The Cambridge Companion to the Jesuits [Paperback]

This Companion explores the religious and cultural significance of the Society of Jesus or 'Jesuits'.This Companion explores the religious and cultural significance of the Society of Jesus, founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1540. Known as the Jesuits, their members played an extremely important role as educators and priests in the era after the Reformation, and as missionaries in many parts of the world.This Companion explores the religious and cultural significance of the Society of Jesus, founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1540. Known as the Jesuits, their members played an extremely important role as educators and priests in the era after the Reformation, and as missionaries in many parts of the world.Ignatius of Loyola (14911556) obtained papal approval in 1540 for a new international religious order called the Society of Jesus. Until the mid-1700s the 'Jesuits' were active in many parts of Europe and far beyond. Gaining both friends and enemies in response to their work as teachers, scholars, writers, preachers, missionaries and spiritual directors, the Jesuits were formally suppressed by Pope Clement XIV in 1773 and restored by Pope Pius VII in 1814. The Society of Jesus then grew until the 1960s; it has more recently experienced declining membership in Europe and North America, but expansion in other parts of the world. This Companion examines the religious and cultural significance of the Jesuits. The first four sections treat the period prior to the Suppression, while section five examines the Suppression and some of the challenges and opportunities of the restored Society of Jesus up to the present.Introduction Thomas Worcester; Part I. Ignatius of Loyola: 1. The religious milieu of the young Ignatius Lu Ann Homza; 2. Five personae of Ignatius of Loyola J. Carlos Coupeau; 3. The spiritual exercises Philip Endean; Part II. European Foundations of the Jesuits: 4. Jesuit Rome and Italy Paul Murphy; 5. The society of Jesus in the three kingdoms Thomas McCoog; 6.ló*