Society of Jesus facts for kids
Abbreviation | SJ, Jesuits |
---|---|
Motto | Ad maiorem Dei gloriam |
Formation | 1540 |
Type | Roman Catholic religious order |
Headquarters | Church of the Gesu (Mother Church), General Curia (administration) |
Location |
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Superior General
|
Adolfo Nicolás |
Key people
|
Ignatius of Loyola—founder |
Main organ
|
General Curia |
Staff
|
19,216 |
The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu, S.J. and S.I. or SJ, SI ) is a Roman Catholic Church religious order whose members are called Jesuits, Soldiers of Christ, and Foot soldiers of the Pope, because the founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a knight before becoming a priest.
Jesuits are the largest male religious order of the Roman Catholic Church with 19,216 members (13,491 priests, 3,049 scholastic students, 1,810 brothers and 866 novices).
The Society of Jesus is consecrated under the patronage of the Madonna Della Strada. It is led by a Superior General, currently Adolfo Nicolás.
The headquarters of the society, its General Curia, is in Rome.
Within the Catholic Church, there has been a sometimes tense relationship between Jesuits and the Vatican. This is due to questioning of official Church teaching and papal directives, such as women deacons, homosexuality, and liberation theology. However, as of 2013, the current Pope, Pope Francis, is a Jesuit himself.
Images for kids
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A fresco depicting Ignatius receiving the papal bull from Pope Paul III was created after 1743 by Johann Christoph Handke in the Church of Our Lady Of the Snow in Olomouc.
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Jesuits at Akbar's court in India, c. 1605
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Jesuit missionary, painting from 1779
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Matteo Ricci (left) and Xu Guangqi in the 1607 Chinese publication of Euclid's Elements
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Bressani map of 1657 depicting the martyrdom of Jean de Brébeuf
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Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó in the 18th century, the first permanent Jesuit mission in Baja California, established by Juan María de Salvatierra in 1697
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Main altar of the Jesuit colegio in Tepozotlan, now the Museo Nacional del Virreinato
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Mexican-born Jesuit Francisco Clavijero (1731–1787) wrote an important history of Mexico.
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Peter Claver ministering to African slaves at Cartagena
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Samuel Fritz's 1707 map showing the Amazon and the Orinoco
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Manuel da Nóbrega on a commemorative Portuguese stamp of the 400th anniversary of the foundation of São Paulo, Brazil
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Visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the Jesuit-run Pontifical Gregorian University
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The Church of the Gesù in Rome, is the mother church of the Jesuits.
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The Santa Clara University's Mission Church is at the heart of Santa Clara University's historic campus Santa Clara, California, USA.
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The Church of the Gesu in Frascati, province of Rome, Italy
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The Église du Gesù in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, church and cultural venue
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Jakarta Cathedral, Indonesia
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Jesuit Block and Estancias of Córdoba, Argentina
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Fordham University, New York City, United States
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Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology, Frankfurt, Germany
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Georgetown University, Washington DC, United States
See also
In Spanish: Compañía de Jesús para niños