San Francisco, San Francisco, California, US
• 
  the Church of the Gesu, Philadelphia is the school church of St. Joseph's Preparatory School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US.
• 
  The Church of the Gesu in Frascati, province of Rome, Italy
• 
  The Église du Gesù in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, church and cultural venue
• 
  Jakarta Cathedral, Indonesia
• 
  Sacred Heart Church, Wimbledon, London

Although the work of the Jesuits today embraces a wide variety of apostolates, ministries, and civil occupations, they are probably most well known for their educational work, on all continents. Since the inception of the order, Jesuits have been teachers. Besides serving on the faculty of Catholic and secular schools, the Jesuits are the Catholic religious order with the second highest number of schools which they run: 168 tertiary institutions in 40 countries and 324 secondary schools in 55 countries. (The Brothers of the Christian Schools have over 560 Lasallian educational institutions.) They also run elementary schools at which they are less likely to teach. Many of the schools are named after Francis Xavier and other prominent Jesuits.

After the Second Vatican Council, Jesuit schools had become a very controversial place of instruction as they abandoned teaching traditional Catholic education with things such as the mastery of Latin and the Baltimore Catechism. Jesuit schools replaced classic theological instruction from people like Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure to people like Karl Rahner and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin which was a very controversial move at the time.^[237][238]

Jesuit educational institutions aim to promote the values of Eloquentia Perfecta. This is a Jesuit tradition that focuses on cultivating a person as a whole, as one learns to speak and write for the common good.

Jesuits have become increasingly involved in works directed primarily toward social and economic development for the poor and marginalized.^[239] Included in this would be research, training, advocacy, and action for human development, as well as direct services. Most Jesuit schools have an office that fosters social awareness and social service in the classroom and through extracurricular programs, usually detailed on their websites. The Jesuits also run over 500 notable or stand-alone social or economic development centres in 56 countries around the world.

Jesuits are also known for their involvement in publications. Most Jesuit colleges and universities have their own presses which produce a variety of books, book series, textbooks, and academic publications.

La Civiltà Cattolica, a periodical produced in Rome by the Jesuits, has often been used as a semi-official platform for popes and officials of the Roman Curia to float ideas for discussion or hint at future statements or positions, though authorship is limited to Jesuits.^[240]

The Way is an international journal of contemporary Christian spirituality published by the British Jesuits.^[241]

In the United States of America, America magazine has long had a prominent place in Catholic intellectual circles^[242] Ignatius Press, founded by a Jesuit, is an independent publisher of Catholic books, most of which are of the popular academic or lay-intellectual variety.^[243]

Manresa is a review of Ignatian spirituality published in Madrid, Spain.^[244]

In Australia, the Jesuits produce a number of magazines, including Eureka Street, Madonna, Australian Catholics, and Province Express.

In Germany, the Jesuits publish the journal Geist und Leben and the related publication Weltweit^[245] that describes their international work (the Jesuitenmission)

In Sweden the Catholic cultural magazine Signum, edited by the Newman Institute, covers a broad spectrum of issues concerning faith, culture, research, and society. The printed version of Signum is published eight times per year.^[246]

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• Zhang, Qiong. Making the New World their own: Chinese encounters with Jesuit science in the age of discovery (Brill, 2015).

• Cushner, Nicholas P. Soldiers of God: The Jesuits in Colonial America, 1565–1767 (2002) 402 pp.
• Garraghan, Gilbert J. The Jesuits Of The Middle United States (3 vol 1938) covers Midwest from 1800 to 1919 vol 1 online; vol 2; vol 3
• McDonough, Peter. Men astutely trained : a history of the Jesuits in the American century (1994), covers 1900 to 1960s; online free
• Schroth, Raymond A. The American Jesuits: A History (2009)

• Desideri, Ippolito. "Mission to Tibet: The Extraordinary Eighteenth-Century Account of Father Ippolito Desideri." Translated by Michael J. Sweet. Edited by Leonard Zwilling. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2010.
• Donnelly, John Patrick, ed. Jesuit Writings of the Early Modern Period: 1540–1640 (2006)

• Klaus Schatz. Geschichte der deutschen Jesuiten: Bd. 1: 1814–1872 Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2013. XXX, 274 S. ISBN 978-3-402-12964-7. online review
• Schatz. Geschichte der deutschen Jesuiten: Bd. 2: 1872–1917
• Schatz. Geschichte der deutschen Jesuiten: Bd. 3: 1917–1945
• Schatz. Geschichte der deutschen Jesuiten: Bd. 4: 1945–1983
• Schatz. Geschichte der deutschen Jesuiten: Bd. 5: Quellen, Glossar, Biogramme, Gesamtregister

• Media related to Society of Jesus at Wikimedia Commons
• "Society of Jesus" section of Wikisource's Catholicism portal.

• Benedict XVI's Address to the Members of the Society of Jesus, 22 April 2006 Archived 22 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine
• Benedict XVI's Visit to the Pontifical Gregorian University, 3 November 2006 Archived 21 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine

• The Jesuit Ratio Studiorum of 1599
• The Jesuit Mission Press in Japan, 1591–1610
• Letter of the Jesuit Social Justice Secretariat to the leaders of the G8, July 2005 Archived 30 June 2017 at the Wayback Machine
• The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola Archived 2 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine

• The Jesuits Archived 22 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine, BBC Radio 4 discussion with Nigel Aston, Simon Ditchfield & Olwen Hutton (In Our Time, 18 January 2007)
• "The Jesuit Curia in Rome". Archived from the original on 26 February 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
• "Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu – Jesuit Archive in Rome". Archived from the original on 2 July 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
• Archives of Jezuïeten – Belgische (1832–1935) En Vlaamse (1935–) Provincie. 16de Eeuw–2012 in ODIS – Online Database for Intermediary Structures Archived 28 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine
• Journal of Jesuit Studies. Archived 4 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies. Boston College.