The Jesuits are an order of men in the Roman Catholic Church. Saint Ignatius Loyola founded this order in 1534. The official name of the Jesuit order is the Society of Jesus. Members of the Jesuit order take simple vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and they become scholastic. The motto of the order is Ad majorem Dei gloriam, which is "to the greater glory of God" in Latin. The object is the spread of the church by preaching and teaching or the fulfillment of whatever else is viewed as the most urgent need of the church at the time.
The Jesuits are especially noted for their work in education. The order operates more than 4,000 schools, colleges, and universities throughout the world. Some of the Jesuit universities in the U. S. are Boston College, Georgetown University, and Marquette University. Saint Ignatius and six fellow students from the University of Paris began the Society of Jesus, which Pope Paul III formally approved as an order in 1540. He originally limited the Jesuits to 60 members. However, in 1544, the pope authorized the order to increase its membership without limit. Ignatius wrote the order's sets of rules, or constitutions, which have become models for hundreds of other Roman Catholic religious communities.
Under the leadership of Ignatius, the Jesuits grew to almost 1,000 members. By the time he died in 1556, the order was established in Europe, mostly because of its activities in education. The Jesuits also conducted widespread missionary work in Africa, Asia, and North and South America. .
During the middle and late 1700's, several nations banned the Jesuit Order from their country and colonies. Portugal banned the Jesuits in 1759, France in 1764, and Spain in 1767. In 1773, pressure from Catholic rulers helped force Pope Clement XIV to ban the Jesuit order in all countries. The Jesuits were banned for several reasons. Some Catholic rulers and churchmen were jealous of the order's influence.
