Joshua Bennett
Jesuits, or the Society of Jesus, is a Roman Catholic order of priests and brothers founded by the soldier-turned-mystic Ignatius Loyola. Jesuits are known for their educational, missionary, and charitable works. They are the largest all-male religious order in the Catholic Church, serving God all over the world. Jesuits have always been controversial within the Catholic Church and have clashed with secular governments and institutions. For instance, Jesuit missions in the Americas were controversial in Europe, especially in Spain and Portugal, where they were seen as interfering with the colonial enterprises of the royal governments. Jesuits were also controversial for their defense of Indigenous populations in some parts of the Americas, which led to their suppression in 1773 by Pope Clement XIV.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Educational work | Jesuits are known for their educational work, having founded schools, colleges, and universities around the world. |
| Missionary work | Jesuits have been involved in missionary activities since their inception, establishing missions in various countries, including China, Japan, North America, South America, and Tibet. |
| Charitable works | Jesuits are known for their charitable works, including defending and protecting Indigenous populations in the Americas from slavery and colonial enterprises. |
| Counter-Reformation | Jesuits were principal agents of the Counter-Reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries, working to Christianize native peoples around the world. |
| Controversy | Jesuits have faced controversy within the Catholic Church and clashed with secular governments due to their defense of Indigenous peoples, their preeminent position, and their involvement in the suppression of traditional Catholic education. |
| Religious order | Jesuits are a Roman Catholic religious order of priests and brothers, also known as the Society of Jesus. |
| Vows | Jesuits take three traditional vows: poverty, chastity, and obedience. |
| Founder | Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish soldier who experienced a religious conversion, founded the Jesuit order in Paris in 1534. |
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What You'll Learn
Jesuits' role in the Catholic Counter Reformation
The Jesuits, or the Society of Jesus, played a crucial role in the Catholic Counter Reformation, also known as the Catholic Revival or Catholic Reformation. The Jesuits were instrumental in carrying out two key objectives of the Counter-Reformation: Catholic education and missionary work.
The Jesuits established numerous schools, colleges, and universities worldwide, including Georgetown University, leaving a lasting legacy in education. They focused on individualised teaching, a concept known as ""cura personalis" or "care of the whole person," which emphasised knowing each student beyond their academic performance. This educational work helped maintain the relevance of the Catholic Church in an increasingly secular and Protestant Europe.
In terms of missionary work, the Jesuits were active in the New World, establishing missions in Latin America and North America, particularly among indigenous peoples. They also ventured to East Asia, reaching Japan, Tibet, and China, contributing to the global spread of Catholicism. These missions were often controversial, as they interfered with colonial enterprises, and the Jesuits frequently clashed with secular governments.
The Jesuits' involvement in the Counter-Reformation was aligned with their founder, Ignatius of Loyola's, spiritual vision and emphasis on popular piety. Their order was structured along military lines, with Jesuits sometimes referred to as "God's soldiers." They contributed to the revival of Catholic piety and the clarification and refinement of doctrine, ecclesiastical structures, and Catholic spirituality.
Overall, the Jesuits were a driving force in the Catholic Counter Reformation, helping to reform and revitalise the Catholic Church, ensuring its continued dominance as a Christian tradition.
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Jesuits' views on Satan and the Devil
Jesuits are an apostolic religious community called the Society of Jesus, and they are the Catholic religious order with the second-highest number of schools, which they run. Jesuits are probably most well-known for their educational work, but they also engage in a wide variety of apostolates, ministries, and civil occupations. They have been teachers since the inception of the order. Jesuits have always been controversial within the Catholic Church, and they have frequently clashed with secular governments and institutions.
The Jesuit superior general, Fr. Arturo Sosa, stated that Satan is real and wants humans to reject God. He said that Satan is the one who stands between God's plan and his work of salvation accomplished in Christ because he wants to drag others to reject God. He added that the power of the devil still exists as a force that tries to ruin human efforts. However, in 2017, he had stated that the Devil is a symbol and not a person, a comment that generated controversy.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God, but he and the other demons became evil by their own doing. Angels are spiritual, non-corporeal beings. The Hebrew term śāṭān was originally a common noun meaning "accuser" or "adversary", derived from a verb meaning "to obstruct, oppose". The concept of a heavenly being as an adversary to humans evolved into the personified evil of "a being with agency" called Satan.
In Christian theology, Lucifer is equated with the fallen angel, based on a saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke: "I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning." The Christian scholar Origen compared the morning star Eosphorus-Lucifer with the Devil. According to Origen, Lucifer fell into the abyss as a heavenly spirit after he tried to equate himself with God.
The Devil has been viewed as involved in creation by certain Gnostic sects and theologians, but these views are not part of mainstream Christianity today.
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Jesuits' views on homosexuality
Jesuits are the Catholic religious order of men, known as the Society of Jesus, who are probably best known for their educational work. Jesuits have always been controversial within the Catholic Church, and have clashed with secular governments and institutions.
Jesuit universities have a commitment to holistic education and social justice, and so they strive to create an LGBT-affirming environment. However, they also face challenges due to religious beliefs regarding homosexuality. For example, a Jesuit parish in Kansas City fired a married lesbian, Colleen Simon, from her job. Two lesbians were also fired from Cor Jesus, a high school in St. Louis.
A gay man who trained to become a Jesuit priest has written about his experience of feeling ""alienated and ostracized" by the institutional Church. He writes that he felt "silenced" by his Jesuit classmates, and that his Novice Master told him that he had made a "fundamental mistake" by coming out.
Despite these instances of homophobia, Pope Francis, a Jesuit himself, has promised a more "compassionate Catholicism" where "divorcees and gays are accepted".
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Jesuits' role in the enslavement of people in colonial America
The Jesuits, or the Society of Jesus, is a Catholic religious order of men, probably most well-known for their educational work. Jesuits have always been controversial within the Catholic Church and have frequently clashed with secular governments and institutions.
Jesuits played a role in the enslavement of people in colonial America. They owned enslaved people at several plantations, farms, and schools in Maryland and Pennsylvania, including at Georgetown University. In 1838, the Maryland Jesuits sold more than 272 enslaved people from their plantations to southern Louisiana. This sale was the culmination of a long-running debate among the Maryland Jesuits over whether to keep, sell, or free their slaves. The sale became a scandal among American Catholics.
Jesuits also rented or borrowed enslaved people from the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, local lay slaveowners, clergy, and women's religious orders. The involuntary labor of the people the Jesuits owned, rented, and borrowed helped establish, expand, and sustain Jesuit missionary efforts and educational institutions in colonial North America and, over time, across the United States.
French Jesuits expanded their slaveholding from the Caribbean to colonial New Orleans, where they established a plantation on which about 150 enslaved people cultivated sugar, figs, indigo, oranges, and other products. These plantations supplied the income Jesuits used for their educational and missionary activities.
Jesuit missionaries were active among indigenous peoples in New France in North America, compiling dictionaries or glossaries of the First Nations and Native American languages they had learned. The Jesuits were often the only force standing between the Indigenous and slavery, forming Indigenous Christian city-states called "reductions" in South America, especially in present-day Brazil and Paraguay.
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Jesuits' role in education
Jesuits are members of the Society of Jesus, a Catholic religious order of men. They are probably best known for their educational work, which includes teaching at and running schools, colleges, and universities. Jesuits have been involved in education since the inception of the order, and today, there are 3,730 Jesuit schools worldwide, catering to around 2.5 million students.
The Jesuits' educational philosophy is based on the vision of their founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola, and is characterised by a commitment to cura personalis, or "care for the whole self". This means that, in addition to intellectual development, Jesuit education emphasises moral and spiritual growth, with the aim of forming students who are "open to growth, intellectually competent, religious, loving, and committed to doing justice". Service and justice are key priorities, with the ultimate objective of forming ""men and women for others" who live their lives in the service of God, their neighbours, and society.
Jesuit education encourages students to seek the divine in all things and places an emphasis on learning through community service, interdisciplinary courses, and the study of faith, theology, philosophy, and ethics. It also promotes the concept of Magis, or "more" in Latin, which challenges students to go beyond what is expected and interact with the world with generosity, excellence, and empathy. Reflection is another important aspect of Jesuit education, with students invited to pause and reflect on the world and their place in it before making decisions.
In addition to their educational work, Jesuits are also involved in various apostolates, ministries, and civil occupations. They have been active in missionary work among indigenous peoples in North and South America, Asia, and Japan, often playing a protective role against colonial governments and slavery. They have also been involved in language documentation and dictionary compilation, leaving extensive documentation of their experiences in the form of "The Jesuit Relations".
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Frequently asked questions
The Jesuits, or the Society of Jesus, is a Roman Catholic order of priests and brothers founded by Ignatius Loyola.
The Jesuits have always been controversial within the Catholic Church. They have frequently clashed with secular governments and institutions. They are known for their educational, missionary, and charitable works. Jesuits are also known for defending Indigenous populations in some parts of the Americas, which led to their suppression in 1773 by Pope Clement XIV.
Jesuit missions in the Americas became controversial in Europe, especially in Spain and Portugal, as they were seen as interfering with the colonial enterprises of the royal governments. Another example is the controversy surrounding the Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci, who worked as a missionary in China in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Ricci's adaptation of Chinese rituals for Christian purposes aroused suspicion in the West and led to the condemnation of the so-called Chinese rites by several Popes.
Jesuits are known for their focus on individual students, which is known as "cura personalis" or "care of the whole person." This approach involves getting to know students beyond their academic transcripts, including their backgrounds and life histories.
Like members of other Catholic religious orders, Jesuits take three traditional vows: poverty, chastity, and obedience.
