The History of the Jesuits
The Society of Jesus, whose members are called Jesuits, is a rare combination of military organization and deployment with religious education, learning and missionary work. From its inception, the leader of the Jesuits has been known as the Superior General. Because of the order's influence within the church, he is also known as "the black pope," partly because of his priestly garb. The fact that one of the conspirators hanged for the Gunpowder Plot to blow up the British Parliament was a Jesuit has only fueled speculation about the order's clandestine operations on behalf of the pope. Today, the Jesuits are the largest order within the Catholic Church. Numerous schools and universities bear the name of its founder, Ignatius Loyola.
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Ignatius Loyola
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The Society of Jesus began at a university in Paris. Inigo Lopez de Loyola was born a Spanish noble from the Basque region in the period of transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In 1521, Inigo's leg was shattered by a cannonball in a brave, but quixotic attempt to defend Pamplona from the invading French. He survived, and during his long recovery read about the lives of the saints. Upon his conversion, he renewed his zealotry in the practice of Catholicism, doing penance and works of charity.
Founding
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Taking the name Ignatius, Loyola embarked on an 11-year course of study at a variety of universities in Spain and France. At each location, his fervent devotion to Jesus and his faith earned him many friends and followers. In Paris, where he stayed for seven years, he organized a society of close friends who bound themselves in vows of poverty and chastity. This, along with Loyola's background as a soldier, made him ideally suited to meet the twin challenges of Catholicism at the time: the spread of Prostestantism and invasion by outside cultures. Pope Paul III approved the Institute of the Society of Jesus in 1540, for which Loyola served as General Superior until his death in 1556. During his lifetime, missionaries spread his Society of Jesus to Japan and India.
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Expansion
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For more than 200 years, the Jesuits enjoyed the blessing of the pope and developed into one of the most important orders within the Catholic Church. By the 17th century, the kings of Spain confessed their sins to Jesuit confessors. But the most important work of the Jesuits was in their far-flung missions, especially in the New World and China. Jesuits served as the primary intermediaries between Europe and these cultures, in China facilitating the mutual sharing of scientific and astrological advances. In both Europe and North America, the Jesuits were known for founding universities where, in addition to religion, they studied language and created dictionaries.
Supression
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The period from about 1750 to 1814 in Jesuit history is known as the Suppression. For a variety of reasons, the order was banished from most of Europe. One reason the Jesuits became unpopular was because they protected natives in the New World from slavery, preferring instead to educate them and establish small theocratic villages. It's also speculated that the military nature of the order, which likely included spying and intelligence-gathering on behalf of the Vatican, made it an obvious target in an era when the pope was waning as a dominant force in world politics. During the Suppression, only Russia and Prussia allowed the Jesuits to exist and practice openly.
Modern Era
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The Jesuits were restored to Europe in 1814 and have expanded significantly since. Throughout the rest of the century, they continued founding numerous churches and universities, which include Georgetown in Washington, D.C. and Fordham in New York City. Though that development continued into the 20th century, it peaked in the 1950s along with Catholicism as a whole, and has been in decline ever since. Nevertheless, Jesuits remain the largest order in the Church, with more than 18,000 members ministering in more than 100 nations on six continents. Boston College remains one of the largest Jesuit institutions in the world.
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thank-u 4 sharing.
