 Jesuits in the United States

The Society of Jesus is a religious order of the Catholic Church whose members are known as Jesuits and that was founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1540 in Spain.In the United States, the order is best known for its missions to the Native Americans in the early 17th century, its network of colleges and universities, and (in Europe before 1773) its politically conservative role in the Catholic Counter Reformation.Most of the Jesuit missions to North America were located in today's Canada, but they explored and mapped much of the west.