The Company of Jesus or Order of Jesuits , is a religious order founded in 1534 and which operates to this day in several countries.
Foundation
The founder of the Society of Jesus, Ignatius of Loyola (canonized in 1622), a Spaniard who had been a soldier, took vows of poverty, chastity and dedication to God after being seriously wounded by a cannon fire in 1521.
In 1534, together with his companions, students at the University of Paris, he formed the Society of Jesus, which would be approved by Pope Paul III by the Regimini Militantis Ecclesiae in 1540.
Since the Protestant Reformation began in 1527, its goal was to combat the reform of which Martin Luther was the forerunner.
The purpose of the Company, whose motto is Ad maiorem Dei gloriam (For the greater glory of God), it was to carry out missionary work, assist the sick, and comply with the pope's requests.
Read more:
- Catholicism
- Counter-Reformation
Mission in Brazil
The missionaries of the Society of Jesus, also known as Jesuits , have been to various parts of the world, from the East to the West, and have been educators, catechizers, as well as working in the care of the sick during epidemics.
The mission of the Jesuits in Brazil was mainly to teach and catechize and defend the Indians from the Portuguese colonizers.
There were also schools here. Among them, they founded the college of the village of São Paulo .
Among the best known names in the History of Brazil are:Father José de Anchieta, S. Francisco Xavier, Fr. Antônio Vieira, Manuel da Nóbrega and Leonardo Nunes.
Expulsion of the Jesuits
Feeling threatened by the influence that the Society of Jesus exerted, for ideological and political reasons, in the context of the Pombaline Reform, in 1759 Marquês de Pombal expelled the Company from all Portuguese territories. This episode led Pope Clement XIV to abolish the company in Europe, which only returned to activity in 1814, in Russia.
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