The Jesuits are members of a religious order of priests and brothers within the Roman Catholic Church.

The Order was founded by the 16^th century Basque soldier, Ignatius of Loyola, who had undergone a powerful spiritual experience following a failed military adventure in the service of the Spanish King. The experience provoked a deep conversion and led Ignatius to give up his life and ambitions at court and to devote himself to trying to lead people to the encounter with the living God that he had experienced.

In 1540 the Pope gave Ignatius and his first companions permission to found the Order for that purpose and they found themselves both ministering in a traumatised Europe (which was in the throes of the Reformation) and also being missioned as part of the waves of exploration to encounter the peoples of the newly-discovered lands of Africa, Asia and the Americas.

Although initially associated with education, the ministry of the Jesuits was a far wider brief to engage in any work which would seek “The Greater Glory of God”, (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam… occasionally seen as A.M.D.G. in Jesuit books or on buildings) whether that be a ministry to refugees or royalty, to atheists or Christians or people of no faith.

The term ‘Jesuit’ was initially an insult which transformed into a nickname. The formal name for the Order is “The Society of Jesus” which gives the initials ‘S.J.’ after the name of an individual.