St Ignatius, elected by his companions Superior General of the Order, wrote the Constitutions of the Society and governed it until his death in 1556.

The recently founded Society began its ministries very soon. The Jesuits preached and gave spiritual guidance to the faithful through the Spiritual Exercises. In Rome itself Ignatius founded the German and the Roman College, which would in time give birth to the Gregorian University. In these and many other academic institutions the Jesuits developed a rigorous method that would be called “Ratio Studiorum” whose efficacy would contribute to their growing prestige.

Even in Ignatius’s lifetime the Society made itself present in many cities of Italy; in Portugal, the springboard to the East Indies where St Francis Xavier was sent; in Spain, from where they would later on leave for the West Indies; in Germany, where they would back the Catholic Reformation; in France and in Belgium… Jesuit theologians like Laynez and Salmerón took part in the Council of Trent ...

The Council of Trent

At the time of Ignatius’s death, the Society had about one thousand members, distributed in about one hundred houses and colleges organized in sixteen different religious provinces. The Jesuits were a party to the awakening of the Catholic conscience in the face of the Protestant split that was called the Catholic Counter-Reformation. After Ignatius’s death, the Society continued its expansion throughout the world.

In the 18th century, the impressive presence of the Jesuits (22,589 in 1750, with 1563 houses grouped in 39 religious provinces) and the support they lent to the Pope aroused the opposition of the Enlightenment, increasingly influential in the Bourbon courts. The Jesuits were expelled from Portugal (1759), France (1764), and from all the dominions of the King of Spain Charles III (1767), including the West Indies with the Reductions of Paraguay.

The Jesuit Reductions of Paraguay

Pressure from these same courts made Clement XIII decree the suppression of the Society in 1773, although it could survive in Russia, where Catherine the Great vetoed the promulgation of the papal decree.

In 1814, Pope Pius VII restored the Society worldwide. In 1816 the Jesuits returned to Spain and recovered the house of Loyola among others. The Society continued its expansion all through the 19th century even in Spain, even though it was expelled as many as five times. In the 20th century, too, in 1932, the Society was “dissolved” by the government of the Second Republic, which declared unconstitutional the Jesuit vow of special obedience to the Pope.

The Society knew a great expansion through the 20th century, reaching a membership of 37,000, though it has not escape the general crisis of the postconcliar period. In our own days the Society has renewed its commitment to the most burning problems of our times and works in social welfare, professional training, refugee service and the third world.

All along its history the Society has been present in the preaching of God’s Word, spiritual guidance especially through the Spiritual Exercises, the teaching of sacred and secular sciences, social welfare. All in all, about 148,000 Jesuits who have lived and died in the Society have served in these tasks. If we add the 21,354 who belong to the Society today, the number goes beyond 168,000.

Among these, 51 have been declared Saints and 151 Blessed. All are Companions of Jesus who have walked along the path opened by Ignatius of Loyola. In our own days the list of Jesuits who sacrifice their lives for God and their fellow human beings continues to grow.