Who founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits)?
Society of Jesus Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (SJ; ) is a scholarly religious congregation of the Catholic Church which originated in sixteenth-century Spain. The members are called Jesuits (). The society is engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 nations. Jesuits work in education, intellectual research, and cultural pursuits. Jesuits also give retreats, minister in hospitals and parishes, sponsor direct social ministries, and promote ecumenical dialogue. Ignatius of Loyola, a Basque nobleman from the Pyrenees area of northern Spain, founded the society after discerning his spiritual vocation while recovering from a wound sustained in the Battle of Pamplona. He
Society of Jesus Jesuits have been accused of using casuistry to obtain justifications for unjustifiable actions (cf. formulary controversy and "Lettres Provinciales", by Blaise Pascal). Hence, the Concise Oxford Dictionary of the English language lists "equivocating" as a secondary denotation of the word "Jesuit". Modern critics of the Society of Jesus include Avro Manhattan, Alberto Rivera, and Malachi Martin, the latter being the author of "The Jesuits: The Society of Jesus and the Betrayal of the Roman Catholic Church" (1987). Although in the first 30 years of the existence of the Society of Jesus there were many Jesuits who were "conversos" (Catholic-convert Jews),