Read complete books and articles on: Jesuits

Jesus, Society Of - religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. Its members are called Jesuits. St. Ignatius of Loyola, its founder, named it Companã de Jess [Span.,=(military) company of Jesus]; in Latin it is Societas Jesu (abbr. S.J.). Today the society numbers about 23,800 members; in the United States, where there were approximately 4,500 Jesuits in 1992, there

Among the great organizers and theologians of the order are St. Francis Borgia, Claudio Aquaviva, Saint Robert Bellarmine, Luis Molina, and Francisco Suárez. The order has a tradition of learning and science; e.g., the Bollandists are Jesuits, and Jesuits have made a specialty of the study of earthquakes. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is the most famous Jesuit scientist of this century. The society is also noted for its foreign missionary work.

The Modern Order

The largest single religious order, it is characterized by a highly disciplined organization, especially devoted to the pope and ruled by its general, who lives in Rome. Jesuits have no choral office; like the secular clergy they are under obligation to individually recite the divine office each day. They have no distinctive habit. In principle they may accept no ecclesiastical office or honor.

Jesuit training is famous and may last for more than 15 years. The novice spends two years in spiritual training, after which he takes the simple vows of the regulars—chastity, poverty, and obedience. Then as a scholastic he spends 13 years and sometimes longer in study and teaching, completed by an additional year of spiritual training. Toward the end of this period he is ordained and becomes a coadjutor. He may then take a fourth vow of special obedience to the pope and become professed.

History

The Order's Beginnings

The society had its beginnings in the small band of six who together with St. Ignatius took vows of poverty and chastity while students at Paris. Their first plan was to work for the conversion of Muslims. Unable to go to the Holy Land because of the Turkish wars, they went to Rome and received ordination. Their constitution was approved by Pope Paul III (1540), and St. Ignatius was made (1541) general. The order then immediately began to expand.

In Europe the Jesuits were a major force in the Counter Reformation. They sought to reclaim Protestant Europe for the church and to raise the spiritual tone of the Catholic countries. They enjoyed considerable success in W and S Germany, France, Hungary, and Poland. In nearly every important city the Jesuits established schools and colleges, and for 150 years they were leaders in European education. One of their boldest efforts was the English mission of 1580, distinguished by Saint Edmund Campion. Another celebrated English Jesuit was Robert Southwell.

Missions in Asia and the Americas

One of the most brilliant of all foreign missionaries was St. Francis Xavier (see also missions); his work in the East was continued by a host of Jesuits. The mission in Japan was wiped out by persecution in the early 17th cent., but when Japan was reopened to the West in the 19th cent. a number of Christians were found there, descendants of these martyrs. The most distinguished early figures of the Chinese mission were Fathers Matteo Ricci, Adam Schall, and Ferdinand Verbiest in the 17th cent.; a characteristic of their mission was their popularity at court, where they were revered as men of wisdom and science. There were persecutions and martyrdoms, but the original Jesuit foundation became the nucleus of the Roman Catholic Church in that country. The Indian mission began under the aegis of the Portuguese in Goa, whence it spread over the country; one of the most remarkable Jesuits in this mission was Robert de' Nobili, who, after arduous asceticism and study, won recognition as an equal of the Brahmans.

The Jesuits worked all over Latin America; among their number was St. Peter Claver. The most remarkable missions were in Paraguay. In French North America the Jesuits came frequently into rivalry with the government and the other clergy; their missions among the Huron were especially successful, and they made headway among the Iroquois. The "Black-Robes," as the Native Americans called them, traveled as far afield as Oregon. Some of these Jesuits died as martyrs for their faith (c.1640); six of them have been canonized together, with two of their lay helpers, as the Jesuit Martyrs of North America (feast: Sept. 26). The Jesuit Relations is a firsthand account of Jesuit work in New France. The suppression of the order in Canada in 1791 and its later readmission as a teaching order led to the Jesuit Estates Act.

Suppression and Restoration

The Jesuits eventually became the object of criticism from vested ecclesiastical interests in every Catholic state. The Gallican party in France, being antipapal, was naturally anti-Jesuit. The polemics of Blaise Pascal and the Jansenists against Jesuit casuistry and alleged laxity in confessional practice were damaging. Through their loyalty to papal policies, the Jesuits were drawn into the struggle between the papacy and the Bourbon monarchies.

Before the middle of the 18th cent. a combination of publicists (including Voltaire) and the absolute monarchs of Catholic Europe undertook to destroy them. In 1759 the Jesuits were expelled from Portugal and its colonies, France suppressed them in 1764, and in 1767 the Spanish dominions were closed to them. Pope Clement XIII denounced these acts, but, in 1773, Clement XIV, under the coercion of the Bourbon monarchs and of some of his own cardinals, dissolved the order, and the Society of Jesus ceased to exist in the Catholic world.

Frederick the Great and Catherine the Great refused to publish the brief suppressing them, and the Jesuits continued to exist in Prussia and Russia, especially as educators. As the 18th cent. drew to a close Catholic Europe, especially Italy, began to ask for restoration of the Jesuits, and, in 1814, Pius VII reestablished them as a world order.

Bibliography

See T. A. Hughes, History of the Society of Jesus in North America (3 vol., 1907–17, repr. 1970); J. Brodrick, Origin of the Jesuits (1940, repr. 1971); W. V. Baugert, A History of the Society of Jesus (1972); J. C. Aveling, The Jesuits (1982); A. Scaglione, The Liberal Arts and the Jesuit College System (1986).

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16 of the Best Books and Articles on: Jesuits

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Ignatius Loyola: The Founder of the Jesuits » Read Now
by Paul Van Dyke. 381 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library
2.

A View from Rome: On the Eve of the Modernist Crisis » Read Now
by David G. Schultenover. 284 pgs.

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ôThis is an extraordinary book.ö -Ecclesiastical History
3.

Passionate Uncertainty: Inside the American Jesuits » Read Now
by Eugenec C. Bianchi, Peter Mcdonough. 380 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

"What ever happened to the American Jesuits? Though ex-Jesuits now outnumber Jesuits, the order is still around, still a force in American Catholic life. I cannot imagine its corporate identity receiving a more thorough or a more subtle profile than it receives in this book."--Jack Miles, author of...
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"What ever happened to the American Jesuits? Though ex-Jesuits now outnumber Jesuits, the order is still around, still a force in American Catholic life. I cannot imagine its corporate identity receiving a more thorough or a more subtle profile than it receives in this book."--Jack Miles, author of "God: A Biography"
"An excellent case study of a declining religious organization--exploring the multitude of reasons for this decline. Peter McDonough and Eugene Bianchi give a superb account of the organizational, ideological, and psychological changes facing the Jesuits. Scholars and students will learn much from this work. So too will the multitudes of Catholics whose lives have been touched by the dedicated and talented men who affix 'SJ' to their names."--Patricia Wittberg, S.C., author of "The Rise and Fall of Catholic Religious Orders
"This is a work of astonishing depth. McDonough and Bianchi are masterful tellers of the Jesuit tale, [which is] equally subtle, startling, and profound. You'll catch yourself wholly engrossed...."--James T. Fisher, author of "Catholics in America"
""Passionate Uncertainty is a powerful book, tough but required reading for Jesuits and former Jesuits, for those curious about the future of religious life and those simply intrigued by the Jesuit mystique. Reliance on numerous interviews enables McDonough and Bianchi to invite multiple voices into a lively conversation about vocation and mission, community and sexuality, Church politics and spiritual ideals. Few will agree with all the memories or predictions recorded here, and some of us will wonder whether the Jesuit future is as uncertain as the authors suggest. But none will regret pondering thechanging identity of the Jesuits so vividly highlighted here."--Francis X. Clooney, SJ, author of "Hindu God, Christian God: How Reason Helps Faith to Cross the Boundaries between Religions
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4.

Faith, Discovery, Service: Perspectives on Jesuit Education » Read Now
by Michael J. Buckley, Francis M. Lazarus. 106 pgs.

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5.

To the Greater Glory: A Psychological Study of Ignatian Spirituality » Read Now
by W. W. Meissner. 658 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Psychology, Entire Library
6.

Contending with Modernity: Catholic Higher Education in the Twentieth Century » Read Now
by Philip Gleason. 436 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Education, Entire Library

How did Catholic colleges and universities deal with the modernization of education and the rise of research universities? In this book, Philip Gleason offers the first comprehensive study of Catholic higher education in the twentieth century, tracing the evolution of responses to an increasingly...
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How did Catholic colleges and universities deal with the modernization of education and the rise of research universities? In this book, Philip Gleason offers the first comprehensive study of Catholic higher education in the twentieth century, tracing the evolution of responses to an increasingly secular educational system. At the beginning of the century, Catholics accepted modernization in the organizational sphere while resisting it ideologically. Convinced of the truth of their religious and intellectual position, the restructured Catholic colleges grew rapidly after World War I, committed to educating for a "Catholic Renaissance." This spirit of militance carried over into the post-World War II era, but new currents were also stirring as Catholics began to look more favorably on modernity in its American form. Meanwhile, their colleges and universities were being transformed by continuing growth and professionalization. By the 1960's, changes in church teaching and cultural upheaval in American society reinforced the internal transformation already under way, creating an "identity crisis" which left Catholic educators uncertain of their purpose. Emphasizing the importance to American culture of the growth of education at all levels, Gleason connects the Catholic story with major national trends and historical events. By situating developments in higher education within the context of American Catholic thought, Contending with Modernity provides the fullest account available of the intellectual development of American Catholicism in the twentieth century.
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7.

American Jesuit Spirituality: The Maryland Tradition, 1634-1900 » Read Now
by Robert Emmett Curran. 339 pgs.

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An introduction to the Maryland Jesuit tradition of spirituality, drawn from original documents focusing on diaries, sermons, correspondence and other documents. Provides a rich entree to the American Jesuit experience of God.
8.

A History of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States » Read Now
by Thomas O'Gorman. 520 pgs.

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9.

The Power and Secret of the Jesuits » Read Now
by Rene Feulop-Miller, F. S. Flint, D. F. Tait. 523 pgs.

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10.

The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century » Read Now
by Francis Parkman. 590 pgs.

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Distinguised by Francis Parkman's pictorial style, THE JESUITS IN NORTH AMERICA opens with the arrival of French missionaries in Canada in 1632. This study clearly portrays intertribal rivalries and tensions between French and English traders. However, the dramatic pulse of Parkman's narrative...
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Distinguised by Francis Parkman's pictorial style, THE JESUITS IN NORTH AMERICA opens with the arrival of French missionaries in Canada in 1632. This study clearly portrays intertribal rivalries and tensions between French and English traders. However, the dramatic pulse of Parkman's narrative centers on attempts of the Jesuits to befriend, convert, and mediate between the Indian tribes--resulting in great hardship and sometimes martyrdom for the Jesuits.
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11.

A Vision Betrayed: The Jesuits in Japan and China, 1542-1742 » Read Now
by Andrew C. Ross. 220 pgs.

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12.

China in the Sixteenth Century: the Journals of Matthew Ricci, 1583-1610 » Read Now
by Matteo Ricci, Nicolas Trigault. 616 pgs.

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13.

The Jesuit Mission to the Lakota Sioux: Pastoral Theology and Ministry, 1886-1945 » Read Now
by Ross Alexander Enochs. 178 pgs.

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14.

The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents: Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in North America (1610-1791) » Read Now
by Reuben Gold Thwaites, Edna Kenton. 532 pgs.

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15.

The Counter-Reformation, 1550-1600 (Chap. 2 "The Jesuits: To the Death of Their Founder, 1566") » Read Now
by B. J. Kidd. 271 pgs.

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16.

Church and Society in Eighteenth-Century France (Part V "Crown and Parlement: Jesuits and Jansenists") » Read Now
by John McManners. 868 pgs.

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In this second volume of McManner's magnum opus, the author explores the relations of Church and State: the wealth of the clergy and their payment of taxation, and their role in the official life of the nation, in the Court at Versailles, in the army and navy, in collaboration with the police, and...
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In this second volume of McManner's magnum opus, the author explores the relations of Church and State: the wealth of the clergy and their payment of taxation, and their role in the official life of the nation, in the Court at Versailles, in the army and navy, in collaboration with the police, and on the scaffold. He details throughout the tensions within the Church establishment and between clergy and laity, arriving at their denouement in the final description of the descent of the reign of Louis XVI towards the Revolution.
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