Some also speculate that the name could allude to Francis Xavier, the co-founder of the Society of Jesuis—aka the jesuits.
Can you elaborate on the vow of poverty, one that all jesuits take?
The jesuits say, “Give me the boy at 7”, and now we know what that has meant for so many boys.
You also make a special promise never to “strive or ambition” for a high office in the jesuits or in the church.
The family was English Catholic and Alfred, like his brother and sister, was raised in the faith, educated by jesuits.
It would have to reign by divine right, like the jesuits in Paraguay.
Even the jesuits despaired, and abandoned Florida in disgust.
Like the jesuits he enjoys a most unenviable reputation among Protestants.
The most applauded dogmatist and champion of the jesuits is, I am informed, Perrone.
But more far-reaching than this immediate result was the educational movement inaugurated by the jesuits.
1540s, from Modern Latin Jesuita, member of the Society of Jesus, founded 1533 by Ignatius Loyola to combat Protestantism. Their enemies (in both Catholic and Protestant lands) accused them of belief that ends justify means, hence the sense "a dissembling person" (1630s), and jesuitical "deceitful" (1610s).
A religious order of men in the Roman Catholic Church; its official name is the Society of Jesus. Founded by Ignatius of Loyola in the sixteenth century, the society became the spearhead of the Counter Reformation.
Note: The Jesuit order has a long tradition of vigorous missionary work and of intellectual and scholarly achievement. The Jesuits have also been known historically for their influence, often behind the scenes, in European politics and for their skill and resourcefulness in debate — characteristics that have sometimes led people to mistrust them. In recent years, they have become better known as free-ranging thinkers on religious and political questions.
